As the Texas Legislature passes this session's halfway point, things are picking up under the pink dome. Here is what you missed this past week:

1. The Senate passed its draft version of the budget onto the House in a unanimous vote that had Democrats calling for some changes but being supportive overall. The House took its first step in the same direction by passing its version of the budget out of the House Appropriations Committee. House Bill 1 will face debate on the House floor in the coming weeks. The two chambers currently have significant differences in their respective versions of the budget.

2. The House took public testimony on two bills that would legalize constitutional carry. This type of law would deregulate gun ownership, commonly called constitutional carry, removing the requirement of training or licensing to own or carry a gun. Many individuals testifying in favor of the bills said Texas had some of the most relaxed gun laws in the nation. Many officials with law enforcement testified against the concept of constitutional carry.

3. The Senate passed a private school choice bill, onto the House in an 18-12 vote. The floor substitute of the bill carved out exceptions for rural areas of the state. Traditionally, rural legislators have expressed concerns against methods of school choice because of the few alternatives to public schools in areas of their districts. The substitute of the bill would require a student to live in a county with more than 285,000 residents and be from a low-income family before taking advantage of tax credit scholarships or education savings accounts. The bill no longer applies to homeschooling.

4. The House advanced a bill that attempts to fix the school finance system by injecting roughly $1.6 billion more into public schools. The bill would add additional funds for dyslexic and bilingual students, among others. The bill will next face debate on the House floor.

5. On Monday, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner testified in a public hearing on Houston's pension woes. House Bill 43 and Senate Bill 2190 both seek to tackle the $8.1 billion in unfunded liabilities in Texas' biggest city. The Senate bill passed out of its committee with a 7-1 vote last week. The House bill had its hearing Monday but was left pending in committee. On March 20, state Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, worked to pass a related bill onto the Senate floor. Bettencourt's bill would require voters to approve pension obligation bonds before cities could issue them.

For more updates on what is going on at the legislature, follow along with our coverage from the Capitol.