Daily Briefing: Saturday, November 7, 2026

Mayor John Whitmire signed an executive order Friday directing the Houston Police Department to contact U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) only when someone it arrests on a new jailable offense also has an administrative ICE warrant, according to the mayor’s office. Police Chief Noe Diaz said officers will no longer call ICE on people they cite and release. In Austin, Mayor Kirk Watson asked the police chief and city manager the same day to revise the city’s policy on ICE warrants, The Texas Tribune reported. Gov. Greg Abbott has cited the 2017 Senate Bill 4 against Houston’s earlier limits.

Rep. Senfronia Thompson of Houston said Friday she has enough pledged votes to win the speaker’s gavel in January, hours after Rep. Eddie Morales Jr. of Eagle Pass entered the race, The Texas Tribune reported. Thompson told a Capitol news conference, where a handful of Republican members stood with her, that “the majority of the House has pledged to me.” She said she would name members of both parties to chair committees.

The court canceled oral arguments in four cases, including the challenge to state rules limiting hemp-derived THC products that was set for argument December 8, and told lawyers the cases will be reset “at a later date,” The Texas Tribune reported. The move leaves the cases to the three justices elected Tuesday, who take office in January. A Travis County judge has blocked the rules since April 10 while the hemp industry’s suit proceeds.

Appointed board managers in the eight school districts under state takeover, including Houston and Fort Worth, said Friday they are preparing to be replaced as soon as January, The Texas Tribune reported. Gov.-elect Gina Hinojosa takes office January 19 and is choosing a new education commissioner, who could replace any or all of the appointed managers. Hinojosa has not said whether her commissioner will.

Oil and gas trade groups said they will work with Railroad Commissioner-elect Jon Rosenthal, a four-term state representative and longtime oil field engineer who has proposed banning the burning of excess gas and charging fees for industrial wastewater disposal, The Texas Tribune reported. Ben Shepperd of the Permian Basin Petroleum Association said he expects Texas to “continue to recognize the importance of oil and gas to our state.”

Abbott directed the Texas Division of Emergency Management to mobilize additional state emergency response resources ahead of heavy rain and possible flash flooding across South and West Texas this weekend, the governor’s office announced Friday.

President Donald Trump named deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller as White House chief of staff, replacing Susie Wiles, who resigned after Republicans lost control of both chambers of Congress, the BBC reported. Miller, the architect of the administration’s immigration policy, takes the post Monday.

A Llano County team from the Texas Nationalist Movement (TNM) holds an information table this morning at 8 AM on the Llano Courthouse Square, according to the TNM calendar.