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Making Electricity More Expensive
- Aug 24, 2010

Texas sets new record for electricity demand
- Aug 11, 2010





About the Foundation

The Texas Public Policy Foundation is a 501(c)3 non-profit, non-partisan research institute. The Foundation’s mission is to promote and defend liberty, personal responsibility, and free enterprise in Texas by educating and affecting policymakers and the Texas public policy debate with academically sound research and outreach.
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Highlighted Research


Whooping Cranes Come First? How the Endangered Species Act Endangers the State Water Supply
New litigation under the Endangered Species Act endangers traditional state authority over surface water allocations, risks extinguishing existing property rights, and could cut off a vital source of water to communities in central Texas.

Making Electricity More Expensive: Texas’ Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Programs
What Texans want is more, less expensive electricity, not less, more expensive electricity. If Texas wants to reduce energy costs and save money for Texas consumers, it needs to go back to the drawing board and make significant changes to the energy efficiency program and eliminate the Renewable Portfolio Standard.

Testimony before the House Select Committee on Fiscal Stability
Testimony before the House Select Committee on Fiscal Stability outlining the Foundation's recommendations on how to address the fiscal and economic challenges facing Texas.

Rewarding Results: Measuring and Incentivizing Performance in Corrections

As new crimes and sentencing enhancements mount, more offenders fill probation rolls and prisons, and many return after being discharged without being reformed. To break the cycle, policymakers must align incentives and goals by rewarding results through tying a portion of corrections funding to outcomes such as recidivism, cost effectiveness, restitution to victims, and the employment of ex-offenders.

Congressional Response to the Gulf Spill
What It Could Mean for Texas
Although the investigations into what caused the Deepwater Horizon accident are still ongoing, and the presidential commission on the oil spill has only begun its work, Congress has been busy with legislative initiatives that could significantly alter the landscape of energy production in America. Unfortunately these early measures (principally H.R. 3534 and S. 3663) may cause more problems than they solve, especially for Texas.

Energy Efficiency: Is Texas Getting Its Money's Worth?
Proposals to expand Texas’ energy efficiency program ignore the fact that there is simply no way, given the existing data and methodology, to properly determine the efficiency—or inefficiency—of the program.

Visit the Publications section for all of our reports.

Latest Commentaries


Obama Health Care Reforms Encourage Short-Term Buyers
“Consumers hurt small businesses” is not your typical headline. However, in Massachusetts, this has become the unthinkable reality.

Early Signs Point to Constitutional Rejection of ObamaCare
No one can predict with certainty how the constitutionality of the health care law will be resolved. But Judge Hudson’s focus on the individual mandate and his granting of standing is the best of all possible starts for finding the individual mandate unconstitutional.

Universities Shouldn’t Fight New Transparency Law
Building upon Texas’ nationally-recognized reforms, House Bill 2504 by Rep. Lois Kolkhorst was passed unanimously by the Legislature, requiring more openness from our state’s public universities. But no good deed goes unpunished, and Texas is now under rhetorical attack from certain academic institutions and faculty associations.

Federal Interference a Bad Collective Bargain
Even Texas’ prisons may not be secure enough to withstand the latest intrusion from Washington D.C.

Texas Insurance Market Still Unprepared for Hurricane Season
A major hurricane blowing through Texas this year would likely leave consumers with few choices and high rates in an insurance market still recovering from Hurricane Ike. Although it is easy to put the blame on the insurers, they have been hit hard too. The past two years have seen the insurance providers suffer major losses.

Administration Using Oil Spill to Force Radical Energy Policy
The federal government has enlarged the destructive aftermath of the explosion at BP’s Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico. With the oil flow’s increasing coastal intrusion and an inept response by the federal government to containment, government edict now adds a greater blow to the regional Gulf economy.

Consumers Are King…
The concept of the consumer-driven economy is everywhere. We are told a consumer-driven recovery is going to turn our economy around. Consumer-driven health care was supposed to drive down medical costs. Yet the real power of consumers is generally ignored by those proposing government solutions to problems.

A Case Study on Tort Reform
Six thousand claimants in Texas silica lawsuits await their day in court. For most, that day will never come. Though it seems like justice is not being served, this is actually good news for courts and these claimants.

Transit Agencies Should Open Their Books
Last year, Texas’ metropolitan transit authorities (MTAs) spent more than $4 billion of your transportation tax dollars. If you’re curious to know why, how, or on what, good luck.

More commentaries are found in the Newsroom.



Recent Press Releases


Foundation honors legacy of Nobel laureate Dr. Milton Friedman
AUSTIN – The Texas Public Policy Foundation honored Dr. Milton Friedman on July 30 as part of a national day of recognition for the Nobel Laureate, his work, theories, and contributions. The Friedman Legacy for Freedom Day was celebrated at a total of 64 events held in every state and five countries around the world.



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Complete archive and podcast.
"Reducing spending is the answer for the long-term viability of the state," says Talmadge Heflin
- The Daily Texan
"Through program restructure and prioritizing, you will be able to [reduce spending] without harming people," says Talmadge Heflin
- Dallas Morning News
2003 mental health privatization intended to eliminate basic conflict of interest at MHMRs, says Arlene Wohlgemuth
- Texas Tribune
Dr. Ronald Trowbridge: Early signs point to ObamaCare rejection
- Odessa American
Defining health-care law may determine its fate, writes Dr. Ronald Trowbridge
- Waco Tribune-Herald
In speech to TPPF, Gov. Rick Perry demands tighter security along border between Texas, Mexico
- The Daily Texan
Texas Budget Source: Five largest districts in Texas are sitting on over $550 million in reserve funds
- National Review Online
TPPF research documents dramatic rise in university operating costs
- News 8 Austin
Justin Keener: Universities should not fight new transparency law
- Longview News-Journal
TPPF study: "simply no way...to properly determine the efficiency – or inefficiency – of the state’s energy efficiency program"
- Lone Star Report
Public universities owe taxpayers an accounting, writes Justin Keener
- Waco Tribune-Herald
Federal interference a bad collective bargain, writes Vikrant Reddy
- Odessa American