Daily Briefing: Friday, September 25, 2026

The Texas Health and Human Services Commission has identified $330.8 million in reductions to meet the 3 percent cut that Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and House Speaker Dustin Burrows ordered on July 14 for every agency’s 2028-29 budget request, according to the commission’s reduction schedule. The plan takes $205.5 million in general revenue from client services and would end programs including the commission’s support for the County Indigent Healthcare Program. Of the commission’s $43.6 billion general revenue base, $32.3 billion was exempt from the cut because state law requires it to maintain Medicaid and CHIP benefits and eligibility. Dozens of advocates asked lawmakers to protect the programs at a Legislative Budget Board hearing Thursday, KERA News reported.

Some voter registration records from online Department of Public Safety transactions were incomplete and never reached county registrars, the Secretary of State’s elections division told county officials on September 22. The backlog reaches back to October 2025, and at least 178,000 applications have turned up in seven counties, led by more than 68,000 in Dallas County, according to a Votebeat and Texas Tribune count. The deadline to register for the November 3 election is October 5.

At least 14 Texas cities and counties have unplugged at least 900 Flock license plate cameras since Gov. Greg Abbott’s August 28 directive blocking state grant money for them, according to a Texas Tribune tally. The state’s Motor Vehicle Crime Prevention Authority had put at least $30 million toward more than 3,200 of the cameras.

Elections Alberta had received 673,000 applications for mail-in ballots by Thursday afternoon, ahead of a Friday midnight deadline for the October 19 referendum, The Canadian Press reported. Albertans requested nearly 60,000 mail-in ballots for the 2023 provincial election. Elections Alberta moved the deadline up from October 9, citing application volumes and the October 12 Thanksgiving holiday. Seven in 10 Albertans say they plan to vote for the province to remain in Canada, according to an Ipsos poll for Global News of 600 Alberta residents taken September 18 to 22.

The Texas Nationalist Movement’s Brazoria County team holds an information table at 9 a.m. Saturday, September 26, at the Doris Williams Lake Jackson Civic Center in Lake Jackson, according to the TNM calendar.