Daily Briefing: Wednesday, November 11, 2026

Sen. Roland Gutierrez of San Antonio has filed Senate Bill 297, which would send one-time “emergency household economic relief payments” in response to what the bill calls a “statewide household affordability emergency,” according to the bill text on Texas Legislature Online. The bill carries out Governor-elect Gina Hinojosa’s campaign pledge of $1,500 for each of about 11.6 million households, and its $17 billion cost would come from the state’s rainy day fund, which takes a two-thirds vote of the members present in each chamber, The Texas Tribune reported. The Tribune found the bill does not say whether recipients must be U.S. citizens.

The Texas Attorney General’s Office on Monday dropped, with prejudice, its lawsuit seeking to shut down Familias Inmigrantes y Estudiantes en la Lucha (FIEL), a Houston immigrant advocacy group, in a two-page notice filed in a Harris County state court that gave no reason, The Texas Tribune reported. The office dropped its case against Annunciation House in El Paso the same day.

SpaceX plans a $24 billion gas-fired power plant and computing center on 444 acres outside Brownsville that the city removed from its limits this year at the company’s request, putting the project beyond the reach of a Brownsville data center moratorium that took effect last week, The Texas Tribune reported. The city of Starbase, which annexed the land, posted notice of the project Monday and plans a December public hearing on tax breaks for it.

The Railroad Commission of Texas will restore a standing public comment period at its regular meetings, beginning at its December meeting, after suspending the two-decade-old practice in late August, Commissioner Wayne Christian wrote to Rep. Drew Darby of San Angelo, chair of the House Energy Resources Committee, The Texas Tribune reported.

Texas Tech University System regents will consider a proposal Wednesday that would remove more than 20 classes, including courses on race and gender, from the list of courses that count toward Texas Tech’s core curriculum, The Texas Tribune reported after comparing the agenda with the current course list. The agenda does not say why.

The Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) will receive $281 million in federal money for the second year of Rural Texas Strong, a five-year rural health care plan approved by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Gov. Greg Abbott’s office announced. The plan is fully federally funded, and HHSC will award the money through a competitive process.

County teams of the Texas Nationalist Movement (TNM) have three gatherings on the books this week, the TNM calendar lists: the Bexar County Alamo Memorial March at the Alamo in San Antonio at 6:30 PM Saturday, November 14, and two meet and greets at 6 PM Tuesday, November 17, one by the Caldwell County team at Chronic Chaos Cafe in Martindale (event page) and one by the Tarrant County team at Cousin’s BBQ in Fort Worth (event page).