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, possibly using Texan taxpayer money to fund the training needs of Texas businesses’ out-of-state competitors. Taxpayers should not be forced to shoulder the cost of private businesses’ training investments.
Running Dry: South Texas’ Water Crisis
Farmers slowly dig up their losses and face the unsettling reality that their parched dams, once a reliable water supply for irrigation, will not be replenished. These hardworking, multi-generational Texas farmers are no strangers to the ebbs and flows of the seasons. But when a crop that the Rio Grande Valley has depended on for...