AUSTIN – The Texas Public Policy Foundation announced today that former House Appropriations Chairman Talmadge Heflin will become Director of the Foundation’s Center for Fiscal Policy, effective March 15, 2008. “There are few people in Austin with Talmadge’s knowledge of the state budget and a reputation as a committed fiscal conservative and leader,” said Foundation...
Press Release March 10, 2008AUSTIN – Revised projections from the Legislative Budget Board confirm that legislative proposals reflecting research and recommendations from the Texas Public Policy Foundation have postponed the need for new prisons by at least two years. “Our extensive research convinced us that Texas did not need to add prison capacity right now,” said Marc Levin, Director...
Press Release February 5, 2008AUSTIN – Today, the Texas Public Policy Foundation formally released “Violate at Your Own Risk: The Immutability of Economic Laws,” the first paper in the Foundation’s Thinking Economically project. “Just like the laws of physics, economics laws are simply descriptions of reality. Scarcity can be no more ignored than gravity,” Dr. Arthur Laffer wrote in...
Press Release January 18, 2008"The Texas Public Policy Foundation has long understood that sunlight is the best disinfectant for rotten government. Wasteful and unethical spending is much less likely to happen when it can be readily exposed to public scrutiny. "Until last fall, Texas relied on its governor and 181 state legislators to be the watchdog against wasteful spending....
Press Release January 15, 2008AUSTIN – Kathleen Hartnett White, the former chair of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), will join the Texas Public Policy Foundation’s staff later this month as the Director of its new Center for Natural Resources. Foundation President Brooke Rollins made the announcement last Thursday at the closing dinner of the 6th Annual Policy...
Press Release January 14, 2008AUSTIN – The Honorable Joseph M. Nixon has joined the Texas Public Policy Foundation as a Senior Fellow in its Center for Economic Freedom. Foundation President Brooke Rollins made the announcement at last night’s closing dinner of the 6th Annual Policy Orientation for the Texas Legislature. “Joe Nixon was the architect behind the sweeping lawsuit...
Press Release January 11, 2008AUSTIN – The Texas Public Policy Foundation announced today that Dr. Wendy Lee Gramm was elected Chairman of its Board of Directors at its October 30th board meeting. Gramm had previously chaired the Foundation’s volunteer board of directors from 1999 until 2004. She succeeds Houston businessman William McMinn, who had served as chairman for the...
Press Release November 1, 2007AUSTIN – A new paper released today by the Texas Public Policy Foundation debunks former Vice President Al Gore’s claim (which he will repeat during his Austin appearance tonight) that “the [global warming] debate is over.” “Human activities are not influencing the global climate in a perceptible way,” said Dr. S. Fred Singer, professor emeritus...
Press Release October 1, 2007AUSTIN – The focus of the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) and other Texas policymakers on rate regulation has been misguided and damaging to Texas consumers, according to a new paper released today by the Texas Public Policy Foundation. “The marketplace for both homeowners’ and windstorm insurance is not being allowed to meet the needs...
Press Release August 28, 2007AUSTIN – A new report from the Texas Public Policy Foundation challenges university trustees to lead the charge in reforming higher education by evaluating their institutions’ mission, organization structure, curriculum and cost-efficiency. “It falls to trustees to fortify the towers,” wrote Dr. Candace de Russy, Senior Research Fellow at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, “lest...
Press Release July 9, 2007AUSTIN – The Texas Public Policy Foundation applauds Gov. Rick Perry’s signing of House Bill 735, which eliminates the Telecommunications Infrastructure Fund tax in September 2008. “Repealing the TIF tax now instead of waiting until 2011 will save Texas consumers more than $210 million per year and more than $600 million in total,” said The...
Press Release June 18, 2007"Texas state government is as big as it needs to be. Our position continues to be that any growth in the state's budget should be limited to inflation and population increases. "While all of the proposed spending caps allow for growth well beyond inflation and population, we applaud the Legislative Budget Board for approving the...
Press Release June 15, 2007