Testimony before the Legislative Budget Board

License plate readers can aid police — but Texas needs guardrails

Earlier this summer, two Texas law enforcement agencies announced investigations involving the alleged misuse of Flock Safety’s automated license plate reader (ALPR) technology. In Fort Bend County, a sheriff’s lieutenant admitted to conducting repeated searches unrelated to official law enforcement duties nearly 200 times. Shortly thereafter, Baytown Police opened internal affairs and criminal investigations into allegations that an...

Transformational Healthcare Reform

Transformational Healthcare Reform  Key Points As hospitals and insurance systems have consolidated, patients have faced rising costs and narrower choices, while physicians have lost independence, and control has shifted to a handful of large corporate systems. Price transparency alone is not enough: patients and employers need clear disclosure of actual prices, fees, commissions, conflicts of...

Remembering the ‘why’ behind Raise the Age in North Carolina

At what age should juvenile offenders be tried and treated as adults in North Carolina? What constitutes a juvenile’s actions so irredeemable that they bypass the juvenile system and go straight into adult corrections? As times change and public safety evolves, it is important to reflect on the principles that guide our justice system. One...