The Teacher Retirement System (TRS) of Texas is a defined-benefit pension system that provides more than 1.5 million Texans a payout in retirement. TRS is six times larger than the next public pension plan in Texas. Texas must secure teachers’ retirement by ensuring TRS is actuarially sound, but, more importantly, by giving teachers control over their livelihood through structural reforms to TRS.
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...