Taxpayers Shouldn’t Fund This
What to know: Texas lawmakers are taking aim at taxpayer-funded lobbying, where cities and counties and other taxing entities lobby the Legislature for more power and dollars.
The TPPF take: We don’t need local government lobbying state government for more government.
“Taxpayer-funded lobbying is a practice that promotes the government’s interests at the expense of taxpayers’ interests,” says TPPF’s James Quintero. “This legislative session, policymakers have an opportunity to support legislation that requires transparency and accountability, but, more importantly, to ban TFL altogether.”
For more on taxpayer-funded lobbying, click here.
Rural Challenges
What to know: Rural Texas faces unique challenges, including access to health care.
The TPPF take: Texas state Sen. Adam Hinojosa sat down with TPPF’s Greg Sindelar to discuss the difficulties that can come with rural living.
“We have a bill that tries to address some of that,” says Sen. Hinojosa. “The business model of a hospital doesn’t work for small communities because the population isn’t enough to sustain that mode. Expanding telemedicine will help that, for people who just need prescriptions refilled, for example.”
For more on how to revitalize rural Texas, click here.
Accountability
What to know: The A-F system lawmakers put into place to ensure accountability in the Texas public education system is under fire.
The TPPF take: Our school accountability system matters.
“It’s the only statewide tool we have to give parents a clear picture of how their schools are performing,” says TPPF’s Jorge Borrego. “It’s also one of the only ways to monitor how the state is spending billions of taxpayer dollars. Unfortunately, some school districts don’t want to be held accountable. Over the past two years, they’ve spent taxpayer money suing the state to block the release of accountability ratings.”
For more on school accountability, click here.