As of last week Texans can take pride in a new select committee. Speaker Straus created the House Select Committee on Transportation to highlight the need for increased transparency and accountability in Texas transportation and to analyze current and future transportation funding requirements.
I dare say that Texas does not need a select committee to be reminded of the need for greater transparency and accountability in our transportation.
Attention Dallas area thieves, drug dealers and murderers: now through Sunday you will have ample opportunity to perform your crime of choice. Law enforcement officials in Dallas will be undergoing another revenue enhancement, i.e.
Some embattled Republicans are being labeled “too senior to fail” by the Austin Chronicle. In an article written about the power of seniority in the legislature the Chronicle muses over whether the party is best served by incumbents losing in the March primaries to challengers or if voters should ignore voting records and bail out the senior officials.
Texans have become increasingly sensitive to and concerned about government spending. Tracking and reporting frivolous expenditures is a void currently being filled by concerned citizens. Such a watchdog exists in Richardson where a small business owner has taken matters into his own hands writing on Just My Two Cents blog.
JMTC requests information from the city of Richardson and other entities subject to FOIA inquires and then relays his findings. In a recent post he highlights the spending of his city council on meals.
Those seeking to impose higher gas taxes and fees have been dealt another blow. The Fort Worth Star Telegram and four other Texas dailies asked voters how the state should pay for more highway construction. TLOTA and raising the the gas tax, measures championed by Sen. John Carona and Rep. Vicki Truitt, received the lowest support.
Throughout the last session, State Rep. Vicki Truitt kept repeating the same line when confronted about her fiscally irresponsible bill to hike gas taxes and impose new fees, “I will fall on my sword over this.” Well that must have been a blunt sword or she has recovered quickly from her wound because Truitt is backing away from her own legislation.
Before you get carried away, I am not talking about the 2011 event that will determine how our state’s electoral lines are drawn, though I am glad to have hooked some readers. No, I am issuing a cheer for the actions of the University Interscholastic League (UIL).
The UIL has just redrawn school district competition lines and the changes made will affect the most important line, the bottom line.
In 2008 Democrat Carol Kent picked off incumbent Republican Tony Goolsby to win House District 102. This year there are two Republicans vying to retake that seat Geoff Bailey and Stefani Carter. On the campaign trail you can recognize Bailey pretty easily; he is the sporting a “I want to raise your gas tax!” bumper sticker — and is proud of it.
This week Speaker Joe Straus created four select committees. All of these committees will to varying degrees be dealing with fiscal policy but two of the committees are chiefly focused on taxing, spending, and accountability.
For his responsible leadership in Collin County, Keith Self is being attacked for being too fiscally conservative. In these troubling economic times, it’s hard to imagine that that’s an effective criticism. Self is running for a second term at the helm of a county which is one of the most prosperous and growing in the nation, thanks in part to his even-handed leadership. His Republican primary challenger, meanwhile, apparently believes residents are not taxed enough.