This report discusses fiscal 2015, the most recent year for which data is available, in which local debt outstanding, or the amount of unpaid principal on debt owed by Texas’ political subdivisions, grew to an estimated $212.4 billion, “an increase of $20.09 billion (10.4 percent) over the past several years” (Texas Bond Review Board, 2). To help rein in the growth of local government debt, state legislators should require political subdivisions to provide voters with more information at the ballot box for each new debt proposition.
My Journey to Understand El Paso’s Lobbying Expenses
In 2019, the Texas Legislature passed a law (House Bill 1495) to help correct “unethical political behavior” at the local level. One key provision in the law requires political subdivisions to disclose the amount of money being spent to lobby the legislature in their proposed budgets. As more fully articulated in Sec. 140.0045 (b)(2) of...