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Yahoo
15-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Analysis: The 2025 Texas House, from right to left
The Texas House's roll-call votes during this year's regular legislative session allow us to once again rank the chambers's members from the conservative to liberal ends of the House's ideological spectrum — in relation to each other. The 88 members of the Republican House delegation hold a wide range of ideological positions. The conservative end of the Texas House GOP caucus is anchored by Mike Olcott of Fort Worth, Briscoe Cain of Deer Park, Steve Toth of Conroe, David Lowe of North Richland Hills, Brian Harrison of Midlothian, and Nate Schatzline of Fort Worth. The other end of the GOP caucus ideological spectrum is anchored by Ryan Guillen of Rio Grande City, Charlie Geren of Fort Worth, Ken King of Canadian, John Lujan of San Antonio, Stan Lambert of Abilene, and Dade Phelan of Beaumont. The speaker of the House, Republican Dustin Burrows of Lubbock, by custom does not ordinarily vote and is not included in the analysis here. Within the Republican delegation, three distinct blocs of representatives appear in the data. At the most conservative end of the House GOP ideological spectrum is a group of 17 representatives ranging from Olcott and Cain to Mitch Little of Lewisville and Matt Morgan of Richmond. As a group, these 17 representatives are significantly more conservative than more than two-thirds of their fellow Republican legislators. Olcott is significantly more conservative than all 86 of his fellow Republicans and Cain than 84 of 86, while Little and Morgan are both significantly more conservative than 60 of 86. At the least conservative end of the House GOP ideological spectrum is a group of 17 representatives ranging from Guillen and Geren to Brad Buckley of Salado and Pat Curry of Waco. As a group, these 17 representatives are significantly less conservative than more than two-thirds of their fellow Republican legislators. Guillen is significantly less conservative than 76 of 86 of his fellow Republicans and Geren is significantly less conservative than 73 of 86, while Buckley is significantly less conservative than 64 of 86 and Curry is significantly less conservative than 61 of 86. Although Guillen is the least conservative Republican, he still has a voting record that is significantly more conservative than that of the most conservative Democrat. The majority of House Republicans — 53 out of 87 members — occupy a middle ground between these two ideological poles, ranging from Brooks Landgraf of Odessa to Valoree Swanson of Spring. Cole Hefner of Mount Pleasant is the median member of the Republican Caucus, with half of the GOP representatives more conservative, and half less conservative, than Hefner. The 62-member Democratic House caucus also reflects a wide range of ideological positions on the left. The Democratic delegation is anchored at its liberal end by Christina Morales of Houston, Ron Reynolds of Missouri City, Ana-Maria Ramos of Richardson, Terry Meza of Irving, Jessica González of Dallas, and Vikki Goodwin of Austin. The Democratic delegation is anchored at its least liberal end by Terry Canales of Edinburg, Richard Peña Raymond of Laredo, Sergio Muñoz Jr. of Palmview, Armando 'Mando' Martinez of Weslaco, Eddie Morales Jr. of Eagle Pass, and Philip Cortez of San Antonio. As with their Republican colleagues, three distinct blocs of Democratic legislators also appear in the data. At the most liberal end of the Democratic ideological spectrum, six representatives stand out. They range from Morales and Reynolds, each of whom is significantly more liberal than 56 of their 61 fellow Democrats, to González who is significantly more liberal than 48 of 61 and Goodwin who is significantly more liberal than 45 of 61. At the other end of the Democratic ideological spectrum are 11 Democrats who are significantly less liberal than more than two-thirds of their fellow Democrats. They range from Canales who is significantly less liberal than 60 of his 61 fellow Democrats and Peña Raymond who is significantly less liberal than 59 of 61 to Harold Dutton Jr. of Houston and Bobby Guerra of Mission, each of whom is significantly less liberal than 42 of 61. Although Canales is the most conservative Democrat, he still has a voting record that is significantly more liberal than that of the least conservative Republican. The majority of House Democrats —45 out of of 62 members — occupy a middle ground between these two ideological poles, ranging from Maria Luisa Flores of Austin to Suleman Lalani of Sugar Land. The median House Democrats in 2025, who represent the absolute center of the Democratic House caucus, are Diego Bernal of San Antonio and Sheryl Cole of Austin. Political scientists have for decades used roll-call votes cast by members of the U.S. Congress to map their location on the Liberal-Conservative scale along which most legislative politics now takes place. This ranking of the Texas House members, which has been conducted biennially since 2011, does the same thing, by drawing on the 2,666 non-lopsided roll-call votes taken during the 2025 regular session of the Texas Legislature. Non-lopsided votes are those where at least 2.5% of the representatives who cast a vote are on the losing side. Unlike in analyses prior to December of 2023, information from votes on bills located on the House Local & Consent Calendar are not included in this analysis for the reasons cited in the 2023 post special session ranking. As with previous rankings conducted in 2023 (post special session), 2023, 2021 (post special session), 2021, 2019, 2017 (post special session), 2017, 2015, 2013 and 2011, this one uses a Bayesian estimation procedure belonging to the family of methodological approaches that represent the political science discipline's gold standard for roll-call vote analysis. State representatives are ranked from most liberal to most conservative (relative to each other) based on their Liberal-Conservative Scores, with the 95% credible interval (CI) for this point estimate also provided. If two legislators' CIs overlap, their positions on the ideological spectrum might be statistically equivalent, even if their Lib-Con Scores are different. In no case in 2025 did the CI of a House Republican overlap with that of a House Democrat, indicating that every Republican is significantly more conservative than every Democrat, and every Democrat is significantly more liberal than every Republican. Mark P. Jones is the Political Science Fellow at Rice University's James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy. Disclosure: James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy and Rice University have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here. Big news: 20 more speakers join the TribFest lineup! New additions include Margaret Spellings, former U.S. secretary of education and CEO of the Bipartisan Policy Center; Michael Curry, former presiding bishop and primate of The Episcopal Church; Beto O'Rourke, former U.S. Representative, D-El Paso; Joe Lonsdale, entrepreneur, founder and managing partner at 8VC; and Katie Phang, journalist and trial lawyer. Get tickets. TribFest 2025 is presented by JPMorganChase. : A previous version of this story listed the wrong hometown for Rep. Nate Schatzline. He is from Fort Worth.
Yahoo
23-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Dialysis Patient Citizens Applauds Texas Legislature for Passing Historic Bill Expanding Affordable Medigap Access for Dialysis and ALS Patients
AUSTIN, Texas, June 23, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- House Bill 2516 has become public law, a significant victory for Texans living with End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD), or kidney failure, and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). The legislation, championed by Representative Ryan Guillen (R-TX-31), received overwhelming bipartisan support in the Texas State Legislature, passing the House with a 133-4 vote and the Senate unanimously. The law guarantees that ESRD and ALS patients under the age of 65 can access affordable Medigap insurance. Specifically, Medigap Plans A, B, and D will be available at the same premium rate as for those age 65, while the remaining plans will be capped at no more than 200% of the age 65 rate. Now, younger Texans suffering from ESRD and ALS no longer need to worry about Medicare's gaps in coverage. "Today is a landmark moment for dialysis and ALS patients across Texas," said Andrew Conkling, Board President for Dialysis Patient Citizens (DPC). "This law brings long-overdue relief to individuals who, until now, faced Medigap premiums as high as $1,700 per month simply because they were under 65. It restores fairness and makes critical coverage accessible to those who need it most." Previously, under-65 ESRD and ALS patients in Texas were priced out of Medigap plans due to prohibitively high premiums. HB 2516 ensures those patients can finally afford the supplemental insurance they rely on to cover the gaps in Medicare. DPC Patient Ambassador and Texas resident Patricia Benavidez-Patel shared her compelling story in support of the bill, stating: "I've lived with dialysis, and I've lived with the constant fear of bills I can't afford. This law gives patients like me a real chance; it gives me not only a chance to survive, but a chance to live without fear of medical debt." In addition, former DPC board member Natalie Zuniga, who recently passed away, wrote a letter to the editor in defense of Medigap access. Her voice continues to echo during this victory for the dialysis community, which she so fiercely supported. Dialysis Patient Citizens thanks Representative Guillen for his steadfast leadership, Governor Abbott and the Texas Legislature, and all the patient advocates who helped make this victory possible. View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE Dialysis Patient Citizens Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
House bill could let SXSW get state funding for event costs
AUSTIN (KXAN) — South by Southwest could get state funding to help pay costs associated with planning and conducting its annual conferences and festivals if a bill passed by the Texas House on Wednesday makes it all the way through the legislature and off the governor's desk with his signature. House Bill 4811, introduced by Rep. Sheryl Cole, D-Austin, would extend the eligibility for the Major Events Reimbursement Program (MERP) to include South by Southwest. This comes as the Austin Convention Center, the hub and main host location for SXSW, is expected to be closed for at least three years during its reconstruction, which lawmakers anticipate could increase the cost of planning and hosting the festival. Related | Construction officially starts on new Austin Convention Center The MERP is one of three funds under the Events Trust Fund, which is a program that helps pay for costs 'related to preparing for or conducting an event,' according to a description of the program from the Texas Economic Development & Tourism Office. The program works by 'depositing projected gains in various local and state taxes generated from the event in a dedicated event-specific trust fund to cover allowable expenses,' per the description. Both the state and the applicant must contribute to the event's trust fund. According to a guidelines document, applicants must contribute $1 in local tax gains for every $6.25 the state contributes to the fund. The program is funded through event-generated tax increases; there is no maximum or minimum amount of funds available. Currently, the following can apply for one of the funds: a municipality, county, or non-profit local organizing committee that was 'endorsed by a Texas municipality or county which has been selected to host a qualified event, if the event location in that Texas municipality or county was selected through a highly competitive process by an independent site selection committee which considered other out-of-state locations.' Because SXSW is an Austin-established event, the bill would also designate SXSW as a 'site selection organization' and exempt it from the requirement that funding for an event through MERP be contingent upon a site selection organization choosing a Texas location after considering one or more out-of-state options, according to the House Research Organization Bill Analysis. 'HB 4811 would establish that, if an endorsing municipality or county requested the Texas Economic Development and Tourism Office to determine an incremental increase in certain tax receipts for the SXSW Conference and Festivals, the remaining provisions of MERP would apply to that event as if it satisfied the site selection eligibility requirement,' the HRO Bill Analysis said. The full text of the bill and its stages through legislative chambers can be read online. HB 4811 passed the House on Wednesday and was sent to the Senate. Co-authors of the bill were Reps. Ryan Guillen, Giovanni Capriglione, John Bucy III, and Donna Howard. KXAN reached out to the offices of Reps. Cole and Howard, and SXSW to ask for commentary on the bill. Rep. Cole's office issued the following response: HB 4811 was filed to help event planners like SXSW to be reimbursed for eligible expenses associated with their events. This is even more important now for SXSW, as the festival faces additional financial challenges due to the significant four-year disruption that will occur while Austin builds a new convention center. The Major Events Reimbursement Fund exists as a critical tool to retain events in Texas. SXSW is an internationally known event that we hope can stay in Austin for a long time. This bill can help shore up that possibility. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
