Water-Break-Gate
What to know: The city of Houston is challenging the Legislature’s preemption law—which says local governments can’t overregulate in areas already covered by state law.
The TPPF take: Don’t fall for the “no more water breaks for construction” lie; nothing in the legislation even mentions water breaks, much less bans them.
“Texas is a safe place to work,” says TPPF’s Brian Phillips. “According to BLS/OSHA data, Texas has a lower rate of workplace related injuries than the national average and significantly below other populous states like California. Since employers typically have an interest in keeping their employees alive, we’re not likely to see any effect on water break safety either. But that won’t stop opponents from making absurd claims in defense of their attacks on conservative policy.”
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Mostly Dead
What to know: President Joe Biden’s plan to “forgive” student loans is dead—depending on the definition of the word “dead.”
The TPPF take: The best path forward on student loans is to use the tools already available to us, including income-driven repayment.
“As a policy matter, student loan forgiveness was terrible,” says TPPF’s Andrew Gillen. “As we’ve noted, the policy failed on logical and rhetorical, educational, economic, moral, political, and legal grounds. One example: It used the real financial struggles of a small portion of borrowers as an excuse to shower almost all college graduates with an unearned windfall.”
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California Dreaming
What to know: Pundits are speculating that California Gov. Gavin Newsom could replace President Joe Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket.
The TPPF take: California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s political future could be clouded by the dismal state of his state—as shown by how many people are leaving it for good.
“With all that tax money California collects, you’d think its residents would enjoy great roads and a strong public education system—but California’s thoroughfares rank the nation’s fourth worst due to a big backlog of deferred maintenance while their K-12 public school results are barely better, ranking 40th of 50,” says TPPF’s Chuck DeVore. “For hundreds of thousands of Californians moving out of the state every year now, Gov. Newsom’s whiny blamecasting may be the last thing they hear as they cross the border heading east.”
For more on California, click here.