Daniel Greer

Daniel Greer is the Director of Innovation for Texas Scorecard.

Truitt’s Blunt Sword

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.

Texas is Redistricted!

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.

Can I Sit at the Big Table?

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.

Indexing Straus’ Committees

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.

Self Bridges Rhetoric With Action

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.

Above the Law

Austin Police Officers will have to abide by the “Texting While Driving” ban but not really. Police officers will be allowed to email (notice they use email not text) using semantics to avoid a law everyone else will be ticketed for come Friday.

KLBJ radio Austin reported yesterday that in 2009, there were 129 serious crashes in Austin that had cell phone usage as a factor. Interestingly some of the collisions involved Austin police officers.

Program Flushed of Funds

The City of Austin is ending a rebate program subsidizing the installation of water efficient toilets in apartments and businesses. Similar to the city’s push for solar panel installation, this potty initiative has overflowed the budget.

Frizzy Focus from Farouk

Houston haircare billionaire Farouk Shami is focusing on one issue at this early point in his Democrat gubernatorial bid; jobs. This focus is fine, Texas does need more jobs, but the path Shami wants to take will not lead to job creation but job destruction.
 

Texas Transportation on a Budget

With an abundance of transportation contractors and the poor overall health of the global economy, Texas is in a good position to pick up some needed infrastructure on the cheap.