Austin, TX
TX Law Stands Strong Against Anti-Israel Agitators' Demands
As anti-Israel demonstrations sweep college campuses nationwide, legal constraints are preventing universities from meeting agitators’ demands to divest from Israel in Texas.
Universities in the Lone Star State have seen their share of anti-Israel protests and encampments. Most notably, University of Texas campuses in Austin, Dallas, and Arlington have seen considerable activity, leading to the arrest of hundreds of student protesters and anti-Israel agitators.
The demonstrators’ central demand, not just in Texas but across the country, has been for their universities to divest from any financial ties with Israel. However, Texas law prohibits such a move.
In 2017, Gov. Greg Abbott signed an anti-boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) bill into law with respect to Israel, barring state governmental entities from entering into contracts with or investing in companies that boycott Israel.
The bill was authored by Rep. Phil King (R-Weatherford) and Sen. Brandon Creighton (R-Conroe) and ensures that state contracts are only given to businesses that state they will not boycott or divest from Israel during the contract. According to King, Texas’ anti-BDS bill is the strongest in the country.
“In 2016, there was this growing movement of cities, counties, states, nations, and businesses deciding they were going to boycott Israel to try to bankrupt them economically,” King explained to The Dallas Express. The growing movement led him to draft the anti-BDS law.
“Part of the reason was, Texas does a lot of business with Israel,” said King. “They’re our friend, we have a lot of tourists, and they’re one of our largest trade partners. It’s wrong to try to destroy them.”
Abbott suggested as much at the time of signing, stressing the longstanding ties between Israel and Texas.
“As Israel’s number one trading partner in the United States, Texas is proud to reaffirm its support for the people of Israel, and we will continue to build on our historic partnership,” said Abbott in a press release. “Anti-Israel policies are anti-Texas policies, and we will not tolerate such actions against an important ally.”
In 2021, the Texas Holocaust, Genocide, and Antisemitism Advisory Commission was created to monitor and combat antisemitism in Texas. The statute that launched the organization used the international definition of antisemitism: “a certain perception of Jews that may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. The term includes rhetorical and physical acts of antisemitism directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals or their property or toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.”
King said that the commission came to him last year to report “growing whispers” of antisemitism on college campuses.
Following the report, King, alongside Rep. Dennis Paul (R-Houston), wrote a bill to prohibit academic boycotts of Israel and other foreign countries at public colleges should they prevent a student or faculty member from studying or conducting research in or about the country or interacting with the country’s scholars or representatives.
The bill states that a taxpayer-funded college is allowed to boycott a foreign country only if it is listed by the U.S. State Department as a sponsor of terrorism. Cuba, North Korea, Iran, and Syria are the only countries currently with that designation. It went into effect in September 2023.
Protesters at UT Arlington have called for their university to ban school-sponsored study-abroad trips to Israel. Doing so would fall under academic boycotting of Israel and is now illegal.
“I think it’s interesting when I hear the protesters calling for the University of Texas to economically divest from Israel,” King told DX. “They’re not allowed by law to do that. The bottom line is that Texas has made it illegal for state colleges and universities, community colleges, too, to do any economic or academic boycott of Israel, or in any way to promote antisemitism or accept antisemitism on their campus.”
Following the October terrorist attacks against Israel by Hamas, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton released an advisory letter emphasizing the importance of standing against antisemitism, as previously covered by DX.
“Given the recent brutal Hamas terrorist attacks against Israel, it is more important than ever to enforce public policy supportive of one of America’s closest allies and a beacon of freedom in the Middle East,” read Paxton’s letter.
“Since 2017, the Texas Legislature has passed, and Governor Greg Abbott has signed into law, a series of restrictions on the ability of Governmental Entities to do business with companies that boycott energy companies, discriminate against firearm entities or associations, or boycott Israel,” he wrote. “Pursuant to these laws, no Texas Governmental Entity may enter into a contract with such boycotters or discriminators for the purchase of goods or services with a value of at least $100,000.”
AUSTIN, Texas – State and federal agriculture officials said highly pathogenic avian flu has been found in a herd of dairy cows in Texas.
What we know:
Officials said the H5N1 virus was confirmed with laboratory tests in late May after cows at an unspecified farm became sick and milk production dropped. The dairy has since been quarantined and an investigation is underway.
This is the first case of avian flu in a Texas dairy herd this year, officials said.
What they’re saying:
“The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is confident that pasteurization is effective at inactivating H5N1, and that the commercial, pasteurized milk supply is safe,” officials at the Texas Animal Health Commission said in a statement.
A dairy cow is seen at a farm on June 1, 2026. (Tim Evans/Bloomberg / Getty Images)
Dig deeper:
H5N1 has a high rate of severe disease and death in animals that become infected.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the risk to the general public from avian flu is low. Some sporadic human infections have been reported around the world since 1997. There have been no known cases of person-to-person spreading of avian flu.
The Source: Information in this story came from the Texas Animal Health Commission, the USDA, the FDA and the CDC.
AUSTIN, Texas — Self-driving cars have become a common sight on Austin streets, but a new Texas law is adding tougher requirements for the companies behind the wheelless vehicles.
Senate Bill 2807 imposes stricter rules on autonomous vehicle companies operating in the state, including state authorization, emergency response plans for law enforcement, and a public portal where residents can verify operators and file safety complaints.
The changes come as Austin continues to track incidents involving autonomous vehicles. The city’s autonomous vehicle dashboard shows 75 incidents in 2026, including a collision, eight near misses, and seven incidents of ignoring police direction.
Attorney Drew Gibbs, a partner at Slingshot Law, said one crash involved a Waymo vehicle.
“There was a T-bone collision. A pretty serious T-bone collision where a Waymo just crashed into the side of my client’s vehicle,” Gibbs said.
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One of the incidents of ignoring police direction happened during the mass shooting on West Sixth Street back in March, when three people died, and 15 others were injured.
Austin Police Association President Michael Bullock said autonomous vehicles can struggle in unusual situations.
“It didn’t impede on anything in the moment, but it’s not necessarily uncommon where these vehicles don’t quite know how to deal with these one-off scenarios,” Bullock said.
The new law requires autonomous vehicle companies to be authorized by the state, to provide an emergency response plan for law enforcement, and to participate in a public-facing portal that allows the public to verify operators and submit safety complaints.
Kara Kockelman, a professor of transportation and engineering at the University of Texas at Austin, welcomed the added oversight.
“I’m glad that the state is taking this a bit more seriously now,” she said. “It’s important not to just let others slip in without kind of meeting those basic minimums.”
Bullock said the emergency planning requirement may not make a major difference in fast-moving situations. Asked how impactful it is to have a fully laid out emergency response plan, Bullock said, “These plans are great, but it takes time to work through all of those versus the immediacy of having someone behind the wheel.”
The four autonomous vehicle companies operating in Austin — Waymo, Zoox, AV-Ride, and Tesla — are all state-authorized.
The Texas DMV said an autonomous vehicle company can lose its authorization to operate in Texas if the agency deems the vehicles are operating in a way that endangers public safety.
Waymo was contacted for comment, but had not responded.
AUSTIN, Texas – Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson said Tuesday she will leave the post next month.
What we know:
In a statement, Nelson said her resignation will be effective July 17 but did not provide a reason for the departure.
“It has been an honor to serve the people of Texas in this role,” Nelson said. “My time as Secretary came at an important moment for Texas, and I am proud of what we have been able to accomplish as an agency in under four years.”
Nelson has served in the role since 2023.
Among other things, the Secretary of State oversees elections and business filings in the state and serves as the chief diplomat of Texas.
View of Texas State Senator Jane Nelson, during the 80th Texas Legislature, on the floor of the Senate at the Texas State Capitol, Austin, Texas, January 22, 2007. (John Anderson/The Austin Chronicle / Getty Images)
What they’re saying:
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott described Nelson as extraordinary.
“I am deeply grateful for her long and loyal service and outstanding leadership. She has represented our state with grace and honor across the globe, and Texas is better because of it,” Abbott said. “Cecilia and I wish her all the best in the next chapter of her distinguished career.”
Dig deeper:
According to the Secretary of State’s office, Nelson has presided over seven statewide elections during her tenure with a cumulative 27 million ballots cast and broke a record with more than 3 million active business filers.
Nelson also served three decades in the Texas Senate, where she remains the longest-serving Republican in state history.
The Source: Information in this story came from the Texas Secretary of State’s office.
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