Category: State News

The Texas State Board of Plumbing Examiners — responsible for licensing plumbers and enforcing plumbing law — was caught up in a legislative fiasco with lawmakers twice failing to pass the legislation that would have kept it going. It was also not saved via legislation known as a “sunset safety net bill” that lawmakers pass each legislative session to keep a long list of state agencies from shutting down. The plumbers board is now heading toward what’s known as a “wind down” period, which gives it until Sept. 1, 2020, to wrap up its operations. The plumbing code, which regulates everything from plumbers’ insurance to the standards they must follow, expires in September, (but individual municipalities can and will likely still regulate plumbers under local regulations).

A proposal on its way to Gov. Greg Abbott would make it easier for pickled beets, carrots and other produce to be easily sold at farmers’ markets alongside pickled cucumbers.

Whenever the subject of Marijuana Legalization comes up, many suggest that legalizing and taxing would boost the Texas economy; often times pointing to Colorado as an example. So, KHOU 11 News in Houston took a look at the numbers and made this report:

“The Constitution’s protection of religious liberty is somehow even better than Chick-fil-A’s chicken,” Paxton wrote in a Thursday letter to San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg and the rest of the council.

The Houston Ship Channel could remain shut to regular through traffic for several more days, the Coast Guard has confirmed, trapping dozens of inbound and outbound oil and LPG tankers. Emergency crews led by the Coast Guard noticed elevated Benzene levels in the area, and even what was described as a “benzene plume” hovering above the water. This as Deer Park area residents complained of illnesses ranging from nausea to headaches to irritation and burning in the skin, eyes, nose and throat from the disaster which began on March 17.