MRT 5/16-17/25 (free): $6B Water Infrastructure Project Planned // House Passes Bill Requiring A/C in Prisons / State Foster Care Lawsuit Appealed to SCOTUS // Chip Roy Demands More Cuts in Reconciliation Bill

MustReadTexas.com – @MustReadTexas
BY: @MattMackowiak 

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FRIDAY | 5/16/2025 & SATURDAY | 5/17/2025

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• TOP NEWS

"Could a $6 billion plan solve some of Texas' water supply problems?” San Antonio Express-News' Lit Teitz -- "As fast-growing cities, utilities and businesses clamor for more water in drought-stricken Central Texas, an ambitious $6 billion plan is emerging to meet some of their demand.

The Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority wants to build a new reservoir to hold water from the river, and construct more than 250 miles of pipeline to move that water throughout the river basin, which runs from Kerr County to the Gulf Coast.

Dubbed the “WaterSecure Project,” officials say the plan would primarily rely on existing water rights that the authority already has for surface water from Guadalupe River, but it could potentially incorporate aquifer storage and brackish water desalination.

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If it becomes a reality, the first water from the project would be delivered in 2033, with more available by the 2040s as the project is expanded, the river authority said. It expects utilities throughout the region to participate, purchasing water and paying back bonds issued for the project.

The project could involve a new reservoir in Calhoun County, a new treatment plant, new desalination plant and underground storage wells in Gonzales County, and pipelines running all the way from the new reservoir to Kendall, Comal and Hays counties, according to regional water planning documents.

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It would be the latest large infrastructure project aiming to move water around the region, and likely the most expensive to date, with an estimated price tag more than double the cost of San Antonio’s Vista Ridge pipeline.

In recent years, the Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority and other utilities have also spent hundreds of millions of dollars building their own pipelines to bring in groundwater from the Carrizo Aquifer east of Interstate 35 to shore up their supplies, but the WaterSecure project would be the first large-scale system aimed at transporting surface water throughout Central Texas.

“We’ve consistently seen explosive growth in this region,” said Charlie Hickman, the river authority’s executive manager of engineering. “That drives a need for new water supply for the region, and our WaterSecure is a regional project that will help fill in a portion of the future projected demands.”" SAEN ($)

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• #TXLEGE

"Texas House advances bill requiring A/C in prisons; proposal's fate uncertain in Senate” Austin American-Statesman's Bayliss Wagner -- "The Texas House overwhelmingly passed legislation Thursday night to require air conditioning across the state’s prison system, marking the third time in five years that the lower chamber has approved such a measure. The Senate has declined to take it up in the previous two sessions.

The 89-43 vote comes less than two months after an Austin federal judge declared extreme heat in Texas prisons to be “plainly unconstitutional” and warned lawmakers that he expects to order the state to install permanent air-conditioning systemwide. It also took place hours before a midnight cutoff for the House to pass bills originating in that chamber.

House Bill 3006 is expected to face an uphill battle in the more conservative state Senate, which has repeatedly declined to hear similar proposals.

Democratic state Rep. Terry Canales of Edinburg, a criminal defense attorney, said he filed the bill because the constant, sweltering heat in lockups is “inhumane” and constitutes cruel and unusual punishment.

“Many people are not violent offenders,” he told the American-Statesman. “They surely didn't get sentenced to death. But we're killing them. We're cooking people.”

Over 60% of Texas inmates are being held on violent offenses, 15% on drug-related offenses and 9% on property offenses. The average prisoner is 41 years old, according to Texas 2036, a center-right policy think tank.

Texas Department of Criminal Justice Director Bryan Collier has acknowledged that heat was a factor in three inmates’ deaths from multiple causes in 2023. Prison guards and staff members also continue to fall ill from heat exposure, and the system struggled with a turnover rate of 26% in 2023, one of the hottest years in recent Texas history.

HB 3006 outlines a three-phased approach that would require TDCJ to install climate control in one-third of its facilities by 2028, another one-third by 2030 and the final third of the facilities by 2032 — but only if it receives the funds to do so. The agency would be mandated to solicit competitive bids from private contractors to complete the project, and the cost would be capped at $100 million per phase.

Canales described visiting the minimum-security prison in his hometown on a broiling Texas summer day, where the odor of male sweat is so strong that “you can taste it” and where prisoners flood their cells with toilet water, then “take turns lying in it” overnight to cool down.

In a yearslong legal battle over the climate control in Texas prisons, plaintiffs are asking the court to require the state to maintain cell temperatures between 65 and 85 degrees, a similar range as Texas jails and federal prisons are required to maintain. Nearly 70% of cells in the state prison system lack air conditioning, according to a court filing in the lawsuit.

On the state's current trajectory, it would take at least 25 years to ensure all cells are climate-controlled, which is "insufficient under the Eight Amendment," U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman found in his March ruling on a request for a preliminary injunction. Pitman urged Collier to prepare for an adverse final ruling that would require Texas to air-condition all cells, and he recently scheduled a jury trial for March 2026.

TDCJ has installed nearly 48,000 "cool beds" in its system so far and is in the process of procuring 12,000 more. The agency received $85 million for additional air conditioning installation in 2023 and is requesting another $118 million for the next bieennium, which it says would allow for 16,000 more air-conditioned beds. That would bring the total number to 78,000 in a system that housed nearly 133,000 inmates in 2023.

Even if a bill requiring A/C does not pass the Senate, it is likely that the prison system will receive more state funds to install air conditioning. State Sen. Joan Huffman, R-Houston, told the Texas Tribune that the state budget will include the $118 million the TDCJ has requested to install around 11,000 additional cool beds over the next two years. The state will also allocate $3 million for new dorms, which would be air conditioned, she wrote in the statement, the Tribune reported.

Huffman did not respond to Statesman requests for comment." AAS ($)

• STATE GOVERNMENT

"Texas foster care lawsuit appealed to Supreme Court,” Texas Tribune's Eleanor Klibanoff -- "A long-running lawsuit against Texas’ foster care system may get another look after lawyers representing children in state care asked the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene.

The petition, filed Monday, asks the high court to review a recent ruling from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that overturned a contempt order against the state and removed the judge who had overseen the case to this point.

U.S. District Judge Janis Jack was removed from the case in October, after more than 13 years as the state’s de facto foster care czar. She issued the original ruling in the 2011 lawsuit that found kids were leaving state care more damaged than when they entered, after being “shuttled throughout a system where rape, abuse, psychotropic medication, and instability are the norm.”

She placed the state system under federal oversight, which the state fought in court for many years.

In the years since that initial ruling, Jack found the state in contempt three times for failing to comply with court ordered reforms. The most recent contempt order was in April 2024, when she ordered the state to pay $100,000 a day until it could prove it was properly investigating abuse and neglect allegations among the most disabled children in state care. The state appealed that ruling.

In October, the 5th Circuit reversed Jack’s contempt order, ruling that it was criminal, not civil in nature, and ordered her removed from the case. Jack has been replaced by U.S. Chief District Judge Randy Crane." Texas Tribune

"Ken Paxton hit with two lawsuits over county oversight rule,” Texas Tribune's Ayden Runnels -- "Five Texas district attorneys are suing Attorney General Ken Paxton in two separate lawsuits filed Friday over new rules that would give the state’s top law enforcer meticulous access to their office’s records.

The two lawsuits, filed in Travis County District Court, seek to overturn a new rule created by Paxton’s office giving the attorney general office’s employees discretion to request almost all documents from cases county officials work on, regardless of whether they are being pursued. The district attorneys suing Paxton said the rule is an unconstitutional overreach that would needlessly burden offices who would have to present “terabytes” of data to the attorney general.

The rule, which took effect in April, only applies to counties with 400,000 residents or more — a threshold only 13 counties in the state meets. Paxton’s office has marked the provision as a way to “rein in rogue district attorneys” refusing to uphold the law. District attorneys from Travis and El Paso counties filed one suit, while district attorneys from Harris, Dallas and Bexar counties filed another. Both seek to block Paxton from being able to enforce the rule, alleging it violates the state constitution and federal law.

The background: The rule, known as Chapter 56, was originally proposed in the administrative code in September 2024. It requires district attorneys to provide all documents or communications produced or received by district attorneys’ offices, including confidential information.

Included in the rule’s definition of “case file” materials eligible for review are all documents, correspondence and handwritten notes relevant to a case. It also requires counties to submit quarterly reports to the attorney general on twelve different subjects, including specific information on indictments of police officers or for violations of election code.

The new Chapter 56 cites a 1985 statute prompting district and county attorneys to report information to the attorney general “in the form that the attorney general directs.” To enforce the collection of documents and communication, the rule would create an “oversight advisory committee” composed of employees from the attorney general’s office. The committee would be able to request entire case files from district attorneys at their discretion. Failing to provide the requested documentation to the advisory committee would result in “official misconduct” under the rule, allowing a district judge to remove a district attorney from office.

Why the district attorneys sued: The two lawsuits both claim the law cited by the new Chapter 56 does not provide Paxton’s office with the sweeping jurisdiction the rule creates — and that providing the information requested would be both expensive and illegal. One lawsuit from Dallas, Harris and Bexar county attorneys claims the rule seeks to achieve a “political objective” by burdening officials and creating strict consequences for noncompliance.

“These reporting requirements do not make communities safer,” Bexar County District Attorney Joe Gonzales said. “They do not identify trends, improve transparency, or enhance public trust. Instead, they create barriers that divert limited resources away from what matters most, which is prosecuting violent offenders and protecting our community.”

The trio’s lawsuit also maintains the rule violates the Texas Constitution’s protections on separation of powers because the attorney general has “no authority” to expand the definition of official misconduct.

The second lawsuit filed by the district attorneys from El Paso and Travis counties marks similar issues with the new rule, and also claims it would require illegally forfeiting the private information of victims working with their offices. In a press release from March, Paxton’s office states the new rule will help “assist citizens” in judging prosecutors’ performance, which attorneys in the second suit worry indicates private information could be shared with the public.

“The Challenged Rules purport to require an unprecedented level of disclosure of privileged and confidential information from only some of the State’s prosecutors for the sole purpose of unconstitutional oversight,” the lawsuit reads.

What Paxton says: The attorney general has lauded the new rule as a way to help the public better understand how their local prosecutors are operating, and create consequences for those who do not act. In a statement to the Texas Tribune about the lawsuit, Paxton called the rule a “straightforward, common-sense measure” that aims to shed light on attorneys who may be refusing to prosecute dangerous crimes.

"It is no surprise that rogue DAs who would rather turn violent criminals loose on the streets than do their jobs are afraid of transparency and accountability,” Paxton said in a statement about the lawsuit from Dallas, Harris and Bexar county officials. “This lawsuit is meritless and merely a sad, desperate attempt to conceal information from the public they were sworn to protect."

Paxton’s office also waived concerns about potentially burdensome time or financial costs, stating in the Texas Register that their assessment finds “minimal, if any, fiscal impact.”" Texas Tribune

• TEXANS IN DC

“Austin Republican Chip Roy helps block Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill,” Dallas Morning News' Joseph Morton — "U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Austin, is back in a familiar position as he and fellow hardline conservative House members hold up their own party’s agenda to push for more significant spending cuts.

Roy and several like-minded GOP colleagues on the House Budget Committee joined Democrats on Friday to vote down the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” which is the vehicle for policies backed by President Donald Trump and Republicans.

Before the vote, Roy defended many of the bill’s provisions against Democratic attacks that it would throw millions of people off Medicaid to fund tax cuts for billionaires.

Roy said hard-working Americans would benefit from many of the package’s tax provisions, funding for border security would repair damage caused by former President Joe Biden’s administration and more money for defense would boost the military.

He then unloaded on Republicans for going soft, however, when it comes to addressing runaway spending in programs such as Medicaid.

“I have to now admonish my colleagues on this side of the aisle. This bill falls profoundly short,” Roy said. “It does not do what we say it does with respect to deficits.”

He said the bill is structured to front load big deficit increases over the next few years and backload projected spending cuts in the years following.

Overhauling Medicaid would go a long way toward addressing the country’s fiscal woes, he said, but the bill doesn’t do enough on that front. New Medicaid work requirements, for example, wouldn’t kick in until 2029, after Trump leaves office.

Deficit hawks say that delays savings and means the provisions might never be implemented.

“Only in Washington are we expected to bet on the come that in five years, then everything will work, then we will solve the problem,” Roy said. “We have got to change the direction of this town.”

Roy has deep knowledge about how Washington and Congress operate, having worked for Texas’ Republican U.S. Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz.

He has used that former-staffer knowledge to be a thorn in the side of leadership as he advocates for conservative positions and battles what he derides as budget gimmicks that result in the national debt continuing to climb.

It’s also not the first time Roy has found himself at odds with Trump." DMN ($)

• BUSINESS NEWS

“SpaceX will launch more rockets from South Texas,” Texas Tribune's Berenice Garcia — "The Federal Aviation Administration will allow SpaceX to launch rockets in South Texas up to 25 times per year, a significant increase from the five launches the company was previously licensed to complete annually.

The FAA approved some modifications for the Starship Flight 9, the company’s next rocket, stopping short of full approval for a launch, it was announced Thursday.

The news is the latest development for Elon Musk’s space company, which has used the Rio Grande Valley beach to test its rockets since 2013.

Earlier this month, residents near the SpaceX launch site — largely SpaceX employees — voted to incorporate their neighborhoods into a new city, Starbase. Cameron County is expected to sign the order to officially incorporate the city on Tuesday.

Musk is also expected to be in South Texas next week.

"I will give a company talk explaining the Mars game plan in Starbase, Texas, that will also be live-streamed on X," Musk wrote on his social media platform.

SpaceX cannot move forward with its ninth test flight until the FAA allows it to resume test flights following the mishap of Starship Flight 8 on March 6. The launch test ended with the destruction of the starship vehicle about 10 minutes after launch. An investigation into the mishap is ongoing.

Because of that mishap, the FAA is expanding the aircraft and maritime hazard areas in the U.S. and other countries. The safety measure is also because SpaceX will be reusing a previously launched Super Heavy booster rocket for the first time.

Last week, the FAA paved the way for an increase in launches, finding in an environmental assessment that there would be no significant environmental impacts caused by allowing SpaceX to increase launches at their Boca Chica site from five to 25 times per year." Texas Tribune

“Taiwanese GlobalWafers opens $3.5 billion factory in Sherman, Texas,” via AP — "Taiwanese silicon wafer manufacturer GlobalWafers said Friday it would invest an additional $4 billion in the United States to meet growing customer demand there, as it officially opened its new $3.5 billion wafer facility in Texas.

“Our U.S. customers appear to have a very strong demand for U.S.-based production capacity,” Doris Hsu, chairperson of GlobalWafers, a TSMC supplier, told reporters.

“Although tariffs (on semiconductors) have not been finalized…(U.S.) customers are hoping to secure local supply to reduce the potential uncertainties that tariffs may bring,” Hsu said.

The plant, GlobalWafers’ most advanced fully integrated silicon wafer facility, is the first of its kind built in the U.S. in more than two decades and is currently the only advanced wafer manufacturing site in the country.

Silicon wafers are critical components in chip manufacturing and larger wafers are widely used in advanced chip production as they allow for more chips to be produced per each wafer, increasing cost savings.

At the opening ceremony held in Sherman, Texas, on Thursday, the company said it intends to add two more phases to the site to boost production capacity. It currently has one phase completed for production and a second phase is planned for construction in the 142-acre campus that is designed to accommodate up to six phases.

Hsu said there is no set timeline for the additional two phases, but several conditions must be met before moving forward.

“Phases one and two must be profitable, and we need to secure customers... who show strong interest in local production and are willing to sign long-term contracts,” Hsu said.

“We also need reasonable pricing, prepayments, and government support. If these conditions are met, we’ll move ahead.”

The plant is part of the Biden administration-era CHIPS for America program and the company is set to receive $406 million in U.S. government grants for its projects in Texas and Missouri.

Hsu said it has not yet received the U.S. funding but has reached key milestones and submitted the required documentation. Hsu expected the funds to be disbursed in the first half of this year." AP

• NEWS FROM AROUND THE STATE

> DMN: "What to know about the Supreme Court arguments in the birthright citizenship case" DMN

> THE TEXAN: "Bill Decriminalizing Homosexual Conduct Passes Texas House" THE TEXAN

> KXAN: "House approves bill to remove Texas ‘homosexual conduct’ ban" KXAN

> THE TEXAN: "At a Premium: Texas Legislature Mulls Reforms to Cumbersome Insurance Industry" THE TEXAN

> HOU CHRON: "Why Ted Cruz is so worried about Qatar giving Trump a luxury jet" HOU CHRON

> THE TEXAN: "Texas House Approves Enhanced 'Junk Science Writ' Following Roberson Controversy" THE TEXAN

> COMMUNITY IMPACT: "Texas Senate panel unveils amended version of $8B school finance proposal" COMMUNITY IMPACT

> THE TEXAN: "Abbott Requests Waiver to Exempt 'Junk Food' from SNAP Program" THE TEXAN

> THE TEXAN: "The 40: Farm Bill, Renewables Tax Credit, Investment Accounts, Reconciliation" THE TEXAN

> THE TEXAN: "Weekly Roundup: House Deadline, Lottery Commission Abolition, STAAR Test Eliminated" THE TEXAN

> KXAN: "Abbott asks USDA to prohibit ‘unhealthy foods’ from SNAP benefits" KXAN

> SAEN: "Trump's 'beautiful' bill spans 1,116 pages. Here's what's inside it" SAEN

> MRT: "Hospital tells family brain-dead Georgia woman must carry fetus to birth because of abortion ban" MRT

> SA REPORT: "Voter guide: Everything to know about San Antonio’s 2025 election" SA REPORT

> DMN: "San Antonio mom accused of buying ammo, gear for son allegedly plotting mass violence" DMN

> THE TEXAN: "Dallas City Council Districts 8 and 11 Face Runoff Elections in June" THE TEXAN

> SA REPORT: "The Gregg Popovich International Airport? Councilman files request to rename airport" SA REPORT

> HOU CHRON: "West Texas earthquake triggers shutdown order for defiant oilfield operation" HOU CHRON

> HOU CHRON: "3 Texas cities, not Houston, ranked in top 20 summer destinations" HOU CHRON

> FWST: "Hiker hurls possibly rabid fox into cactus during relentless attack at TX park" FWST

> EP TIMES: "Texas House passes bill to ease junk science appeals for wrongful convictions" EP TIMES

> DMN: "Post Malone will headline the 2025 Cattle Baron’s Ball" DMN

> HOU CHRON: "Supreme Court rules lawsuit over Houston man's traffic stop death can proceed" HOU CHRON

> MRT: "Weather outlook: Texas braces for record-breaking heat as weekend approaches" MRT

> MRT: "Texas mother accused of terrorism over claims she bought ammo, gear for son planning mass violence" MRT

> SAEN: "San Antonio approves new revenue source to finance the Spurs’ next arena" SAEN

> HOU CHRON: "Who gets to decide what's next for Houston's oldest refinery?" HOU CHRON

> FWST: "Severe thunderstorms, damaging winds, large hail threats on the way in North Texas" FWST

> DMN: "Will new Wings star Paige Bueckers have the Caitlin Clark effect in Dallas?" DMN

> HOU CHRON: "Houston hits 95, breaks daily heat record for third day in a row" HOU CHRON

> HOU CHRON: "China tariff clash unnerves Houston's cottage fashion industry 'like Covid 2.0'" HOU CHRON

> HOU CHRON: "CenterPoint part of new Houston battery energy storage system to help power grid" HOU CHRON

> HOU CHRON: "More wins for Texans in 2025? Predictions for all 17 games on their schedule" HOU CHRON

• EXTRA POINTS

Recent Texas sports scores:
Thurs
> MLB: Texas 1, Houston 0
> NHL: Winnipeg 4, Dallas 0
Fri
> MLB: Houston 6, Texas 3
> WNBA: Minnesota 99, Dallas 84

This weekend's Texas sports schedule:
Sat
> 6:05pm: MLB: Houston at Texas
> 7pm: NHL: Winnipeg at Dallas (2-3) (ABC)
> 7:30pm: MLS: Vancouver at Austin (Apple TV)
> 7:30pm: MLS: Houston at Dallas (Apple TV)
Sun
> 12:05pm: MLB: Houston at Texas

DALLAS STARS: "Why it’s important the Stars ‘get it done’ in Game 5 as series vs. Jets goes back up north" DMN ($)

HOUSTON ASTROS / TEXAS RANGERS: "Two-time Cy Young winner deGrom wins over decade-younger Brown in Lone Star State pitchers’ duel" AP

DALLAS WINGS: "Paige Bueckers’ debut shows flashes but No. 1 pick still finding footing" DMN ($)

SAN ANTONIO SPURS: "What will the Spurs do with the No. 14 pick?" SAEN ($)

PGA CHAMPIONSHIP: "Jhonattan Vegas: What to know about The Woodlands PGA Tour golfer" Houston Chronicle ($)

TEXAS A&M SOFTBALL: "Four-time defending champ Oklahoma, top seed Texas A&M among the contenders in NCAA softball tourney" AP

DALLAS CARTER H.S. BACKETBALL: "Former Dallas Carter High basketball player accused of drug smuggling in Indonesia" DMN ($)