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State Archive

Straus Re-Elected By House

Speaker Straus deserves our congratulations on his re-election and thanks for his service Texas. The big issues facing Texas will be solved only by the bold ideas championed by commonsense Texans in the November election. It falls to Mr. Straus to get it done. While...

Speaker Race Not Over?

Despite calls from conservative activists, tea party leaders, Republican leaders and Texas voters, the House Republican caucus voted in closed session this afternoon to endorse Joe Straus for re-election as House speaker. No doubt to the chagrin of some tepid...

House Tax Talk

It may no longer be a question of if the leadership team surrounding House Speaker Joe Straus will move to raise taxes, but when and how much. Just this weekend another Straus lieutenant announced his openness to hiking taxes this year. Hopefully Gov. Rick Perry has a...

Wentworth’s Land Grab

Legislation being offered by Republican State Sen. Jeff Wentworth would create a massive land-grab for schools, forcing developers to sell property at or below market value. Sen. Wentworth's legislation would require private residential land developers to offer up at...

Speaker Vote Will Be On Index

The vote for House Speaker will be included on the Fiscal Responsibility Index, announced the president of Texans for Fiscal Responsibility today.   “Joe Straus’ record as the state’s third-ranking constitutional officer leaves much to be desired for fiscal...

Straus Supporters Are Wrong… Statistically

It seems Speaker Joe Straus’ supporters need a refresher on Statistics. Many of those supporters cite historic GOP gains in Texas’ House as evidence of political effectiveness. That means Mr. Straus should remain Speaker, doesn’t it? Hardly. To jump to that conclusion...

Deleting DIR

It’s a safe bet most Texans haven’t heard of the Department of Information Resources. It’s hummed along under the radar for years, generating revenue by selling services to other state agencies. After a scathing Sunset Commission report, State Rep. Byron Cook is ready...

Again Lefties Lead with Tax-Hikes

It seems time after time, the left’s go-to solution for budgetary issues is to “increase revenue streams” (ahem) raise taxes. More curious is that these “solutions” keep coming from the leadership team assembled by House Speaker Joe Straus. The latest in the litany of...

Fiscal Index 2011

Preparing for the start of the legislative session, we last week sent lawmakers a letter outlining our priorities and reminding them how our scorecard, the Fiscal Responsibility Index, works. Of more immediate significance, we noted that House members' first vote...