Monday, March 18 marks the halfway point of the 86th Texas Legislature—a session that began with unprecedented accord among leadership and high hopes for some relief from the skyrocketing property tax burden that drives too many Texans from their homes and businesses each year. But midway through, there’s little sign of assured tax reform, and...
Free speech bill passes with support from student group Young Conservatives of Texas The Senate Committee on State Affairs met on Monday, March 11th, 2019, to hear public testimony on Senate Bill 18, a bill that would lighten free speech restrictions on public college campuses. Members of Young Conservatives of Texas came from across the...
The recent month-long government shutdown was not the main thing prohibiting public access to our national forests. Not by a long shot. Amy Granat is an avid outdoorswoman. She also has cancer and an autoimmune disease requiring her to undergo chemotherapy that caused infections in her legs and limited her ability to walk. She found a...
During the 2016 presidential campaign, Donald Trump consistently promised to revive America’s manufacturing economy. Trump’s focus on manufacturing brought out high-profile critics who scoffed at the notion. President Obama notably said in June 2016 that manufacturing jobs “are just not going to come back.” He said this at a time when manufacturing job growth had...
You shouldn’t have to get government’s permission to pursue your dreams. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott recently noted in his State of the State speech that people move to Texas because they’re “fed up with big government policies increasingly running their lives and imposing burdensome regulations.” Texas’ entrepreneur-friendly economic environment supports almost limitless opportunities to flourish. But...
In his recent State of the State address, Gov. Greg Abbott scored a standing ovation when he said, “I am declaring school finance reform and increasing teacher pay as emergency items.” There’s no doubt that fixes to the school finance system are long overdue, but raising teachers’ pay and overhauling the state’s school funding formulas...
Sometimes, the diagnosis is right, but the prescription is wrong. U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Washington, correctly diagnoses the American health care system, but her prescription will only make things worse. “The state of our health care system is absolutely atrocious,” she said recently. “We believe that the market is broken, and that is the core...
There’s a perception of millennials as quirky (and problematic) young adults who haven’t quite bought into the system that has built America into the most robust economy the world has ever seen. But millennials are now in their 20s and 30s, and they make up the largest share of laborers in the workforce. Despite millennials’...
Former President John Adams once said: “Liberty cannot be preserved without general knowledge among the people.” Adams’ sage advice carries a special meaning as we celebrate Sunshine Week 2019. Sunshine Week is a time set aside for educating the public about the importance of open government and the dangers of sustained secrecy. This year’s theme...
Occupational licensing is an economically crippling action that prevents potential employees from engaging in beneficial work. Currently, Texas licenses nearly 500 professions, and the alarming reality is that they can license potentially as many as they want. House Bill 234 prevents license and regulation laws from being placed on arguably the most innocent entrepreneurial activity:...
On March 5, National Public Radio (NPR) posted an investigatory piece entitled, “How Federal Disaster Money Favors The Rich,” which asserted that the U.S. is experiencing more disasters due to climate change and that federal disaster assistance favors the wealthy over the poor. This is a classic call to action: things are bad and getting...
A new infection may be spreading through Texas like a brushfire — the Washington Monument Syndrome. No, a virus has not been transmitted from our national mall to the San Jacinto Monument. The syndrome is a moniker coined back in 1969 when George Hertzog, then head of the National Park Service, was so unhappy with...