Capital Highlights

By Editor | May 13, 2026

High gas prices eating into Texans’ budgets

Top Texas legislators are pushing to waive a new state law that requires camps to install broadband fiber optics in order to legally operate this summer, The Dallas Morning News reported. Scores of camps are struggling to meet the deadline. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and House Speaker Dustin Burrows released a statement last week saying they support lifting the law.

Nearly 20 camps have sued to block the law requiring them to install a fiber-optic network, arguing that it does not make their properties safer and would cost millions of dollars. So far only nine Texas summer camps are licensed to open, with fewer than two weeks before the season begins. Nearly 300 are still working to obtain licenses. The Department of State Health Services said last week that camps will be allowed to operate under existing licenses while their applications are reviewed.

The laws were passed in the aftermath of last year’s July 4 flooding, which killed more than two dozen campers at Camp Mystic along the Guadalupe River. In addition to fiber optic networks, camps must install emergency warning and public address systems and provide safety training for campers.

Patrick backs Middleton in attorney general runoff

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick is backing state Sen. Mayes Middleton, R-Galveston, in the GOP runoff for Texas attorney general on May 26. Early voting runs from May 18 to May 22. In the runoff, Middleton faces U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Austin.

“Mayes Middleton has established a record as one of the most conservative senators in Texas history,” Patrick said on social media.

The News quoted Patrick as saying Middleton will make the post “the strongest and most impactful AG office in the nation.”

Democrats Joe Jaworski, a former Galveston mayor, and state Sen. Nathan Johnson, D-Dallas, are in a runoff for their party’s attorney general nomination. Incumbent Ken Paxton opted not to run and is locked in a primary runoff with incumbent U.S. Sen. John Cornyn.

Cornyn, Paxton in tight runoff race

Paxton is locked in a tight race against incumbent U.S. Sen. John Cornyn for the GOP nomination, the Texas Standard reported. The Hobby School of Public Affairs at the University of Houston recently conducted a poll that showed Paxton leading Cornyn, 48% to 45% with 7% still undecided.

The poll of those indicating they were likely to vote in the GOP runoff had a 2.83% margin of error.

In the first quarter of this year, Cornyn raised nearly $9 million, including $3.4 million after the March primary. Paxton raised $2.2 million. Democratic nominee state Rep. James Talarico, D-Round Rock, raised a record $27 million in the first quarter, the largest-ever sum for a Senate candidate in the first quarter of an election year in any state.

Texas has biggest teacher workforce, but they get paid less

Texas has the country’s largest teacher workforce but lags behind the national average in teacher pay and per-student spending, according to a report in the Austin American-Statesman.

A National Education Association report said teacher pay in Texas is about $10,700 below the U.S. Average. Texas public school teachers earned an average of $63,749 in 2024-2025, which put it 33^rd among states and Washington, D.C. The national average was $74,495.

Texas had nearly 370,000 public school teachers in 2024-2025, the highest number in the country.

Smokable hemp again pulled from Texas shelves

Smokable hemp products such as flower buds and rolled joints must again be pulled from store shelves as the state appeals the latest court ruling, according to The Texas Tribune. The ban was set to take effect on March 31, but lawyers for the hemp industry filed suit challenging the plan. A Travis County district judge temporarily halted imposition of the ban, but with the 15^th Texas Court of Appeals agreeing to hear the state’s appeal of the lower court ruling, the ban is now back in effect.

“We are confident that the 15th Court of Appeals will reinstate our temporary injunction so that our vets, elderly, and adult consumers have reasonable access to these products,” said David Sergi, an attorney for the hemp industry.

Hemp retailers have said their businesses have lost over half their revenue since imposition of the new rules, which also include much steeper licensing fees.

Texas leads in immigration detention as crossings plummet

Texas continues to lead the country in the number of people held in detention centers, even as unauthorized border crossings plunge, the Houston Chronicle reported.

As of early April, the daily average in Texas was nearly 18,000 people. That’s more than twice the average number of immigrants held in Louisiana, the second highest, with about 8,100 per day.

Texas’ high numbers are partly due to the state’s numerous detention centers and a ruling from the 5^th Circuit Court of Appeals that upheld the practice of holding immigrants until their removal proceedings conclude.

“The 5th Circuit is not immigrant-friendly, and it’s easier to remove people who are detained in the Texas facilities,” said Zenobia Lai, executive director of the Houston Immigration Legal Services Collaborative.

A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said decisions on where detainees are held are made on a “case-by-case basis in accordance with U.S. law.”

Texas most at-risk state for hail damage

Everything is bigger in Texas, including the hail, according to Cotality’s 2026 Severe Convective Storm Risk Report, published in the Statesman. The state ranks as the most at-risk for hail damage, with 8 million homes exposed and a combined reconstruction value exceeding $3.1 trillion.

Four Texas cities rank among the top 10 for homes at greater risk of hail damage. Dallas ranks second nationally, behind Chicago, followed by Houston in third, Austin in ninth, and San Antonio in tenth.

“Although most hailstones are typically pea- or dime-size, hail can grow to as large as golf balls and baseballs. In extreme cases, hail can reach the size of a softball, grapefruit or even a pineapple,” Statesman meteorologist Mary Wasson wrote.

A pineapple?

Posted in Opinion