Most people agree that paying a fine is a preferable punishment compared to incarceration or supervision. But because the impact of a fine is directly related to one’s ability to pay, fines and court fees can actually cause the greatest sting and the most severe punishment on poor Americans. A federal court recently confirmed this. A...
Collecting seashells that are strewn across thousands of miles of America’s shorelines may be a pastime for many beachgoers, but a recent incident out of Florida highlights that the line between “commonplace” and “criminal” is thin, indeed. According to the Florida Keys News, Diana Fiscal-Gonzalez pleaded no contest to criminal charges after taking 40 queen conches out...
The summer is in full swing in Texas. With temperatures soaring into triple-digits across the state’s most populous areas, more energy is required to keep the lights on and the indoors cool. With these higher-than-usual temperatures, demand for energy is breaking records, giving rise to concern about the adequacy of the state’s energy supply. People...
New York, Connecticut, Maryland and New Jersey – four of the highest-taxing states in the nation – filed a breathtakingly foolish lawsuit this week against the federal government alleging that the tax cut and reform legislation signed into law by President Trump last year is unconstitutional because it unfairly targets Democratic-controlled states. The states claim that the...
The Environmental Protection Agency has sent its replacement for the Clean Power Plan to the White House. We don’t know what’s in it (it won’t be released until the White House has a chance to review it), but we know what should be and what shouldn’t. The new plan should restore the rule of law...
My grandmother on my mother’s side was born on Zakynthos, a small Greek island in the Ionian Sea. I was raised Greek Orthodox and will always remember her telling me the story of the patron Saint of the island, Saint Dionysius. A man approached Saint Dionysius begging for his help because he had just committed...
Service industry workers — wait staff, bartenders and the like — are experts in free-market economics. They enjoy immediate and tangible reward for their hard work in the form of tips, and the best servers can make hundreds of dollars per shift through hard work, positivity and attentiveness. When they aren’t feeling it, the effects...
Today, college students are saddled with more student loan debt than ever before in American history. The average student loan debt for 2017 graduates was over $39,000, which is a six percent uptick from 2016. Students owe nearly $1.5 trillion in student loan debt. According to the website, StudentLoanHero.com, student loan debt now runs $620 billion higher than...
2018-07-Testimony-Testimony Before the Matagorda Co Commissioners Ct-ACEE-Gonzalez by texaspolicy on Scribd
The Supreme Court will hear its first oral argument during the October 2018-2019 term in the case of Weyerhaeuser Co. v. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which involves a smorgasbord of issues focusing on whether a federal government agency has unbridled discretion to make land use decisions that adversely impact landowners throughout the nation. If newly...
Passing criminal justice reform is a bit like painting a house: Sometimes, another coat or two of paint may be needed in a few spots. This is the case with Alaska and Senate Bill 91, which has been clarified during the past two legislative sessions but remains a landmark accomplishment that put Alaska’s corrections system on...
A federal court’s recent ruling in favor of New Jersey’s cash bail reform should embolden lawmakers’ efforts to re-center their criminal justice systems on public safety. U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a lawsuit against the state of New Jersey in which a bail bond company maintained that a violent offender was denied his...