Texas Senate Rejects Tightening Insurance Regulations

In a major win for insurance companies, the Senate – voting along party lines – Monday rejected a Democratic-backed proposal that would have required home insurers to get prior approval from the state before raising rates. Senate Republicans also beat back several other Democratic attempts to tighten regulation of insurance companies, including a proposal that would have required health insurers for the first time to file rate increases with the Texas Department of Insurance. More

Senate Ignores Perry, Votes to Accept Funds

The Texas Senate voted Monday to accept $555 million in federal unemployment benefits, a slap at Gov. Rick Perry and his political battle cry of excessive Washington spending. The measure, which passed 19-11 Monday and now heads to the state House, would expand state unemployment benefits by including part-time workers and people who quit for compelling reasons, such as a child’s illness or family violence. The money is being offered as part of the federal stimulus package. More

Texas Cities Dominate Forbes List of Best Places for Jobs

Texas cities dominate a new list of the best places for jobs, with the top five large metropolitan areas for job growth all located in the Lone Star State, according to Forbes magazine. Nine of the top 20 cities on the overall list are in Texas, with Odessa ranked No. 1. More

In Rare Harmony, Texas House Passes $178 Billion Budget

In an early Saturday show of newfound House harmony, the 150-member chamber unanimously approved a $178 billion state budget, the first under Speaker Joe Straus. "The real story tonight is that we all worked together, arm in arm, to pass a budget that we can all be proud of," Republican Rep. Jim Pitts, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said after guiding the chamber through an unusually cordial 18-hour debate that ended with a vote around 4 a.m. More

Plan to Allow Votes on Road, Rail Faces Rough Ride in Texas House

For nearly six years, North Texas leaders have asked for - and failed to get - lawmakers' approval to let local residents decide whether to pay higher taxes and fees in return for billions of dollars' worth of rail and road improvements. Such a proposal - which passed the Texas Senate earlier this month - takes center court today in the House, where the transportation committee will begin debating the bill. More

Commissioners to Vote on Impact Fee Increase

There will be a second and final reading on adopting an increase to the impact fees charged developers to offset the cost of extending infrastructure to development. Commissioners will then vote whether to adopt the increase. The commission's regular meeting starts at 6 p.m. at City Hall, 1001 E. Elizabeth St. The present impact fee of $280 has been in place since 1990, but at a March 25 meeting, the commission's majority voted to adopt a fee of $2,600 per lot, down from the maximum allowable of $3,486 identified through Brownsville Public Utilities Board study. More

March Home Sales Down from Last Year

Single-family homes sales and median home prices in March were down compared with the same month last year, but the rate at which sales volumes are dropping has slowed down, according to data from the Austin Board of Realtors. Single-family home sales in March declined 22 percent compared with March 2008, and the median home price was $180,160, down 4 percent over the same time period, according to ABoR. More

Report: U.S. Housing Market Undervalued

All eyes will be on Florida and other markets that saw the biggest housing bust for signs of stability and growth, according to a new report by IHS Global Insight titled “House Prices in America.” “Markets where the boom was greatest, and the fall the hardest, will be watched carefully for any signals that may indicate a trend towards stability and potential growth,” said Jeannine Cataldi, senior economist and manager of IHS Global Insight's Regional Real Estate Service, in a news release. But don’t expect a turn around any time soon, noted James Diffley, group managing director of IHS Global Insight's Regional Services Group. More

Perry’s Unemployment Statement Spawns E-mail Barrage

“May the fleas of 1,000 camels infest your linen closet,” wrote the 46-year-old unemployed Texan in a March e-mail to Gov. Rick Perry. It was just one of about 4,300 comments that flooded into the governor’s in-box after he announced last month that Texas would oppose any change to unemployment laws necessary to accept $555 million in federal stimulus money. More