Earlier this week Texans for Fiscal Responsibility released Texas’ most important conservative scorecard of legislator performance for the latest session. Michael Quinn Sullivan titled his summary of the report “Lack of Responsibility” and I couldn’t agree more. I say...
Pratt on Texas
Know the “effective rate” to judge local tax rate changes
It’s local budget time and all over Texas I see the distortions of city and county elected officials ignorantly passed along by local members of the media. Time and again I read quotes of officials talking about how they are giving local taxpayers a break by either...
TEA’s new school ratings “need improvement”
Today I detailed for listeners all the schools that did not meet the state’s new so-called accountability standards. It was easy to do in a half-hour because the “standards” are so low, and the new reporting system so vague, that few schools show up as not having “met...
Feds want to preserve river flow where it doesn’t flow – for 2 minnows
The War on Texas continues with the placing of two little minnows above the needs of man. The Feds are considering placing the sharpnose shiner and smalleye shiner, which live only in prairie streams in the arid upper Brazos River watershed, on the Endangered Species...
TAB’s Hammond disdainful of an engaged public
“This is a stopgap bill, I don’t care how we cut it,” said Rep. Phil Stephenson, R-Wharton, about the transportation funding deal passed by the Texas House and Senate on Monday night. The bill, which puts in serious jeopardy our saving money to the rainy day fund,...
Moronic: Texas transportation funding plan
There is an issue being debated in second called session of the 83rd Texas Legislature that will affect us in the pocketbook and politically for our foreseeable future. It has to do with a terrible way of funding spending growth for state transportation projects. Joe...
Texas GOP senators surrender Step by Ugly Step
At the end of the first called session of the 83rd Texas Legislature, Texas Democrats demonstrated Tuesday night and Wednesday morning what those of us who are not burdened with self-enforced ignorance have always known about the Left: The Rule of Law and all other...
Legislators feed bad management at TxDOT
“We need to be realistic with the taxpayers … and tell them it’s going to take more money to fix this problem,” said Sen. Kevin Eltife of Tyler. Eltife and other senators claim that we’ve refused to pass enough taxes to pay for a modern road system and have voted for...
An abdication of fiscal restraint: Rainy day roads
Texas Politics reported this week that members of the “Senate Finance Committee meeting in Austin Wednesday were generally supportive of a plan to direct money from oil production tax revenues to road rehab and construction.” The committee did not approve the plan by...
Campus Carry needs your push now!
Texans finally achieved a House of Representatives floor vote on campus carry Saturday and it passed! You can see Rep. Allen Fletcher’s HB 972 and amendments here. Now to trouble in the state senate; Senator Whitmire (D-Houston), a past strong supporter of campus...