Time now for the week that was in Texas politics with James Barragán, political reporter for the Texas Tribune
Some of the Texas House’s priority bills are in danger as Lege winds down
“Some of the House’s priority criminal justice and health care bills had just not been moving over in the Senate, which is the other chamber that needs to give it approval before it can go to Governor Abbott so that it can become law. And so since those were in danger, now all of a sudden Senate bills are in danger because yesterday the House, surprisingly, recessed until Sunday.”
Some of Texas’ largest counties loosen pandemic restrictions
“We’ve all seen this in the news, which has been relatively good here in Texas, that, deaths are going down, hospitalizations are going down, and the vaccine is very easily available, I think, in most places. And so, big counties have started saying, ‘hey, we’re going to start trying to return to normal.’ I think Harris County was one of the biggest ones recently, obviously, that said, hey, if you’re vaccinated, go for it.”
Texas carries out execution with no media present
“The Huntsville Item, I think has an agreement with [Texas Department of Criinal Justice] that says, ‘hey, we’re basically going to be there at every execution that the state makes.’ But I think that the TDCJ, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, said that there basically was a misunderstanding or a miscommunication between them and prison officials, because they hadn’t done an execution in so long. And they said that’s what led to the lack of media coverage”
Listen to our conversation with James Barragán, political reporter for the Texas Tribune, in the audio player above.
