The 2009-2010 Legislators’ Guide to the Issues is a comprehensive guide to the most important issues facing Texas in the upcoming 81st Session of the Legislature. Among the issues covered in this Guide are education, taxes and spending, health care, effective justice, private property rights, insurance, telecommunications, tort reform, energy, and natural resources.
Local Government
When Government Lobbies Itself: Why Texas Should Ban Taxpayer-Funded Lobbying
Texas local governments use taxpayer dollars to hire lobbyists to influence state legislation—creating conflicts of interest, distorting democratic accountability, and undermining the interests of Texas taxpayers. Key points: Taxpayer-funded lobbying expenditures more than doubled from the 85th to the 89th Legislature, now reaching as high as $111.5 million. Taxpayer-funded lobbyists consistently opposed legislation involving property...
April 6, 2026