With early voting just days away, counties say they’re running out of time to get their complaints addressed.
Donna Howard
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Texas Legislature 2025
Texas lawmakers may ban certain lessons at state colleges under expanded DEI crackdown
Legislators are expected to take up a $360 million proposal that would change the landscape of financial aid in the state.
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Texas Legislature 2023
Texas House votes to repeal sales tax on menstrual products and diapers
The bill, which Democrats have been pushing for years, has become a top priority after the overturn of Roe v. Wade. The Senate has already passed the bill, which would provide tax relief on the purchase of menstrual products, diapers and other child care necessities.
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Texas Legislature 2023
Speaker Dade Phelan endorses Medicaid expansion for new mothers, repeal of “tampon tax” in first batch of 2023 priorities
The leader of the state House also threw his support behind bills to crack down on how companies handle private data and to protect children from “addictive algorithms” by digital companies.
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Texas Legislature 2023
With full state coffers and bipartisan support, Texas teachers are hopeful they’ll get a raise this year
The COVID-19 pandemic, inflation and burnout have pummeled teachers in the last few years. Lawmakers from both parties agree they should get a pay bump — but it won’t happen without some negotiation.
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Texas Abortion Restrictions
Wendy Davis and Donna Howard, defenders of abortion access, worry the worst is yet to come after Roe decision
In interviews, the two women expressed a sense of sorrow over the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to allow states to ban abortions, adding even more enormous obstacles to what was already an uphill battle to protect reproductive rights in Texas.
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Health care
Meet the Texas teens taking on the state’s “tampon tax”
A group of young women have teamed up with a prestigious Houston law firm to get the state to stop charging sales tax on menstrual products, arguing they qualify as “wound care dressings.”
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Point of Order
Point of Order: The long goodbye
In the latest episode of our podcast about the Texas Legislature, Evan Smith talks to state Rep. Donna Howard and state Sen. Kel Seliger about sniping and snark on the road to sine die.
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Coronavirus in Texas
Half of Texas’ nurses experience workplace violence. A Texas lawmaker says it’s time to protect them.
Now praised as heroes of the pandemic, nurses and other front-line medical workers have been routinely scratched, bitten or verbally abused by patients. Well over half of Texas’ nurses reported being subject to workplace violence in their career, according to a 2016 state study.
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Health care
Texas officials walk back $15 million proposed cuts to women’s and children’s health services
The changes to the budget proposal come after lawmakers and advocates protested the previous plan would hurt vulnerable Texans.