The Texas Attorney General filed a lawsuit against the city of Brownsville yesterday contending that its $1 environmental fee on plastic bags and other non-reusable types stands in violation of existing state law—an argument advanced by many, including then-Attorney General Greg Abbott, 20 current members of the Texas Legislature, the Fourth Court of Appeals, and the Texas Public Policy Foundation.
James Quintero presented before the House Committee on Elections on Interim Charge #3 regarding "Improving Debt Transparency in Bond Elections".
How can policymakers rectify Texas’ multibillion dollar public pension problem while keeping the promise to care for the Lone Star State’s public servants? Look to local control.
If you live in Austin, then get ready for more government spending and higher taxes.
Policymakers should be concerned about the size and growth of local government debt in Texas – a contributing factor is that voters do not have enough information provided to them at the ballot box to make an informed decision about new debt issuances. Voters should be provided with basic fiscal facts at the ballot box to better understand how their decisions will affect their community.
Perhaps once the city has hired its Chief Equity Officer it can get started on finding a Chief Efficiency Officer to close bogus programs, eliminate waste, and budget smartly using zero-based budgeting.
Property taxes in Texas are some of the nation’s most punishing and that burden continues to grow quickly (see pg. 5). Because of the size and growth of Texas’ property tax problem, state lawmakers passed a series of reforms during the last legislative session to help ease the swell of local tax bills. One of...
In an opinion issued today, the Court found in favor of the Laredo Merchant Association, a group challenging the city of Laredo’s plastic bag ban on the grounds that it is preempted by existing state law—a position supported by the Foundation, then-Attorney General Greg Abbott, and 20 current state lawmakers.
Interestingly but not surprisingly, there’s a lot of potential funding for transportation projects not involving roadways. Both the corridor and local mobility components advance an “all of the above” approach which, arguably, encompass a wide range of projects that, arguably, have done very little to meaningfully ease congestion in the past.
It’s hard to see how, given these facts and circumstances, the SAISD Board can justify sending voters a massive $450 million bond package in November and expect a positive result.
Central in this skirmish is Austin’s new ordinance governing short-term rentals, or STRs. The ordinance, which was approved in February by an overwhelming majority of the Austin City Council by a 9-2 vote, is a near-perfect example of the nanny state run amok