The Texan Podcast - Daily Rundown - May 15, 2025

Episode Date: May 15, 2025

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Howdy folks, today is Thursday, May 15th, and you're listening to the Texans Daily Rundown. I'm the Texans Assistant Editor Rob Lauschus, and here is the rundown of today's news in Texas politics. First up, the first deadline to pass legislation in the Texas House is Thursday night at midnight, at which point any bill that hasn't received initial approval is dead for the rest of session. The 122nd day of each session is the cutoff point for the lower chamber to take up any House bill

on second reading. A bill needs to be approved via a vote twice before passing either chamber. Per the Texas Constitution, a bill must be heard three times in each chamber of the legislature before it is passed. The first reading is before it's assigned to a committee. On the second and third readings, members have the opportunity to debate the legislation,

propose amendments, and file points of order to challenge its procedural fitness before ultimately voting. Each bill thus receives two votes, one of which usually gets all the attention from members who oppose it. Every session, that deadline day becomes full of fits and starts as Republicans try to pass as much as they can before the clock strikes midnight, and Democrats try to slow things down to prevent the majority's bills from passing. The term for that slowing of the process is chubbing, which comes in the form of dilatory

questions, calling frequent points of order, and deploying any other method of time wasting. Next, slowing the flow of illegal immigration into the US is one of President Donald Trump's top priorities for his second administration, and new numbers from US Customs and Border Protection detail the dramatic shift at the southern border after he took office.

CBP Acting Commissioner Pete Flores said in a press release, quote, For the first time in years, more agents are back in the field patrolling territories that CBP didn't have the bandwidth or manpower to oversee just six months ago. The press release also lists the overwhelming improvements at the border, which includes that just five illegal aliens were temporarily allowed entry into the US in April for special interest court cases. CBP called that a staggering drop as compared to the roughly 68,000 who were admitted the same month a year prior. Trump recently told NBC News, quote, we have the best border in the history of our country. In other news, Dallas

residents have two city council races to decide in runoff elections on June 7. Place 8, being vacated by Mayor Pro Tempore Tanel Atkins, and Place 11, being vacated by Janie Schultz, will be on the ballot. Eric Wilson and Lori Blair are the candidates in place 8. In the May 3rd election, Wilson garnered 42.1% and Blair took 39.45% of the 2,682 votes cast. District 8 is the southernmost district in Dallas. Bill Roth and Jeff Kittner are on the ballot for place 11. Roth took about 48% of the 6,187 votes cast, while Kittner came away with about 45 percent.

Last but not least, among the weediest issues the Texas legislature is attacking this session is insurance, an industry with ballooning premiums caused by general uncertainty on one end and certainty of payout on the other. Quote, insurance is the practice of assigning a dollar amount to risk, State Representative Tom Olliverson told the House Insurance Committee in March. It is also the socialization of the payout, whereby the business model survives because the inputs from the many outweigh the payouts to the few.

At root, it is that simple. But that's where the simplicity stops and where the complexity of the branches and the leaves begin, particularly so when the margin between pay ins and pay outs shrinks. Visit thetexan.news to read senior reporter Brad Johnson's breakdown of the Texas Legislature's proposed reforms to the state's insurance industry. Thanks for listening. To support The Texan, please be sure to visit thetexan.news and subscribe to get full access to all of our articles, newsletters, and podcasts.