The Texan Podcast - Daily Rundown - August 28, 2025

Episode Date: August 28, 2025

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Howdy, folks, today is Thursday, August 28th, and you're listening to The Texans Daily Rundown. I'm the Texans assistant editor Rob Laus, and here is the rundown of today's news in Texas politics. First up, the Make America Healthy Again movement has made its way to the Texas Capitol with its face, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., joining a number of Texas elected officials to celebrate the signing of state legislation. The Make Texas Healthy Again Legislation, Senate Bill 25, marked a significant shift in approach for state Republicans in how they would seek to improve Texans' health. The author of the bill, State Senator Lois Colchorst, sought to make fundamental changes to how food products are labeled and improve the state of

nutritional education. Next, State Representative John Lujan is planning to make the jump from Austin to Washington, D.C., filing to run for the newly created Texas Congressional District 35 next year. The recent mid-decade congressional redistricting has shifted a number of Democratic-heavy districts to being solidly Republican. One of those is the 35th District, currently held by Congressman Greg Kassar, who has said he will be shifting his focus to run in the 37th. That seat is currently occupied by Congressman Lloyd Doggett, who announced he would not run again in the version of the district. According to the Texans' Texas Partisan Index, the 35th Congressional District will move from D-70% to R-55%. In other news, 14-year Major League Baseball veteran Mark Tashara

is running for elected office in Texas' 21st Congressional District, left open as incumbent Congressman Chip Roy is now running for Attorney General. Since the conclusion of his playing career, Tashara and his family have lived in Texas and attend church in Austin. His political footprint began during his playing days, backing then-Senator Marco Rubio for president in 2016. Tashara was heavily involved in the recent push for school choice in Texas, joining the conservative Texas Public Policy Foundation to promote the effort on a number of occasions. Also, Texas Republicans' advanced legislation intended to allow the Office of the Attorney General to prosecute election fraud, though Democrats argue it contradicts a previous court ruling. The Texas House rejected H.J.R. 1,

a proposed constitutional amendment to allow the Texas Office of the Attorney General to independently prosecute election crimes by failing to reach a two-thirds majority on Tuesday. The same day, Senate Bill 12, a statutory bill on the same issue authored by State Senator Brian Hughes passed along partisan lines. The initiative stems from the 2021 Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruling State v. Stevens. After a local district attorney declined to pursue campaign finance charges, the case was referred to Attorney General Ken Paxton, whose office relied on a 2003 law giving the Attorney General authority to prosecute election cases. The Court of Criminal Appeals struck down that law in an eight-to-one decision, ruling that only local and county prosecutor,

hold that power, per the Texas Constitution. In addition, following a three-year battle over open records that included a lawsuit against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, the city of Kima released some documents this week related to an investigation into former police chief Holland Jones, including allegations that Jones's orders were unconstitutional and unethical. According to a complaint filed by former Kema Police Department officer Justin Staten in April 2012, Jones ordered him and another officer to issue a citation to employees at the Palapa's restaurant, although the police department, quote, lacked the equipment, a decibel reader, required by the city ordinance to establish probable cause, end quote. Staten was later elected to the Chema

City Council in 2023 and served one term. Palapas Tiki bars at the center of a federal lawsuit filed in January 2022, accusing the city of a regulatory taking of property under the Fifth Amendment and violations of constitutional rights to due process and equal protection under the 14th Amendment. Last but not least, Dallas and Fort Worth are both basing their budgets on lower tax rates than last year, but which exceed the no new revenue rate. The city of Dallas has proposed a budget for fiscal year 26 exceeding $5 billion that is based on a tax rate slightly lower than last year's rate. The overall proposed Fort Worth budget for fiscal year 2026 is $3.09 billion, an increase of about 10% from last year's budget.

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