AUSTIN – Preliminary data released by the Texas Bond Review Board found cities, counties, school districts, and special districts owe a total of $354.6 billion as of fiscal year 2018. James Quintero, Director of the Texas Public Policy Foundation’s Think Local Liberty initiative, issued the following statement: “Texas’ local governments are awash in a sea of red...
Press Release November 26, 2018Austin, TX — Today, twenty prominent Texas conservative leaders sent a letter to Senators Ted Cruz and John Cornyn urging them to support the First Step Act, which would provide reentry programming to help reduce recidivism, provide modest sentencing reforms, increase public safety, and give those incarcerated a second chance once they have paid their...
Press Release November 21, 2018AUSTIN – Today, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released state-level labor market data for October 2018. The report found Texas employers in the public and private sectors created 32,300 net nonfarm jobs last month bringing the net number of jobs created in the last 12 months to the most of any state at 384,800...
Press Release November 16, 2018AUSTIN—Today, the Texas Third District Court of Appeals rendered its judgment in the paid sick leave case brought against the City of Austin by the Texas Public Policy Foundation. The judgment holds that the City’s paid sick leave ordinance violates the Texas Constitution because it is preempted by the Texas Minimum Wage Act and orders a temporary injunction to be...
Press Release November 16, 2018AUSTIN— Today, the Texas Public Policy Foundation released the policy perspective, “Money for Nothing: An Introduction to Chapter 313 Tax Abatements.” The paper’s author Stanley Greer, a senior research associate with the National Institute for Labor Relations Research, offered the following statement: “Chapter 313 of the Texas Tax Code, known as the ‘Texas Economic Development...
Press Release November 15, 2018AUSTIN – Today, Vance Ginn, Ph.D., senior economist and director of the Center for Economic Prosperity, and Kara Belew, senior education policy advisor for the Center for Innovation in Education, of the Texas Public Policy Foundation will provide invited testimony before the Texas Commission on Public School Finance. “Texas’ property tax system has turned property owners...
Press Release November 13, 2018AUSTIN – Today, the Texas Public Policy Foundation released the paper “School Property Tax Reform: An Analysis of Options.” “Texas’ property taxes and school finance system have been a source of widespread contention and inefficiency for more than 20 years; an overall reform is long overdue,” said John Diamond, Ph.D., co-author of the study and...
Press Release November 12, 2018AUSTIN – The Texas Public Policy Foundation congratulates Texas state Rep. Dennis Bonnen, R-Angleton, on his Monday announcement that he has secured the votes to become the next Speaker of the Texas House. “When lawmakers convene in January, they’ll have a unique opportunity to make progress on some of the most pressing challenges Texans face,”...
Press Release November 12, 2018AUSTIN—Today, the Texas Public Policy Foundation released the research paper, The Economic Fall and Political Rise of Renewable Energy. The paper’s author, Robert L. Bradley, Jr., the CEO and founder of the Institute for Energy Research, offered the following statement: “The modern history of wind power and on-grid solar power can be summarized in four...
Press Release November 7, 2018AUSTIN — Today, the Texas Public Policy Foundation released the paper, The Production Tax Credit: Corporate Subsidies & Renewable Energy written by Angela C. Erickson. “After 25 years and tens of billions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies, it is time to end the Production Tax Credit,” said Erickson. “Profitable companies don’t need the money and...
Press Release November 1, 2018AUSTIN—Today, the Texas Public Policy Foundation published the paper “Occupational Licensing: Keeping People Poor.” “Occupational licensing is a barrier that prevents individuals from entering the labor market of their choice and often provides very few benefits in terms of public safety,” said TPPF’s senior economist and director of the Center for Economic Prosperity Dr. Vance...
Press Release October 25, 2018AUSTIN – Today, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released state-level labor market data for September 2018. Texas employers in the public and private sectors created 15,600 net nonfarm jobs in September, the second most in the nation of 406,400 jobs in the last 12 months, with Florida topping all states but likely influenced by...
Press Release October 19, 2018