It’s long past time to breathe some innovation into a stale practice that isn’t adapting to modern realities. Furthermore, it’s better to fix these problems voluntarily than receive a judicial mandate. We can achieve better outcomes — for the public and defendants alike — and pre-trial risk assessments can help get us there.
Certain breweries can currently sell their products to ultimate consumers on their premises––HB 3287 would tighten the restrictions on such sales, leading to lost opportunities for breweries.
The Skills Development program funds specific training needs of certain businesses through public community or technical colleges or the Texas A&M Engineering Service (TEEX). In 2015, 87.4 percent of the businesses that benefited from the program were large businesses (500 or more employees). HB 108 would increase the focus of the fund on out-of-state applicants,...
Police officers deal with in-progress calls all the time, it is the job. It can be dangerous. But, what is the justification for a military-style assault on home in a residential community? Surely our officers are not so risk averse as to feel they need a SWAT team to handle this type of call.
Texas should not limit homeowners’ access to capital through tax lien lending by imposing new notification requirements. Consumers benefit from tax lien lending by being able to work through tough economic times. Governments benefit from tax lien lending because they receive tax payments in a more timely fashion. Even mortgage lenders benefit from tax lien lending...
Testimony in support of SB 151 by James Quintero.
Municipal tree-cutting ordinances are more than a nuisance; they effectively seize the property impacted by the regulation. If a landowner wishes to remove a tree in order to construct an improvement—such as a backyard swing set—and cannot, that area has been taken by the government without any compensation.
Texans tired of municipal micromanagement enjoyed some good news last week. On Thursday, Attorney General Ken Paxton announced that his office had “dismissed a lawsuit against Brownsville after the city formally repealed its illegal sales tax on plastic bags.” The city’s plastic bag ordinance has been at the center of a brewing controversy over the...
With sine die on May 29th quickly approaching, the 85th Texas Legislature has much work to do to reduce the size and scope of government. Let us consider the status of the Conservative Texas Budget Coalition’s key legislative priorities in the waning days of session. Pass a 2018-19 Conservative Texas Budget (CTB): Senate Bill 1...
These data reinforce what everyone already knows — that Texas’ property tax system is broken and needs an overhaul lest more people lose their homes, businesses, and futures.
A little less than a month is left in the 85th Legislature and Texas legislators, among many other issues, will have to decide whether to support one more business incentive program or the creation of one more fund to generate "economic development," and how much to fund already existing ones. It is important to remember...
If the Senators are forced to approach health care defensively due to ad hominem attacks, constrained by party dicta, and consumed with tactical concerns over midterm elections, they will be unable to craft a bill that puts health care in its proper perspective: access to timely care first and foremost, with everything else secondary: cost, coverage, national spending, and lastly, politics.