Senator Eliot Shapleigh - El Paso, Texas

There aren't a lot of environmental groups with their own investment bank consultants, so when you hear that Environmental Defense has just hired the boutique Wall Street firm Perella Weinberg Partners, you know that we're in a new world.

Texas has always prided itself on being "business-friendly." But when does that become just another way of saying "sucker"?

Alison Brock, chief of staff to Rep. Sylvester Turner, D-Houston, made the initial inquiries alerting folks in the Texas Capitol to reports of sexual abuse of youths in a West Texas facility, as revealed by the Austin American-Statesman's Mike Ward.

I, myself, am angry, but not just with TYC. I am angry because this is an example of what happens when the welfare of the state is superseded by political and economic agendas not reflective of our state's real needs.

A proposal to cover more youngsters under the Children's Health Insurance Program could come at a cost to other services for needy Texans.

Border lawmakers voted differently on the $152.2 billion state budget adopted by the Senate Thursday, though all agreed they would have liked to have seen more money put into key social programs.

In our government, budgets reflect our values. Texas' budget is a statement of our moral choices. With the sober reality facing Texans today, our priority should be an investment in our children, not tax cuts for millionaires four years from now.

Texas' rush to privatize eligibility screening for such programs as Medicaid and food stamps was dealt a huge blow Tuesday as the state announced that it would sever its relationship with the lead contractor.

Tempers flared and children-versus-tax-cuts arguments flew Thursday as the Texas Senate approved a two-year, $152.2 billion state budget that would boost funding for human services and criminal justice and leave billions on the table for future property tax relief.

It's become so difficult for Child Protective Services to place children in foster care that some are sleeping in state offices and, now, in hotels. It's happening often enough that the state agency has started regulating the practice.

Draft Bill

Piece by piece, Gov. Rick Perry’s homeland security office is gathering massive amounts of information about Texas residents and merging it to create the most exhaustive centralized database in state history.

Under the terms of the agreement reached in "Frew v. Hawkins" Monday, the state has agreed to increase the Medicaid reimbursement rates to medical and dental providers who care for children's Medicaid participants, by 25 percent and 50 percent, respectively.

Yesterday the Senate passed its version of the budget. Prior to the vote, two sharp critiques of the bill from opposite ends of the spectrum — one from Democrat Eliot Shapleigh and one from Republican Dan Patrick — offered an odd bit of convergence between ideologies.

Texas on Tuesday ended a deal worth hundreds of millions of dollars with a private group led by Accenture LLP to manage the Children's Health Insurance Program and enroll Texans in programs such as food stamps and Medicaid.

Texas has done a good job of getting 4-year-olds into preschool programs but compares poorly with the rest of the nation when it comes to funding those classrooms and setting high standards, according to a national report to be released today.

The collapse of the $899 million deal with Accenture LLP should serve as a valuable lesson to the Legislature that certain duties — particularly taking care of poor families and children — should not be turned over to private companies.

Unless it significantly boosts its number of college graduates, the United States will lag behind many other industrialized nations in the global economy.

Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso, on Friday introduced a package of bills supporting the arrival of thousands of soldiers at Fort Bliss that he said was "the most aggressive legislation of any Texas city."

AUSTIN — The state would pour $102.4 million more into additional border law officers, helicopters, equipment and technology over the next two years under a plan backed Monday by House budget writers.