TPPF: HB 769 Will Limit Excessive Superintendent Severance Packages

AUSTIN— This evening, the Texas House preliminarily passed House Bill 769, which would place certain restrictions on severance payments made to school superintendents. One proposal, added via an amendment, would prohibit both open-enrollment charter schools and school districts from making a severance payment to the chief executive in excess of one year’s salary. “Six-figure severance payments are an...

Press Release May 9, 2019

TPPF Applauds House Passage of HB 297 Which Will Eliminate Burdensome M&O Property Tax

AUSTIN— Today, the Texas House passed HB 297 which would eliminate the school districts’ maintenance and operations property tax and replace it with a more efficient sales tax. “Texas’ economy is the strongest in the country — owing in large part to the commitment of policymakers to the Texas Model and strong conservative fiscal leadership,”...

Press Release May 9, 2019

TPPF: The Use of Taxpayer Dollars to Fund Union Costs Undermines Free-Speech Rights

AUSTIN—Today, the Texas Public Policy Foundation published the policy perspective, Vindicating Texans’ Free Speech Rights Under Janus. “Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court found that elected officials infringe on public employees’ First Amendment rights when they force them as a job condition to allow a third party—a labor union—to speak for them on workplace matters and infringe...

Press Release May 9, 2019

TPPF Applauds Senate Passage of Bill to End Forced Annexation

AUSTIN– Today, the full Texas Senate passed House Bill 347 which promises to end the practice of forced annexation in Texas. The bill now heads back to the Texas House where representatives can decide whether to concur with Senate amendments. “Last session, the Texas Legislature took a major step toward ending forced annexation by granting...

Press Release May 9, 2019

TPPF: Adopt Performance-Based Probation Programs to Decrease Prison Populations

AUSTIN—Today, the Texas Public Policy Foundation’s Center for Effective Justice published the policy perspective Results-Oriented Solutions for Probation Funding. “While overcrowding in prisons and jails receive the lion’s share of scrutiny from the reform-minded, it is actually those in community supervision that form the largest population in most corrections systems,” said Michael Haugen, policy analyst with...

Press Release May 7, 2019

TPPF Files Brief Urging 5th Circuit Court to Affirm Obamacare Unlawful

AUSTIN— The Texas Public Policy Foundation filed a brief urging the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit to uphold the U.S. District Court decision declaring Obamacare unconstitutional. “For millions of Americans like our clients Neill Hurley and John Nantz, the Affordable Care Act has led to skyrocketing costs, rationed care, and loss of health care freedom,”...

Press Release May 2, 2019

Texas House Committee on Ways & Means Passes Property Tax Cut with Full Swap of Penny Sales Tax Rate Increase

AUSTIN— Today, the Texas Committee on Ways & Means passed House Joint Resolution 3, which would cut school districts’ maintenance and operations (M&O) property taxes with every dollar generated from raising the state sales tax rate from 6.25 percent to 7.25 percent. This legislation would need to be passed by both chambers and then approved...

Press Release May 1, 2019

Texas House Preliminarily Passes Historic Property Tax Reform

AUSTIN— Today, the full Texas House preliminarily passed Senate Bill 2, the Property Tax Reform & Relief Act of 2019. The bill lowers the rollback tax rate, now called the “no-new-revenue tax rate,” from 8 percent to 3.5 percent for cities, counties, and some special districts. It also imposes a rollback rate of 2 percent for...

Press Release April 30, 2019

TPPF: House Moves to Protect Student Free Speech on Texas University Campuses

AUSTIN— The Texas Public Policy Foundation commends the Texas House of Representatives for the passage of HB 2100, relating to free speech at Texas public universities. Thomas Lindsay, Ph.D., director of the Center for Innovation in Education at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, said the following: “The Texas House of Representatives is to be applauded...

Press Release April 30, 2019

TPPF: Affordable Baccalaureate Programs Provide Greater Socioeconomic Mobility for Texans

AUSTIN— Today, the Texas Public Policy Foundation published the policy perspective Expanding the College Pricing Revolution: 2019 Update on the Texas Affordable Baccalaureate Program. “In the seven years following then-Gov. Rick Perry’s State of the State Address in which he called for the creation of affordable bachelor’s degree programs, Texas’ public universities have risen to...

Press Release April 25, 2019

TPPF: Renewable Energy Subsidies Expected to Cost Texas Taxpayers $36 Billion by 2029

AUSTIN— Today, the Texas Public Policy Foundation published the policy perspective The Cost of Renewable Energy Subsidies in Texas. “Texas consumers and taxpayers are paying billions of dollars to support corporations who are relying on subsidies to profit from an otherwise profitless endeavor—generating electricity from the wind and sun,” said Bill Peacock, vice president of...

Press Release April 23, 2019

TPPF: Texas Can Cut Property Taxes Without Increasing Other Tax Burdens

AUSTIN— With HJR3 recently being heard in the House Ways and Means Committee, the Texas Public Policy Foundation released numerous options for giving Texans real property tax cuts without having to increase the burden on taxpayers in other areas. “Our legislators should be commended for asking the right question: how do we deliver real property tax...

Press Release April 18, 2019