Today, Gov. Rick Perry signed SB 103, the bill to reform the Texas Youth Commission. Marc Levin, Director of the Center for Effective Justice, testified before the Legislature on TYC this session and authored a Houston Chronicle commentary laying out many of the reforms enacted in SB 103. SB 103 provides independent oversight to prevent future abuses, creates review panels to ensure that rehabilitated youth are promptly released from TYC, allows for greater parental involvement, and specifies that misdemeanant offenders, such as youths convicted of graffiti and alcohol possession, will no longer be sent to TYC. These youths will instead be punished and rehabilitated through community-based residential and day treatment programs that are more effective, less expensive, and help preserve the family unit.”We are pleased that the Legislature and Governor Perry have taken decisive action to reform a wayward agency that, in many instances, worsened, rather than improved, the state of the youth in its custody,” Levin said.
Economy
Texas’ Business Tax Climate Needs Improving
Texans appreciate living in a state that values liberty, sensible business policy, and, perhaps most importantly, a strong dislike for taxes, which inevitably infringe on the first two values. But, in comparison with other states, Texas is beginning to lose its competitive edge in business climate as noted in the Tax Foundation’s recently released 2019...
September 26, 2018