The Latest
Fort Worth Police Plan to Aggressively Pursue Arrests in Fentanyl-related Deaths
Sgt. Benjamin Scott Banes said Fort Worth saw an average of three fatal fentanyl poisonings weekly in 2023 alone.
Pfizer Injects Funds Into Texas Lawmakers Campaign Coffers
Lawmakers and political action committees made their latest campaign finance disclosures this week, and one big pharmaceutical company’s political giving was in the spotlight.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton Endorses More House Challengers
Paxton says that Texas must fight to protect conservative values from “liberal Republicans.”
Permian Basin LGBT Group to Host ‘All Ages’ Party Featuring Drag Queens
Saturday’s Barbie-themed “Pink Party” is being held at I Love My Selfie in Midland.
The Archive
Otto’s Motto: Property Tax Relief for Texans
State Rep. John Otto (R-Dayton) is an accountant and strong conservative leader who the Lone Star Report says "is rapidly becoming the House leadership's resident expert on all taxation issues." He has filed numerous bills to fix abuses in the property tax...
Support Grows for Paxton Amendment to Limit State and Local Government Spending
Legislative support is increasingly emerging for House Joint Resolution 53 by Rep. Ken Paxton which would greatly strengthen the state constitutional spending limitation and, for the first time, create a similar limitation for local governments. Authors and co-authors...
Open Those Checkbooks
 Another great open-government bill is HB640 by State Rep. Byran Hughes (R-Mineola). This bill would require that all expenditures by each state agency, be easily available online. The posting would also have to include the purpose of the expenditure. This will let...
Texas Spending Commission
 State Sen. Dan Patrick has introduced legislation (SB1190/SJR41) that creates a government spending commission, similar to one authorized by Ronald Reagan in 1984. Reagan's Grace Commission made nearly 2,500 recommendations that eliminated more than $420...
Let The Sunlight Shine
Three right-thinking members of the legislature are recommending that more House and Senate votes be recorded, and therefore subject to public review. State Rep. Dan Branch (R-Dallas), State Rep. Brian McCall (R-Plano), and State Rep. Tony Goolsby (R-Dallas), have...
Rare political courage on display
Just a few moments ago I witnessed a rare act of political courage. We learned last week about the Republican attempt to undo the important reforms conservatives made in the Children's Health Insurance Program four years ago. At that time, the stories of fraud and...
More recorded votes good for taxpayers
The House's State Affairs Committee is expected today to hear testimony regarding a series of bills that would significantly open the legislative process to taxpayer and voter scrutiny. In the past, many important votes have been held as "voice votes," allowing...
America’s Most Irresponsible
The Drudge Report is today noting that the U.S. Comptroller, David Walker, will tell 60 Minutes on Sunday that Medicare is on a course to bankrupt the United States. He says that the president's prescription drug plan, "is probably the most fiscally irresponsible...
House Committee Unanimously Hangs Up on Telephone Tax
The Lone Star Report brings us the following good news:The House Regulated Industries committee unanimously voted Feb. 21 to eliminate the Telecommunications Infrastructure Fund (TIF). The tax on consumers’ phone bill was created in 1995 to help wire schools,...