After a short period of decline, public pension debt is once again piling up in the Lone Star State. According to a November 2017 report from the Pension Review Board, unfunded liabilities, or the gap between promised benefits and the funds on hand to make good on those promises, among state and local pension plans...
Congress just passed the most sweeping tax reform package in a generation, helping unshackle the U.S. economy and ease the burden on working families. That’s nothing short of a home run — and the Texas Legislature should take note. When state lawmakers return to Austin in 2019, there’ll be plenty of opportunities to revamp...
Yesterday, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) published a startling new report on the deteriorating condition of U.S. public pension systems and warned that: “Absent significant reforms, unfunded liabilities of state-administered pension plans will continue to grow and threaten the financial security of state retirees and taxpayers alike. The fiscal calamity could be far deeper...
Over the past 12 months, Texas’ public policy landscape has undergone some big changes, especially when it comes to local governance. Take the issue of local control, for example. For years, powerful special interest groups representing cities, counties, and school districts at the Capitol have advanced their interests by arguing that local control is...
Texas, like much of the country, is halfway through the fifth enrollment period for the Affordable Care Act — and as in years past, the occasion serves as a reminder that the law is in critical condition. That the ACA is ailing is uncontestable. Insurers are fleeing the exchanges, enrollment is shrinking, and premiums...
Hurricane Harvey is sure to test the mettle of incoming Texas legislators. When lawmakers reconvene in January 2019, the state’s revenue picture is likely to be a little gloomier than usual, given that total losses from the storm could reach $190 billion. Even if the economic impact doesn’t hit revenues hard, Harvey will force...
The hotel occupancy tax (HOT) is sometimes called a “waste tax” because it can’t be spent on much more than fluff. Here’s another example of that. KXAN launched an investigation recently into money spent by Visit Austin, a private 501(c)6 that markets the city internationally and “receives a substantial portion of its revenue from the...
Austin is vying for Amazon’s impressive new “HQ2” — a second company headquarters that could supercharge the local economy with $5 billion in capital investment and 50,000 new, good-paying jobs. Landing the state-of-the-art campus would be nothing short of blockbuster. While Austin has much to offer and much to gain, it shouldn’t fall into...
Do you have a custom pecan wood table in your house that costs as much as a car? If not, then the city has nicer stuff than you. A new city audit found that, during recent renovations at City Hall, the previous city manager submitted a Purchase Order for “a custom pecan wood table” costing...
A new report from the Austin city auditor confirms what many of us knew already—that construction costs often balloon far beyond their original estimates. The auditor’s review of the Public Works Department, the branch of city government that “designs, manages, and inspects major capital improvement projects,” identified a slew of problems with the city’s construction...
This commentary was originally featured in the Austin American-Statesman on August 27, 2017. The Texas Legislature’s special session may be over, but what happened over the last 30 days will have lasting effects. Perhaps the biggest thing to take place under the pink dome this summer wasn’t the passage of a new law, but rather...
The Texas House of Representatives is set to take up and debate two major local government reforms that, if done right, will positively impact the lives of millions of Texans. For conservative policy wonks, the next 48 hours promise to be nothing short of historic. First up today in the House is Senate Bill 6,...