Gov. Rick Perry directed the Texas Department of Insurance to establish strict rules to regulate so-called navigators trained to help Texans purchase health coverage under "Obamacare." While the governor says the extra regulations will ensure that people handling Texans’ private financial and health information are properly trained and qualified, the rules could present a significant roadblock to organizations helping to implement the federal Affordable Care Act. Along with many other provisions in President Obama’s signature health reform law, the individual mandate to purchase health insurance is set to take effect on Jan. 1. 

In addition to having the highest rate of people without health insurance in the nation, Texas also has the largest number of children without health insurance and the highest rate of poor adults without health insurance, according to 2012 American Community Survey estimates released by the U.S. Census Bureau this week. More than 852,000 Texas children lacked health insurance in 2012, according to the ACS estimates, which are taken from a random sampling of households throughout the year. California, which has 2.2 million more children than Texas, had the second-highest number of uninsured children at 717,000.

Former U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay’s political money laundering and conspiracy convictions were overturned by the state’s 3rd Court of Appeals. “Based on the totality of the evidence, we conclude that the evidence presented does not support a conclusion that DeLay committed the crimes that were charged,” the judges ruled. “The fundamental problem with the State’s case was its failure to prove proceeds of criminal activity.” The decision reversed DeLay's trial court conviction. The Travis County district attorney's office prosecuted DeLay, and plans to ask the full Texas Court of Criminal Appeals to review the ruling. 

Citing a late change in the nondiscrimination ordinance that San Antonio recently passed, a spokesman for Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said the state is now unlikely to file suit. A clause that disallowed appointed city officials to “demonstrate a bias, by word or deed” was deleted from the ordinance before the San Antonio City Council passed it on Sept. 5 with an 8-3 vote. The ordinance is aimed at preventing discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.

Two groups representing minority voters and officeholders sued to block the state’s new voter ID law, which will be used for the first time in a statewide Texas election this November  — barring intervention by a court. The new law requires voters to show an approved photo identification card when they vote. Its requirements “have a discriminatory effect ... and were enacted with a racially discriminatory purpose,” according to the lawsuit filed against the state by the Texas State Conference of NAACP Branches and the Texas House’s Mexican American Legislative Caucus.