This Earth Day, let’s accept the critical role that fossil fuel plays in energy needs

California’s crazy one-party liberal politics is why I had to finally leave the state — and I’m not alone

  Twitter’s CEO, Jack Dorsey, infamously tweeted a link in early April to a story calling for a bloodless civil war to solve America’s problems. The piece, “The Great Lesson of California in America’s New Civil War: Why there’s no bipartisan way forward at this juncture in our history — one side must win” was...

Texans support their public schools, but…

  When La Joya ISD’s $20 million Sports and Learning Complex (which includes the state’s first public school water park) opened last week, Superintendent Alda Benavides called it “exciting.” The complex includes tennis courts, a natatorium, a golf course and a planetarium. “I think it’s a dream come true and it will provide a lot...

Should El Paso Consumers Fund Corporate Welfare?

Cities charge municipal right of way fees—or franchise fees—to certain utilities for the use of the public right of way. Like taxes on businesses, these fees are passed on to customers. Texas’ Local Government Code stipulates that these fees should be “consistent with the burdens on municipalities created by the incursion of certificated telecommunications providers...

SPEAKING FREELY- ICYMI: Public Schools Dole Out $6 Million in Severance Pay to Superintendents

A new article lays bare the increasing irrationality of ISD administrator compensation. According to the Texas Monitor, over the last 15 months, ISDs around the state have approved severance packages to 24 superintendents worth an estimated $6 million or an average of $250,000 per official. Troublingly, many of these arrangements appear to have been much...

How Texas is moving to end debtors’ prisons

  A Texas mom, Valerie Gonzales, was thrown in jail because she couldn’t afford the $1,000 demanded in order to be released. What was her offense you might ask? Gonzales had racked up fines and fees for unpaid traffic tickets. There was nothing related to drinking and driving or neglecting to ensure her kids buckled...

Speculative lawsuits aren’t the cure for opioid addiction

  The opioid problem is at a crisis level, but targeting pharmaceutical companies because of their deep pockets may enrich a few, but will fail to benefit many. Recently, personal injury lawyers have been chasing Texas counties to file lawsuits on a contingent fee basis against pharmaceutical manufacturers for the cost of dealing with opioid abuse. The...

100% of What? Renewable Claims Verses Reality

Recently, the city of Denton passed a resolution to move to 100% renewable energy by 2020. This will be the second city in Texas to do so, and the 58th in the country. But what does 100% renewable energy mean? This question was asked a lot when Georgetown, the first city in Texas to move...

Veritas April 2018

This issue of Veritas, the quarterly publication of the Texas Public Policy Foundation, features solutions to correctly measure poverty, introduces the Texas Prosperity Promise, explores whether free college is a good idea, a farewell from our CEO Brooke Rollins, an introduction of Lieutenant Colonel Allen West and the Booker T. Washington Initiative, and recaps the 2018 Policy Orientation and Visionaries Meeting. 

City Government Policies Cause Lack of Affordability

Austin is in the throes of an “affordability crisis” that is being driven in large part by poor public policies, according to a recent op-ed in the Austin American-Statesman. In 2016, nearly 58,000 moved to the Austin area, marking a significant increase in population. But, as the author notes, city policies made it hard for...

Government is the Problem When it comes to high Austin Home Prices

The reality of high home prices in Austin was the topic of discussion in a recent Community Impact article. But while much of the piece seems to suggest that more government intervention is the solution, most of us recognize that city government is the problem. To its credit, the article touches on the ill effects...

SPEAKING FREELY- ICYMI: Montrose MMD Dissolves, Possibly Marking a First

Late last month, Houston-area taxpayers scored a big win. In what is being hailed as “perhaps the first time in state history that a Texas government entity has been forced to shutter by its own citizens”, the Montrose Management District voted to dissolve itself, according to the Texas Monitor. This was a hard fought win for...