AUSTIN – Today the Texas Public Policy Foundation cheered the passage of HB 1188 through the Texas Senate. The bill would limit the liability of employers who hire persons with past criminal convictions. According to the bill, “A cause of action may not be brought against an employer, general contractor, premises owner, or other third...
Press Release May 21, 2013AUSTIN – Arlene Wohlgemuth, Executive Director and Director of the Center for Health Care Policy at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, issued this statement on this evening’s passage of Senate Bill 7 by the Texas House of Representatives: “The House passage of SB 7 with the successful inclusion of Amendment 26 — the Leach...
Press Release May 21, 2013AUSTIN – Today the Texas House of Representatives will discuss CSSB 1718, a bill that would create an “Achievement School District” (ASD) with a statewide Superintendent responsible for improving the state’s lowest-performing primary-education campuses. “Interventions in under-performing schools are too often ineffective for many reasons, including local political pressures and diffusion of responsibility,” said James...
Press Release May 21, 2013AUSTIN – Arlene Wohlgemuth, Executive Director of the Texas Public Policy Foundation issued this statement today on the budget deliberations underway in the final week of the regular session of the 83rd Texas Legislature: “The 83rd Texas Legislature had at its disposal close to $20 billion of new general revenue this session. To this point,...
Press Release May 21, 2013National studies show that 36 percent of college students learn little during four years invested in college. To combat this, Texas should measure and publicize how much its students actually learn. “
Press Release May 21, 2013AUSTIN – The Texas House of Representatives will today consider Senate Bill 14, an education-debt transparency bill that will help shine a light on state and local government spending and debt. The Texas Public Policy Foundation urges Members to pass this much-needed legislation. “We live in the Information Age, but when it comes to Texas...
Press Release May 21, 2013The Texas Senate is expected today to debate House Bill 1025, the second supplemental appropriations bill of the 83rd Regular Legislative Session. This bill would add several hundred million dollars in new spending to the current budget, and possibly enable the state to spend billions from the state's Economic Stabilization Fund on water infrastructure projects. The Texas Public Policy Foundation urges Senators to carefully consider whether the new spending embodied in this bill is to satisfy "needs" or "wants," and whether some - or all - of the funding could be done without.
Press Release May 21, 2013AUSTIN – The Texas House has passed SB 393 by Senator Royce West and Representative Tryon Lewis. This legislation will help keep schools safe, save taxpayers money and could even lead to higher graduation rates. The Foundation testified in support of this legislation in response to the growing trend to criminalize minor misbehavior, which in...
Press Release May 21, 2013AUSTIN – The Texas House of Representatives is scheduled to take up for debate Senate Joint Resolution 1 today at 4:00 p.m. Though SJR 1 does not appropriate any money from the Economic Stabilization Fund (ESF) directly, the bill creates the mechanism through which the Legislature may spend billions from the state’s “savings account.” We...
Press Release May 21, 2013AUSTIN – Earlier today, the Texas Senate passed House Bill 7, a bill that begins to address the use of General Revenue-Dedicated funds in the budget certification process, and returns to ratepayers excess fee monies that have been collected over the years and not spent on their intended purpose. The two issues that HB 7...
Press Release May 21, 2013AUSTIN – Later today, the Texas House of Representatives will take up for debate Senate Joint Resolution 1, a constitutional amendment that sets in motion a plan to raid the state’s Economic Stabilization Fund for a proposed $2 billion in the upcoming biennium. Members should be aware: SJR 1 is poor public policy. SJR...
Press Release May 21, 2013AUSTIN – The Texas Public Policy Foundation has submitted an amicus curiae brief to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit in The Aransas Project v. Shaw. The brief challenges federal Judge Janis Graham Jack’s ruling that the presumed deaths of 23 federally protected whooping cranes at the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) were caused by Texas Commission...
Press Release May 20, 2013