On the Record

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RRC Begins Plugging on Coastal Orphaned Wells

The Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) will use its decades of experience to tackle a series of difficult and complex orphaned wells in the coastal waters of Baffin Bay. The six orphaned wells located in the Cayo del Grullo region of the bay, roughly 40 miles south of Corpus Christi, will be plugged by the Commission’s award-winning State Managed Plugging Program (SMP). As of June 10, 2026, SMP has plugged 1,688 wells in fiscal year 2026, adding to the more than 47,000 wells the SMP has plugged across the state since 1984.

06.16.2026
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Gov. Abbott Celebrates SpaceX's Dual Listing on Nasdaq – AND Nasdaq Texas

“Today marks a defining moment — SpaceX's listing on Nasdaq AND Nasdaq Texas cements the state's standing as a World-Class Hub for transformative companies. For SpaceX, for American innovation, and for Texas, the company's home state, this marquee dual listing is a powerful demonstration of what becomes possible when global liquidity and local alignment converge,” said Rachel Racz, Nasdaq's SVP & Head of Listings for Texas as part of its historic initial public offering trading under its stock symbol SPCX.

06.15.2026
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Pfluger: Funding Federal Law Enforcement to Keep Americans Safe

Through the Secure America Act, Republicans are delivering strong border security measures to keep communities safe through the remainder of President Trump's term. This bill invests $70 billion in the Border Patrol agents and ICE officers taking down cartels, stopping human traffickers, and keeping bad actors off America’s streets. The Democrats chose open borders, so Republicans are using reconciliation, the most powerful tool available to circumvent obstruction, to finish the job without them.

06.15.2026
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Babin: Secretary Wright Visits Port Houston

During our visit, we discussed how investments in critical infrastructure, including Project 11 and the expansion of the Houston Ship Channel, are increasing export capacity, improving safety, and ensuring our region remains the gateway through which American energy reaches the world. I have been proud to work alongside local leaders, industry partners, and federal agencies to secure the authorizations and funding necessary to advance this transformational project.

06.15.2026
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Land Commissioner Buckingham Celebrates the Heroic Women Who Have Served on Women Veterans Recognition Day

Texas Land Commissioner and Veterans Land Board (VLB) Chairwoman Dawn Buckingham, M.D., is delighted to recognize and praise all of the amazing women who have proudly served our country on Women Veterans Recognition Day, a day to acknowledge and commemorate the signing of the Women’s Armed Services Integration Act, allowing women the right to serve as regular members of the military.

06.15.2026
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​​​​​​​Gov. Abbott Announces $750 Million in Teacher Incentive Allotment Awards

"Texas is blessed with teachers who have educated and inspired students for generations. These funds ensure the best teachers are recognized for their efforts to improve the lives of their students," said Gov. Greg Abbott, noting that Teacher Incentive Allotment (TIA) funds have been awarded to over 65,000 Texas teachers across more than 800 school systems. Administered by the Texas Education Agency (TEA), total TIA awards now exceed $1.8 billion since inception.

06.12.2026
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Texas Land Commissioner Buckingham Offers USDA Access to GLO State Lands to Combat New World Screwworm

 Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham, M.D., sent a letter to United States Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins and Texas Governor Greg Abbott offering access to appropriate General Land Office (GLO) managed lands to support the State and United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) response to the active, escalating threat of the New World Screwworm. Currently, there are five active cases of the New World Screwworm in Texas.

06.12.2026
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Wayne Christian Backs Abbott's Data Center Measures to Protect Texans, Grid Reliability   

Oil and gas regulator Commissioner Wayne Christian today backed Gov. Greg Abbott's directive to the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUC) and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) requiring data centers to bear the full cost of the electricity infrastructure needed to serve them. "Our job is to protect prosperity, safeguard taxpayers and ensure the infrastructure that powers our economy remains strong and reliable.”

06.12.2026
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Donalds Introduces the Tax Dollar Accountability Act

Any government entity that accepts federal funding must grant the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency complete access to its internal financial records that pertain to federal dollars. This includes detailed budgets, expenditure reports, vendor contracts, and grant distributions. Local and state officials will be legally required to hand over these documents at the conclusion of every fiscal year to verify that federal taxpayer dollars are being managed properly. 

06.12.2026
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Sens. Cruz, Hickenlooper Introduce Bipartisan Bill to Strengthen Military Data Capabilities in Space

U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.) introduced the Nodes, Enterprise Workloads, and Hybrid Operations, Resilience, Integration, Zero-Trust, Orbital Networks (NEW HORIZON) Act. This legislation establishes a Department of War pilot program to evaluate commercially available orbital data center and space-based cloud computing services for national security missions.

06.11.2026
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​​​​​​​Governor Abbott Directs PUC And ERCOT To Shield Texans From Data Center Infrastructure Costs

Governor Greg Abbott directed the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUC) and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) to take immediate steps to protect residential ratepayers from the costs of data center expansion. Governor Abbott also pledged to work with the Legislature next session to codify these protections and ensure data centers add to Texas’ electric capacity rather than merely increasing demand.

06.11.2026
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Texas Education Freedom Accounts Pass 100,000-Student Milestone

Acting Texas Comptroller Kelly Hancock today announced that Texas Education Freedom Accounts (TEFA) have reached a major milestone, with more than 102,000 students awarded accounts for the 2026-27 school year. The latest batch of waitlisted students — more than 4,100 — were awarded accounts this week. All the newly awarded students qualified for Tier 2 application priority, meaning they had family incomes at or below 200% of the federal poverty level ($66,000 per year for a family of four).

06.11.2026
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Governor Abbott Announces $166 Million In Energy Assistance Funds

Governor Greg Abbott today announced $166 million in energy assistance funds to help low-income Texans maintain safe and affordable housing. Award funds, administered by the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA), are set to begin January 1, 2027. The grant awards may be used to provide income-eligible households with utility bill payment assistance; energy-efficient heating, cooling, or refrigeration equipment; and consumer counseling and case management to help them achieve self-sufficiency.

06.10.2026
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Minnesota's Fraud Is Even Worse Than We Thought

We thought we'd read everything on the Minnesota fraud scandals in which billions of dollars were looted from federal social programs and 110 Individuals have been indicted.  But yesterday, the House Oversight committee released its report titled "The Cost of Doing Nothing," detailing how a trio of power-hungry pols - Governor Tim Walz, state AG Keith Ellison and Rep. Ilan Omar - repeatedly failed to act.   The testimony from nearly 30 whistleblower state employees and participants in the programs is damming.

06.10.2026
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Wayne Christian Hails Federal Decision Ending Dunes Sagebrush Lizard Endangered Species Act Protections

Oil and gas regulator Wayne Christian today applauded the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (FWS) decision to revoke the Endangered Species Act listing of the dunes sagebrush lizard, a move that aims to resolve litigation pursued by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on behalf of the Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) and marks what Christian called a significant victory against federal regulatory overreach affecting American energy production.

06.10.2026
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Governor Abbott, Secretary Rollins Update Texans On Screwworm Response At Kerrville Lab

Governor Greg Abbott today joined U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins and federal and state partners at the Knipling-Bushland U.S. Livestock Insects Research Laboratory for a briefing and update on Texas’ ongoing response to the New World screwworm threat. During his remarks, Governor Abbott highlighted the coordinated state and federal effort underway to prevent the spread of the New World screwworm in Texas. USDA is deploying sterile flies across the infected areas and working to establish a new sterile fly production facility in Edinburg. 

06.09.2026
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Babin: Treasury Data Shows Republican Tax Cuts Are Delivering for Working Families

The U.S. Treasury Department released a new analysis finding that American families and American workers benefited the most from Republicans’ Working Families Tax Cuts. Republicans wrote this legislation for lower- and middle-class earners, the men and women who get up and start working before the sun rises and go home well after it sets, and this analysis proves those efforts were successful.

06.09.2026
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Big State, Bigger Deals: Texas Leads as America’s Home for Innovation

Texas has always been the home of big ideas and bigger deals. It’s where ambition meets low taxes and light regulation, where the world’s most consequential companies plant flags and make moves that reshape industries. Fort Worth-based American Airlines announced it has selected Starlink – the satellite internet service operated by Elon Musk’s SpaceX – to provide high-speed Wi-Fi on more than 500 of its aircraft, with installations set to begin in the first quarter of 2027.

06.09.2026
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Governor Abbott Deploys State Resources To Combat New World Screwworm

Governor Greg Abbott received a briefing and updated Texans on the state’s response following confirmation of a New World Screwworm (NWS) detection in Texas. The Governor also issued a disaster declaration for Zavala and Uvalde Counties. The Governor’s disaster declaration deploys all available state resources to respond to this threat and prioritizes resources to Uvalde and Zavala counties.

06.08.2026
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Babin, Cruz Push Bipartisan Effort to Protect MQ-9 Aircraft & Preserve National Guard Readiness

Representatives Brian Babin (R-TX) and Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA,) and Senators Ted Cruz, Mark Kelly (D-AZ), and Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) have introduced the "Sustainment of Unmanned Systems, Total Force Aircraft Inventory & National Guard Protection (SUSTAIN) Act" in an effort to prohibit the Air Force from reducing its MQ-9 aircraft units or staffing levels, which is critical for providing various intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities.

06.08.2026
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06.25.2026

TEXAS INSIDER ON YOUTUBE

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06.24.2026
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06.23.2026
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