State

State Archive

Budget Right, Now

Even though the House Appropriations Committee stopped with $800 million in budget cuts, conservative lawmakers kept looking for more ways to reduce spending and protect the state's rainy day fund dollars. Amendments doing both will be offered on the House floor by...

Assessing New Taxes

Some in the Texas legislature might try to hide behind tax-hiking verbiage to escape voter wrath. You can put lipstick on a tax and call it a fee or assessment, but it doesn’t change the fact that it drains taxpayer wallets for the purpose of growing government. Take...

Every Hand A Loser For Taxpayers

The newly ascendant gaming lobby will have their day in committee on Tuesday, with a dozen bills designed to expand the industry’s scope and footprint. Many supporters will make happy-talk about generating revenue to fund big-government. The only question is whether...

Straus: ‘Question Validity’ Of LBB Report

A poorly prepared report from the Legislative Budget Board became fodder for liberals demanding budget bloat. House Speaker Joe Straus and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst pushed back with the truth.   In a report issued late Thursday, the LBB claimed that under the current...

Who Is More Free-Market?

Take a guess at who recently gave this quote regarding the Texas Emerging Technology Fund: “Why are we in this business? Why are we putting public tax dollars at risk with startups that can’t or won’t raise private money?” No, it wasn’t a conservative. As hard as it...

A Murphy/White Tax

After campaigning as a strong fiscal conservative, pledging to protect the taxpayer by opposing tax increases, and riding the 'tea party wave' back into office in November, it would seem that Rep. Jim Murphy (R-Houston) has forgotten the promises he made to his...

Budget Moves; Liberals Cluck Away

House appropriators have approved a new $164.5 billion all-funds state budget -- living within the revenues available. It's far from a done deal, even as liberals predictably cluck on. House Bill 1 could be on the floor as early as Thursday of next week. It reportedly...

Rally: Keep the Teachers, Cut the Fat

A week and a half ago there was a rally in support of education at the capital. While there was a wide variety of folks attending with different backgrounds and different opinions, there were a few things it seemed everyone could agree on... Keep the Teachers, Cut the...

Gone to Texas

Having enough of Illinois' corrupt fiscal and political mess, a former Illinois state senator says he's "tired of subsidizing crooks" and had declared he and his family are moving to Texas. "You may all go to hell, I will go to Texas." - Davy Crockett As reported in...