AUSTIN – The Texas Public Policy Foundation is pleased to announced that author, entrepreneur, and media mogul Steve Forbes will deliver the opening keynote address at the 13th Annual Policy Orientation for the Texas Legislature. Mr. Forbes’ address will come at the opening luncheon of the Policy Orientation, Wednesday, January 7, 2015, at 12:00 p.m....
Press Release December 10, 2014AUSTIN—The Texas Public Policy Foundation will host the Harris County Justice Summit to address Pre-Trial and Mental Health Solutions THIS FRIDAY, December 12, 2014, at 8:00 a.m. CST at the DoubleTree Hotel in Downtown Houston. County jails are the gateway to the corrections system and are the form of incarceration that affect the greatest...
Press Release December 10, 2014AUSTIN – The Texas Bond Review Board’s newly published local government debt statistics for fiscal year 2014 show a rising tide of red ink. For FY 2014, local government debt outstanding (principal only) stood at an estimated $205.3 billion while local government debt service outstanding (remaining principal and interest) totaled $333.1 billion. Both figures represent...
Press Release December 10, 2014AUSTIN – The Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF) submitted comments in opposition to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposed Clean Power Plan rule. Under the proposed rule, states are required to regulate in conformity with EPA’s dictates on a range of matters that lie entirely outside EPA’s statutory authority, including the regulation of their electrical...
Press Release December 3, 2014AUSTIN – The Texas Public Policy Foundation will host a Policy Primer discussing “Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform in Texas: Fighting Contraband, Upholding Civil Liberties” on Monday, December 8, 2014 at 11:30 a.m. CST in Texas State Capitol Conference Center located in room E2.002. Civil asset forfeiture is a common practice in Texas, responsible for part...
Press Release December 3, 2014AUSTIN – Today the Texas Public Policy Foundation released a paper by Center for Local Governance Senior Policy Analyst Jess Fields on how tax abatements increase taxes for taxpayers. The study, “The Failure of Tax Abatements: Corporate Handouts that Just Don’t Work For Taxpayers,” recommends that local governments focus on economic growth by creating overall...
Press Release December 3, 2014AUSTIN – In advance of the Legislative Budget Board’s (LBB) meeting today, the Texas Public Policy Foundation released updates to key budget research, The Real Texas Budget and The Conservative Texas Budget, using the latest Texas budget and economic data. The Conservative Texas Budget uses the actual 6.5 percent increase in population plus inflation during the last two fiscal years...
Press Release December 1, 2014AUSTIN – Today, the Texas Public Policy Foundation released a report by Policy Analyst Kathleen Hunker examining how the rise in property taxes has created a steady demand for market alternatives to the delinquency process. The report, “Tax Lien Transfers: A Reasonable Means of Rectifying Property Tax Obligations,” outlines a market-based solution for property owners...
Press Release December 1, 2014AUSTIN – Today, The Honorable Talmadge Heflin, Director of the Center for Fiscal Policy at the Texas Public Policy Foundation and former chairman of the Texas House Committee on Appropriations, and Dr. Vance Ginn, economist for the Center for Fiscal Policy, issued the following statements on the Legislative Budget Board’s (LBB) adoption of a recommended...
Press Release December 1, 2014AUSTIN – The Texas Public Policy Foundation and its allies will hold a press conferenceTOMORROW, Tuesday, December 2nd, at 10:00 a.m. CST, in the Senate Press Room of the Texas State Capitol. Policy experts will call for decisive action from the 84th Texas Legislature on school choice in the Lone Star State. The myths about...
Press Release December 1, 2014“Texas continues to add jobs at a healthy rate. During the last twelve months, employers across this great state created a record 421,900 net nonfarm jobs. Additionally, the state’s unemployment rate has fallen by 1.1 percent to 5.1 percent during the last year, making it at or below the national average for a remarkable 94 consecutive months." –Vance Ginn
Press Release November 21, 2014The lessons for Texas and the other states are clear: it is impossible to conceive of Washington, D.C., arriving at — and still less enacting and enforcing — a workable and just solution to the immigration crisis. This is not at bottom a function of particular parties: it is a systemic policy paralysis in D.C. that has endured for half a century.
Press Release November 20, 2014