Alejandra Martinez

Texas will use $1 billion in sales tax a year for the next two decades to help secure the state’s water supply.

No new taxes would be collected for the package that would give the state’s water department $1 billion to spend on projects like cleaning salty water, flood control and reservoirs.

Houston’s National Weather Service office has lost its head meteorologist amid a federal requirement to cut 10% of NOAA’s staff.

Texas lawmakers bypassed bills that would have restricted “forever chemicals” in sewage sludge, studied health impacts and banned some uses of PFAS-laced firefighting foams.

As the state seeks to put guardrails around the fast-growing technology, some critics say the bill doesn’t go far enough to protect citizens while industry worries about stifling innovation.

Gov. Greg Abbott and other leaders have called for a major investment to save the state’s water supply. How to spend the money has caused friction at the Capitol.

Supporters say the bill would protect farmland in Texas. Opponents say limiting PFAS chemicals in biosolids will force water utilities to look at other disposal methods, which will lead to higher utility bills.

The group from Johnson County waited 18 hours to testify at a hearing that started at 1 a.m. on a bill to limit toxic chemicals in fertilizer.

Across Texas, abandoned wells are erupting with chemical-infused liquid and some have created massive lakes of contaminated water. Regulators say they need more money to address the problem.

Normally, memorial resolutions to honor Texans who have died are passed without controversy. But the resolution for Richards, a former president of Planned Parenthood who died this year, sparked a cascade of outrage from conservatives.