It’s over. Monday concludes the 86th regular session, meaning that it’s time for lawmakers to go home and for the public to grade their work. So let’s take stock of the good, the bad and the unfinished of the last 140 days. Assuming deals hold and no vetoes happen, the best thing to come out...
Job growth has been running 80% stronger in low-tax states than in high-tax states since the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 in December 2017. Understanding why holds important lessons for policy, economics, and politics. The new tax law scaled back the federal subsidy for high state and local taxes. Prior...
When President Trump spoke before a group of energy workers in Louisiana recently, he pointed out the role energy plays in our robust economy. “In Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and states all across our land, workers like you are lighting up our homes, powering our factories, and reducing energy costs...
When the legislature creates a criminal statute that is punishable by a fine alone, meaning that incarceration is not a potential consequence even if the offender is found guilty of the alleged conduct, the legislature is making the statute’s intended use clear. It would shock Texans if certain offenses were manipulated as a “tool” for...
We’ve all known the disappointment of a television series that ends badly. Whether a truncated season wrapped up with a too-tidy bow (Game of Thrones) or an ambiguous fade-to-black (The Sopranos), we can sometimes feel the time we invested in a show was misspent. That’s a little like the Texas Legislature. With just days left...
President Trump has announced a set of immigration reforms, many of which have merit. Even he acknowledges there’s little chance that Congress will act on them at least until after the 2020 elections. Yet the crisis at our border continues, as even House Speaker Nancy Pelosi now acknowledges. But there’s also a crisis of trust – trust in our...
One in every five Americans calls California or Texas home. Comparisons between the two most-populous states are useful because both states have diverse populations and economies, but vastly different politics. That, in turn, leads to divergent public policies in taxation and regulation—with very different outcomes. Demographically, California and Texas both feature minority-majority populations, with the...
This presentation provides information about Texas’ economy, labor market, and fiscal situation and key public policies that would increase individual liberty and economic prosperity.
When the much-ballyhooed Green New Deal came before the Senate — shortly before its anticlimactic demise — Democratic Hawaii Sen. Mazie Hirono waxed poetic about climate change as an agent of women’s oppression. “While the negative impacts of climate change often impact women the most, they too often don’t have a seat at the table when it comes...
Not all unintended consequences are bad. One consequence of the election of President Donald Trump is that blue states and progressives find themselves keenly interested in the age-old debate about federalism. But as one writer noted for Vox.com in 2016, “it doesn’t have to be your father’s (or grandfather’s) federalism.” Whether it’s your father’s federalism or not, welcome back....
In running for the Democratic nomination for president, former Texas Congressman Beto O’Rourke wants voters to believe two things—that he’s a champion of the poor and working Americans, and that he’ll prioritize climate change in his administration. But his climate change framework, recently announced, shows that he’ll achieve neither. His personal rewrite of the Green...
In the corporate world, there’s something called the Peter Principle, which robs organizations of their most effective people by promoting them past the levels of their expertise. Teachers have their own version — let’s call it the Principal Principle. Good teachers, effective teachers, who wish to advance in their careers often have only one pathway....