Local
School District Calls Short-notice Meeting to Enact Mask Mandate 2 Days After Christmas
“It demonstrates how the whole system is infected with progressivism.”
Potter County GOP Withdraws Plan to Use Paper Ballots
Amarillo voters will continue to use electronic machines to cast ballots in March.
South Texas State Rep. Armando Martinez Gets First GOP Challenger In 10 Years
Jimmie Garcia, a 31-year-old truck driver, is the first Republican to challenge the longtime Weslaco Democrat since 2012, and only the second since 2002.
County Officials Punt on Fight Over ‘X-Rated’ Books Available to Children
“Every single person that has received funds must be accountable. No one is above accountability.”
Local Archive
Shenandoah Texas May Set Record for Per Capita Cost of Taxpayer-Funded Lobbyists
The Houston Chronicle recently reported that the town of Shenandoah Texas has hired taxpayer-funded lobbyists for $30,000 this session. At first blush, this is not shocking since our friends at Americans for Prosperity-Texas have estimated that governmental entities...
Lubbock Paper Calls for Surplus to be Returned to Taxpayers
Once in a while the mainstream media hits the nail on the head and such is the case with a staff editorial in today's Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. This piece enclosed below in no uncertain terms urges the Legislature to return the surplus to taxpayers. Further, it...
Only in Austin…
Governor Perry had a great line reported in the state's media outlets:Â Â Â Â Â Â "Only in Austin and Washington would returning $8 billion to citizens be considered spending."That's a great point. The state's spending cap was called the...
Dewhurst Questions Existence & Return of Surplus, But More Tax Cuts Now Can Help Avert Future Economic Slowdown
Speaking at a Capitol news conference yesterday, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst said "We don't have a 14.3 billion dollar surplus." He asserted that "when you look at promised property tax cuts out to 2011, we're looking at a balanced budget with just...
Taxpayers vs. Spending Addicts in Abilene
The Abilene Reporter-News has a revealing piece today discussing how Abilene taxpayers support revenue and appraisal caps while local officials are frightened by the prospect. The most eye-opening quote is:Taylor County Commissioner Chuck Statler likened the...
Texas Taxpayer Funded Lobbying & Blogging
The Galveston Daily News reported this month that the board of the Galveston Independent School District voted to pay the Austin consulting firm Moak, Casey & Associates up to $15,000 to lobby the Texas Education Agency (TEA) on their behalf. The specific...
Sen. Carona would rather do the wrong thing… on taxes?
State Senator John Carona (R-Dallas) is quoted by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram as saying that he'd rather "something wrong than do nothing." The sad thing is that in this case, the "wrong thing" he'd rather do is raise local taxes to pay for more wasteful mass transit...
Houston Chronicle notes TFR
The Houston Chronicle's Janet Elliott noted in her blog this week the creation of TFR.December 05, 2006Too much of a good thingReturning the state budget surplus to taxpayers will be job one for a newly formed advocacy group. Texans for Fiscal Responsibility,...
Howard About That! Legislator Files Bill to Fix Spending Limitation
As we reported earlier on this blog, we have urged the Legislative Budget Board (LBB) to adopt growth in gross state product instead of total personal incomes as the index for measuring growth in the state's economy for purposes of calculating the constitutional...