Texas Tomorrow

Before you vote to let your county borrow money, do you know exactly what you’re approving?
In one county, that question comes with an $817.5 million price tag.

A company under a federal agreement to stop discharging plastic asked Texas regulators to write that same promise into its state permit. TCEQ said no.

Texas officials told lawmakers it can take about 36 hours to put every responding agency on one communications plan. The challenge is not only buying radios; it is deciding who sets standards, pays for the system, and trains responders to use it.

It took exactly 100 signatures to put a brand new taxing entity on the ballot in a Texas county of 402,000 people. Should creating a government be that easy, or is that the point?

Texas local governments must balance their budgets. Some do it with land sales, rainy-day money, utility transfers, and other dollars that may not be there next year.

Four San Antonio-area school districts are asking voters for more operating money this November. What happens if either side of the ballot fails?

Harris County’s appraisal district acknowledged a control failure and promised corrections; the next test is whether the public can verify the fix.

If human reviewers fade away and government work product is AI-produced, who will be held responsible for when things go wrong?

Most voters will not see their November local ballot until October. But cities, counties, school districts, and special districts are making the real decisions now: what gets ordered onto the ballot by August 17.

Houston awarded $579 million to certified minority-, women-, and small-business contractors last year. Now, a federal judge has blocked the city from using race in those contracting decisions. What happens next?