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AUSTIN — With less than a week before the legislature adjourns, the Texas Senate has given final approval the state’s two year $248.5 billion budget establishing the state’s priorities for education, healthcare, public safety and critical services. As Chair of the Health & Human Services Committee and a senior member of the Senate Finance Committee, State Senator Lois W. Kolkhorst was intricately involved in crafting the two year spending bill.
Read moreMother Nature provided increasingly inconsistent precipitation for the Great Plains over the past decade, impacting grasslands, forage systems and beef production in the region— and scientists expect that trend to intensify.
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Texas lawmakers will adjourn the regular session on Monday — Memorial Day — but Gov. Greg Abbott has already indicated he will call a special session in the fall to grapple with redistricting after detailed census results are finally released.
Read moreAUSTIN, Texas – The LCRA Board of Directors on Wednesday approved a business plan of more than $395 million and authorized capital investments of more than $517 million for energy, water and public service projects to support Texas in fiscal year 2022.
Read moreSmall nonfarm businesses in 61 Texas counties and a neighboring county in Oklahoma are now eligible to apply for lowinterest federal disaster loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration, announced Director Tanya N. Garfield of SBA’s Disaster Field Operations Center-West. These loans offset economic losses because of reduced revenues caused by winter storms, blizzards, snow, ice, and high winds in the following primary counties that occurred Feb. 10-19, 2021.
Read moreAustin, TX –SB 581, the Homeowners Religious Freedom Act, authored by Senator Paul Bettencourt (R-Houston) and sponsored by Representative Mike Schofield (R-Houston) in the House passed both chambers to provide protection for homeowners who wish to place certain religious displays in their front yard. Too many homeowners’ associations (HOAs) had adopted restrictive rules that would order the removal of religious displays on homeowners’ property. SB 581 is joint-authored by Senator Lois Kolkhorst (R-Brenham) and Senator Brandon Creighton (R-Montgomery) and coauthored by Senator Kelly Hancock (R-North Richland Hills), Senator Larry Taylor (R-Friendswood) and Senator Royce West (D-Dallas).
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The number of traffic accidents decreased in 2020, but the number of Texans killed while not wearing a seat belt increased by 16%, according to the Texas Department of Transportation.
Read moreThe English language is nutty. It can be understood through tough, thorough thought, though. I wanted to find a way to add the word “trough” to the last sentence, but I feared being thrown out throughout the touted trout throat. See? I knew it wouldn’t work.
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