Energy & Environment

The Green New Deal is a Government Takeover, Not an Environmental Policy

When the Green New Deal comes to the floor of the Senate, its supporters won’t want to talk about it. After the publication (and near-immediate deletion) of an FAQ page detailing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s lurid plans for “massive transformation of our society” through the Green New Deal, some supporters publicly distanced from the specifics; now the bill is being...

March 26, 2019

Taxes & Spending

On Property Taxes And Local Government Spending, Texas Already Is California

The Texas Legislature is grappling with its biennial budget negotiations, with Wednesday expected to be a long night in the state’s House of Representatives. That’s where 307 spending amendments will be debated. There are three main issues at stake: overall spending, public education finance reform including teacher salaries, and property tax relief. Starting with discretionary spending,...

March 25, 2019

Taxes & Spending

Latest Texas Budgets Exceed Your Ability to Pay

The 86th Texas Legislature is already halfway over. The House’s budget will be on the floor on Wednesday. This is perfect time to review each chamber’s budget priorities. Unfortunately, it looks like this budget could exceed your ability to pay. The good news is that there’s time to avoid that failure. Let’s begin by reviewing...

March 25, 2019

Higher Education

College costs, student debt, job prospects: All 3 will be improved with Trump’s executive order

In his book The Way to Wealth (perhaps America’s very first book of financial advice), Benjamin Franklin said, “An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.” Franklin might amend that today, in light of the skyrocketing cost of a university education, the crushing burden of student debt, and the mismatch between graduates and available jobs. Indeed, later...

March 21, 2019

Taxes & Spending

TPPF Recommendations vs. Legislature’s Filed Bills

The State of Texas spends too much and Texans pay skyrocketing tax bills. Texans can obtain lasting, meaningful property tax relief by slowing excessive state and local spending growth and using state surplus revenue to eliminate M&O school district property taxes.

March 20, 2019

Taxes & Spending

CTB- Conservative Texas Budget

As Yogi Berra once said, “If you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll wind up somewhere else.” That’s exactly where the Texas Legislature might find itself on the state’s budget for 2020-2021—somewhere else. Without a benchmark for the budget—an answer to the question of how much we have to spend—lawmakers are in danger of outstripping...

March 20, 2019

K-12 Education

Carine Martinez’s American Journey

TPPF Senior Managing Editor and Policy Analyst Carine Martinez took her Oath of Allegiance on Tuesday, making her an official American (and proud Texan). The journey that led to raising her right hand in a San Antonio naturalization ceremony began in Paris. “But it was after I started learning more about U.S. history—after reading the...

March 19, 2019

Family

The Future Is Looking Bright-er

It’s what many Texans remember about summers as a child; there’s no relief from the Texas heat like playing in the sprinkler. But for the Bright family of Tomball, a summer sprinkler session led to an ordeal involving Child Protective Services, a baseless prosecution and—eventually—a fine against the agency for misconduct. In July of 2018,...

March 19, 2019

Local Government

Scooters Conquer Austin’s SXSW, Beating Manhattan’s Redline, More Miles Than to the Moon and Back

During the first two weeks of March in Austin, Texas, dockless scooters propelled people almost 530,000 miles, a distance greater than to the Moon and back again, according to Jason JonMichael, an official with the Austin Transportation Department in a story posted by KLBJ News Radio. JonMichael told the Urban Transportation Commission that “…we are moving...

March 19, 2019

K-12 Education

Is the Texas STAAR test too hard?

The old business school adage is true — what gets measured gets done. No one disputes the importance of reading in education. That’s why it’s even more important to measure how well our children are reading. Yet in recent weeks, the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) statewide reading test has faced criticism...

March 15, 2019

Economy

Session is Half-Over and Still No Property Tax Relief…Yet

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...

March 14, 2019

Higher Education

Millennials Defend Campus Free Speech

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...

March 14, 2019