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About the Foundation
The Texas Public Policy Foundation is a 501(c)3 non-profit, non-partisan research institute guided by the core principles of individual liberty, personal responsibility, private property rights, free markets and limited government.
The Foundation’s mission is to improve Texas
by generating academically sound research
and data on state issues, and by recommending the
findings to opinion leaders, policymakers, the media
and general public.
Learn more about the Foundation in our video, Ideas Into Action.
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Highlighted Research

| Building a Principled Budget | | A Blueprint for the 2010-11 Biennium |
| Texas is a national leader in job creation, gross state product, low unemployment rate and foreign direct investment. Will the 81st Legislature preserve these successes by writing a responsible budget that promotes economic growth? |
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| Texas Transparency: Then and Now | |
| The 4th President of the United States, James Madison recognized the power of information when he said “Knowledge will forever govern ignorance.” Texas is a national leader in equipping her people with knowledge of government through transparency. We challenge the Legislature to build on that position when they meet in January of 2009. |
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| Health Insurance Regulations | | 2009-2010 Legislators' Guide to the Issues |
| Health insurance mandates ultimately harm consumers by making health insurance more expensive and requiring individuals to buy health benefits that they would not choose if they had the option. Additionally, they limit the opportunity for insurers to develop new and innovative products tailored to the individual. |
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| Entrepreneurs Versus Regulators: Government Intervention in the Market | | Thinking Economically: Lesson 8 |
| Whether you focus on theory or history, the lesson is clear: government intervention in the marketplace wastes resources, harms consumers, and often achieves the opposite from its intended goal. A deregulated, lightly taxed market is the best vehicle to achieve freedom and prosperity for all. |
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Visit the Publications section for all of our reports.
| Latest Commentaries

Courage in the Face of Adversity As we move forward, Texas’ continued commitment to limited government, fiscal conservatism, and low taxation, both in times of excess and shortage, will only strengthen what is, arguably, the nation’s strongest economy. |
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A Change in Climate for Climate Change Policy In less than a year, many unanticipated developments have complicated the political dynamics of “ending the era of fossil fuels” through the enactment of carbon reduction mandates. Consider six such developments that may give pause to policymakers otherwise inclined to support these measures. |
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Future Shock Texas’ renewable energy mandates – combined with the federal government’s generous tax credit for wind-energy production – have propelled the Lone Star State to the forefront of the wind-energy movement. Billions of dollars in capital investment have muted most criticism of wind energy’s rapid expansion, but only because Texas consumers have yet to realize the long-term price we will pay for everyone else’s short-term gain. |
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Rewrite Texas Graffiti Laws If a graffiti “artist” spray-paints your house or business, you could be the one who draws the attention of law enforcement. |
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A Tale of Two States We didn’t know the half of it, perhaps, when Arthur Laffer cut loose a few weeks back concerning Texas’ superiority over California as a place to do business. |
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More commentaries are found in the Newsroom.
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Recent Press Releases
| Statement on Comptroller Susan Combs’ Transparency Initiatives | | Statement by The Honorable Talmadge Heflin, Director of the Center for Fiscal Policy |
“Texas already has open records and open meetings. The next step toward transparent and accountable government is open checkbooks, and the 81st Texas Legislature should make that the standard for local governments as it already is for the state. Taxpayers deserve to know how all levels of government are spending their money.” |
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TexasPolicy.com |
Texas Public Policy Foundation 900 Congress Ave., Ste. 400 Austin, TX 78701 Phone 512.472.2700 Fax 512.472.2728 |
| info@TexasPolicy.com |
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| Medical licensing laws limit choices and increase cost of health care, says Kalese Hammonds |
| - Health Care News | |
| Kalese Hammonds: "Expanding government programs does little to actually reduce the number of uninsured" |
| - Health Care News | |
| Kathleen Hartnett White: Hold off on that obituary for fossil fuels |
| - San Antonio Express-News | |
| California can learn from Texas economy, writes William Murchison |
| - San Angelo Standard-Times | |
| Texas should streamline and improve teacher pay-for-performance, says Brooke Terry |
| - WOAI AM 1200 (San Antonio) | |
| Texas can weather economic storm, writes Talmadge Heflin |
| - San Angelo Standard-Times | |
| Talmadge Heflin urges legislators to learn from overspending of 2001 session |
| - Amarillo Globe-News | |
| Expand health care, not government, Kalese Hammonds urges |
| - San Antonio Express-News | |
| Removing cap would allow charter schools to meet student demand, according to Brooke Terry |
| - San Antonio Express-News | |
Terry Lowry interviews Bill Peacock on electricity |
| - KKHT 100.7 FM (Houston) | |
| Private insurers crowded out of market by state windstorm insurance regulations, says Bill Peacock |
| - Houston Chronicle | |
| Texas school vouchers "a worthy experiment" |
| - The Economist | |
| Editorial: TPPF report shows "how expensive the pursuit of alternative energy can be" |
| - Investor's Business Daily | |
| Kathleen Hartnett White on the United Nations' "Green New Deal" |
| - National Review Online | |
| Energy from wind anything but free, writes Drew Thornley |
| - San Angelo Standard-Times | |
| Time to rewrite Texas graffiti laws, writes Marc Levin |
| - San Antonio Express-News | |
| Texas is bucking the economic trends and maintaining strong growth in income and employment |
| - Business Facilities | |
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