House Bill 1869 is scheduled for floor debate today. The bill would protect last session’s tax reforms by including debt not approved by voters, such as certificates of obligation, in the 3.5% voter-approval tax rate calculation. Under current law, these items are excluded from the tax rate calculation, even though they lead to higher taxes....
Bearing Witness: Senate Bill 1879 This month, TPPF’s James Quintero testified before the Senate Committee on Local Government in support of Senate Bill 1879, a bill to broaden the scope of what governmental entities must disclose as it relates to money being spent on directly or indirectly influencing the outcome of legislation. The bill has...
Out-of-state friends frequently ask me what life is like in “Deep-Red Texas.” I answer that there are many blessings to living in the Lone Star State, to which I escaped from Chicago a decade ago. But when they ask whether the same blessings accrue in Texas public higher education, the story is mixed, for I...
Smithville ISD’s two elementary schools earned “D” ratings from the Texas Education Agency for 2018-2019 (the most recent year available). Its junior high got a “C.” Though its high school received a very low “B,” it earned no distinctions from the TEA. Yet in March, the Smithville school board told its attorney to begin negotiations...
The Texas Public Policy Foundation’s Chief Economist Vance Ginn and economist E.J. Antoni break down the massive spending proposals in President Biden’s recent address to Congress. $225 billion toward high-quality childcare and ensuring families pay only a portion of their income toward child-care services, based on a sliding scale Raising taxes from one pocket to...
The Texas State Senate on Wednesday approved Senate Bill 1509, by Sen. Brandon Creighton, a key elections bill that protects the integrity of mail-in ballots. After passing the Senate 19-12, the bill now heads to the House. The bill addresses the fact that mail-in ballots can be too easily exploited by ballot traffickers in Texas....
Last night’s joint session of Congress speech revealed a president torn between two worlds. Most of the speech represented a familiar Joe Biden—pragmatic, centrist, and interested in finding common ground. This was the President Biden that Americans of both sides of the aisle knew, the one who really could call for unity and appear sincere...
It was national news. The Washington Post reported on two brothers-in-law who drove more than 20 hours to bring their skills as plumbers to a newly thawed Texas. Much of the work they performed was for free. “Yesterday, we went to a subdivision of very small houses and fixed income, and we could not feel...
Texans believe in second chances. That goes for families, too—even to parents whose past mistakes led to the involuntary termination of their parental rights. And a bill before the Texas House could give them their rights back and restore their families, if they turn their lives around and live up to their obligations. House Bill...
The free market is in jeopardy. Big banks and investment firms are discriminating against responsible energy producers — and worst of all, this is happening right here in Texas. If the Lone Star State is going to remain a beacon of liberty and prosperity for the nation, legislators must act now to stop energy discrimination by...
It’s easy to tell who the Texans are in a crowd; you simply shout, “the stars at night, are big and bright”—then wait for about the span of four quick claps. It’s easy to tell if a budget in Texas is truly conservative—and worthy of the great Lone Star State’s commitment to freedom and prosperity....
The extortionate cost of higher education continues to rise and is unlikely to moderate soon. From 2000 to 2020, college tuition and fees nationwide rose more than three times faster than general price inflation and more than twice as fast as average hourly wages. Put simply, college is unaffordable to many and becoming more out...