Daily Briefing: Monday, November 9, 2026

Gov.-elect Gina Hinojosa and Lt. Gov.-elect Vikki Goodwin have made expanding Medicaid to low-wage adults a top priority, but a Texas law bars the state from changing Medicaid eligibility without legislative approval, The Texas Tribune reported Monday. The Tribune reported it is not clear whether that law also stops a governor from directing the Health and Human Services Commission to send an expansion plan to Washington, and that Republicans still hold the Texas Senate.

Hinojosa’s transition team opened a website and resume portal over the weekend for people seeking jobs in the incoming administration, FOX 7 Austin reported Sunday. The team is led by co-chairs Ernest Bailes and Ryan Pollock and executive director Joe Madden, and applications are taken at governorhinojosa.com.

The Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) will hold a public hearing at 10 a.m. Friday, November 20, on proposed changes to its rules on inactive wells and surface equipment removal that carry out Senate Bill 1150 from the 2025 session, according to the commission. Commissioner-elect Jon Rosenthal takes his seat January 4 as the only member of his party on the three-member commission, The Texas Tribune reported.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas will teach one week of a one-credit seminar for 17 undergraduates at the University of Texas at Austin’s School of Civic Leadership in spring 2027, KEYE reported Sunday, citing the school’s dean, Justin Dyer.

President Trump said on CBS’s 60 Minutes that his immigration crackdown was “too tough” and that deportations of people with jobs had hurt his party in last week’s elections, the BBC reported Monday. A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson told the BBC that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) “is NOT backing away or slowing down.”

Together for Catalonia (Junts) expects its leader, former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont, to return from nine years of exile after Spain’s November 29 general election and to tour Catalonia ahead of a possible run in the next Catalan election, the Catalan newspaper Ara reported Monday.

The Texas Nationalist Movement (TNM) Bexar County team marches Saturday, November 14, at 6:30 PM at the Alamo in San Antonio for its Alamo Memorial March, according to the TNM calendar.