AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - Texas Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst has promised a more conservative state Senate in 2013.
That's saying a lot.
The 31-member chamber has been dominated by a Republican majority since 1997 and was anything but liberal in 2011 when it passed new restrictions on abortion, cut public education, required voters to produce photo identification and approved a get-tough-on immigration measure.
If that's not conservative enough, just how far right does Dewhurst want the Senate to go? In an interview with The Associated Press, Dewhurst said he wants Texas to be the most fiscally and socially conservative state in the country.
For Dewhurst, that means even tougher restrictions on abortion, new public school choice measures and drug tests for welfare and unemployment assistance when the Legislature convenes on Jan. 8.
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