The Latest
‘Nonpartisan’ Voter Registration Organization Securing Taxpayer Funds is a Democrat Front
The organization is receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars from local taxpayers.
School Board Members Instructed to Weaponize Pay Increases
A Texas Association of School Boards guest speaker encouraged educators to use raises as a means to apply political pressure on school choice for the upcoming legislative session.
Reddit Group Targets Christian Homeschool Vloggers From Texas
Using information from internet sources, Florida authorities threatened to confiscate the Lott family’s eight children earlier this year.
Texas Secures Historic $1.4 Billion Settlement with Meta Over Privacy Violations
The settlement, obtained by Attorney General Ken Paxton, is the largest ever from an action by a single state.
The Archive
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...
Making a Statement (in the Journal)
Several members made a statement on some of the most ideological votes cast in the House during the regular session. No, not that kind of “statement.” The kind of statement that goes into the official journal documenting they meant to vote another way. It happens from...
Bureaucrats Set to See Pay Hikes
Come September 1, many of the state’s top-level bureaucrats are set to see some sweetheart pay raises. Of course, they come without any attempts to make state agencies more efficient with your tax dollars. Most state employees are set to see their pay stubs increase...
Letter to Governor Rick Perry
To the Honorable Rick Perry, Governor of the State of Texas: The just-ended legislative session grows government too much and offers too little tax relief. Download PDF of letter to Gov. Perry. Call his office at (512) 463-4630. The 83rd Texas Legislature appropriated...
Competency and Competition
By: Owen Stroud The number of Texas school district superintendents with six-figure salaries has reached an all-time high. For the past two years, school districts statewide have taken a few steps to slash appropriations and eliminate jobs in the face of state budget...
Adding ESF to Endowment to the Call
The Legislature may be using the special session to talk about redistricting maps for the next week or so, but that isn’t stopping two state senators from throwing out ideas for generating more transportation funding. State Sens. Tommy Williams (R–The Woodlands) and...
Session Ends With a Wince
With all key pieces of the budget puzzle squarely in place, the regular session of the 83rd Regular Session adjourned sine die (“without another day”) yesterday. This session will be remembered for the dramatic increase in spending, little reforms, and lackluster tax...
Cards Come Back
According to several members of the Texas House, allies of House Speaker Joe Straus are distributing "pledge cards" to legislators. The message is clear: promise—in writing—to support Joe Straus for speaker in 2015, or face retribution from the lobby. It had been...
Perry Veto Protects Texans From Official Intimidation
Texans are again safe from the threat of official harassment and intimidation simply by virtue of their contributing to nonprofit entities that speak out politically, thanks to a veto by Texas Gov. Rick Perry. Gov. Perry vetoed Senate Bill 346, which the bill authors...