Rick Perry

A Democratic senator was able to add a last-minute provision to the last of Gov. Rick Perry’s business tax cut bills calling for more oversight and monitoring of the program. 

Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, was able to add his provision to House Bill 500, which provides  Texas small businesses with $600 million in tax cuts.

The attachment bill would have the Texas Comptroller review the businesses receiving a tax cut to be sure such cuts were effective.

A group of protesters managed to infiltrate Gov. Rick Perry's speech announcing the latest bill that awards tax cuts for Texas small businesses. 

Moments after the Senate gave the final passage of a bill awarding over $600 million in tax cuts for small businesses, Perry made the announcement at the Austin Chamber of Commerce.

After meeting for hours behind closed doors, House Democratic leaders declined the Republican deal on the state’s budget bill.  

Rep. Sylvester Turner, D-Houston, the vice-chair of the Democratic Caucus, said House Democrats are unified in their stance against the budget in its current form, which promises $3.2 billion for education funding.

The likelihood of fixing Texas roads seems slim as Rep. Drew Darby, R-San Angelo, a leader of transportation in the House, withdrew his bill from the floor.  

The bill would have raised the state’s registration fee $50 to help pay for roads, but that was lowered to a $15 increase as the bill was debated. 

Rep. Lyle Larson, R-San Antonio, who authored House Bill 160, which mandates Gov. Rick Perry pay back the state for travel and security expenses incurred during his presidential campaign, got his chance to talk to Perry about it face to face.  

Gov. Rick Perry said details are coming in about the destruction in West, Texas and there is still an on-going search and rescue effort for missing families near the blast site.

"We know there were 75 residencies that are either going to have minor to substantial damage, up to and including being pushed off their slabs, and you have a school that has a substantial amount of damage," Perry said.

In 2006 the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality was called out to the plant.

At times house members were shouting over each other as they debated HB 63, a bill that would outlaw the practice of texting while driving. 

The governor’s office release details of a tax relief plan that provides benefits for small and large businesses alike. Before getting into specifics, Gov. Rick Perry took a moment to pause for those affected by the bombings that occurred during the Boston Marathon. 

"I think all of us have friends and/or relatives up in Boston with the race going on so keep them in your prayers as we get the details," Perry said.

Perry listed a four-part plan to to provide over $1 billion in tax money to current businesses and out-of-state companies looking to re-locate.

During the Texas Lyceum Conference on Transportation Friday, Gov. Rick Perry announced his plan to fix funding issues with transportation costs. 

"On every car or truck sold in the state of Texas, we take in sales tax. The amount we take in on those sales is increasing steadily. I propose we dedicate the future growth in sales tax collected on motor vehicles to transportation infrastructure," Perry said.

The governor said Texas should take advantage of the state’s relatively low debt to fix roads, like those in the Eagle Ford Shale and Burnet Shale areas of the state.

In the first segment:

Kevin Moriarty from Methodist Healthcare Ministries and John Davidson from the Texas Public Policy Foundation talk about the pros and cons of Medicaid expansion in Texas.

Though Gov. Rick Perry has been staunchly opposed to expanding Medicaid in line with the Affordable Care Act, some Republicans don't want to leave the money on the table.