In Texas, criminal law is not just for criminals anymore -at least not criminals as they have traditionally been defined. Pending legislation would criminalize everything from failure to recycle any piece of electronics equipment to placing a business sign on a rural road, and even leaving a dog tethered to a tree for a total of eight hours in a 24-hour period. The blurring of civil and criminal law is not a novel development in Texas, but rather part of a national trend.
Toward a More Well-Informed Citizenry
The 86th Texas Legislature sought to enhance public debt transparency through the creation of Voter Information Documents (VID). However, this instrument is not accurately providing debt amounts and needs reform. Key points: Governments are manipulating the VID methodology to deny voters accurate tax impact estimates. Many VIDs are dissimilar, making comparative analysis challenging. There is...