The Look Ahead: What to Expect in the Texas Legislature the Week of Feb. 6

AUSTIN — Good morning, y'all, and welcome to The Dallas Morning News' weekly political preview: The Look Ahead. Join us here every Monday morning for a look at the week to come in the Texas Legislature.Mark your calendars For the Texas Legislature, the action is getting started early. Less than a month into the session, and the Senate is set to take up a couple of major bills this week. Likely first on the agenda is a handful of ethics bills from Plano Republican Sen. Van Taylor. Lawmakers pushed for these bills last session, but they never made it to Gov. Greg Abbott's desk. Now that these zombie bills are back, senators will have another go at passing the ethics measures.Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said he also wants the Senate to debate and vote on a controversial bill to ban sanctuary cities as early as this week. The Senate State Affairs Committee approved the bill in the wee hours of Friday morning after about 16 hours of testimony. Want to follow the action but can't make it to the Capitol? The Texas Senate has a livestream here.By the numbers: sanctuary citiesThat sanctuary city bill — from Lubbock Republican Sen. Charles Perry — would punish Texas cities, counties and college campuses that block law enforcement officials from enforcing federal immigration laws. The hearing on the bill last week got a little rowdy - as far as legislative hearings go, anyway. Hundreds of people, mostly opponents of the bill, gathered in the gallery above the Senate and sporadically burst into applause, chants and songs. More than 260 people spoke against the bill (and eight spoke for it), though more than 1,000 people registered opposition but didn't testify.  Continue reading...