AUSTIN – The Texas Public Policy Foundation announced today that its Center for Natural Resources would be renamed the Anne & Tobin Armstrong Center for Energy & the Environment. The announcement was made at a Houston tribute to the Armstrong family keynoted by former White House deputy chief of staff Karl Rove and attended by...
Press Release May 29, 2009AUSTIN – The Texas Public Policy Foundation criticized the Texas Senate's decision today to tie the future of the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) to the establishment of new local option taxes and fees in several Texas metropolitan areas. The Senate tacked key elements of its failed local-option transportation bill, SB 855, onto the TxDOT...
Press Release May 25, 2009AUSTIN – The Texas Public Policy Foundation urges the State Board of Education (SBOE) to give considerable scrutiny to the proposed changes to Texas’ social studies curriculum during its meeting tomorrow. “We are concerned that important pieces of history are being removed or changed,” said Foundation education policy analyst Brooke Terry. “In addition, we see...
Press Release May 20, 2009"Today's House vote is a harmful step toward a big government health care system. If Texas extends CHIP to families making more than $66,000 per year, what was originally a health insurance program for the working poor will morph into an expensive entitlement for the middle class. "Exempting a family's primary vehicle from the asset...
Press Release May 14, 2009AUSTIN – The new transportation tax proposals passed by the House Transportation Committee were met with significant opposition from several research and taxpayer groups, including the Texas Public Policy Foundation, Texas Eagle Forum, Texans for Fiscal Responsibility, Americans for Prosperity, and the Free Market Foundation. Legislation approved by the committee during the past 24 hours-House...
Press Release May 12, 2009AUSTIN – The Texas Legislature should resist calls to expand the Medicaid program by extending the continuous eligibility period from six months to 12, the Texas Public Policy Foundation said today. “Medicaid was intended to provide health care to our poorest citizens,” said Andrea Whitman, health care policy analyst at the Texas Public Policy Foundation....
Press Release May 11, 2009"CHIP was created to provide health insurance to children of the working poor. But the Texas Senate's vote today to extend CHIP to families making up to $66,000 per year morphs the program into an expensive entitlement for the middle class. Why would we consider expanding CHIP when we still aren't enrolling more than 170,000...
Press Release May 6, 2009AUSTIN – Several research, business, and taxpayer groups joined today to urge House and Senate conferees on the 2010-11 state budget to keep fiscal restraint at the forefront of their discussions. “The House leadership and members are to be complimented on adopting a good sound budget for the next two years to carry into conference,”...
Press Release April 29, 2009AUSTIN – Texas families would see higher personal incomes and the Texas economy would gain hundreds of thousands of new jobs if the Texas Legislature abolished the property tax and replaced it dollar-for-dollar with a revised sales tax, according to a report issued today by the Texas Public Policy Foundation. “The property tax is an...
Press Release April 28, 2009“We are deeply disappointed at the House’s vote to defund the state teacher incentive pay programs. The House vote puts successful incentive pay programs – such as Houston ISD’s ASPIRE program – in jeopardy by altering the method of funding and distributing it through the formulas to all school districts regardless of their interest in...
Press Release April 20, 2009Statement by Justin Keener, Vice President of Policy and Communications: “Two weeks ago, the Texas Senate approved a budget that continued the diversion of $1.3 billion of our gasoline taxes to non-transportation purposes. Rather than doing the hard work of setting better priorities so that these taxes could be spent on transportation, the Senate decided...
Press Release April 14, 2009AUSTIN – The Texas Senate opened the door to billions of dollars in new taxes and fees in the Dallas/Fort Worth, Austin, San Antonio, El Paso, Waco, Fort Hood, Corpus Christi, and Brownsville regions through its preliminary passage today of Senate Bill 855. The bill faces a final vote next Tuesday. “As we initially feared...
Press Release April 8, 2009