State

State Archive

Scouting Principles

Last night I attended a dinner benefiting the Capital Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America. As an Eagle Scout, I’ll be forever in scouting’s debt for the values, principles and skills they tried to instill me – how successfully it took is perhaps a...

Flag This Play

No issue is too small, apparently, for legislative intervention. That's about the only conclusion you can draw from lawmakers wanting to insert themselves' in the dust-up between the NFL and the cable industry. One thing's is for sure, if the Legislature does get...

Maybe We Can Just Walk To Work?

A friend of Empower Texans and TFR today passed along the "newsletter" that accompanies his water bill in the City of Taylor. The newsletter brags about a $574,000 grant from the Texas Transportation Commission to the Taylor Independent School District for the...

TPPF Commentary – Schools Can’t Break Addiction to Higher Taxes

Remember the big school property tax cut you were supposed to get? Your local school district might be about to take it away. Last year, the Legislature passed a plan that used the state’s new business tax and part of the state’s $14 billion budget surplus to buy...

Constitutional Propositions

My friends at the Plano-based Free Market Foundation have produced a fantastic summary of the statewide constitutional ballot, with "pro" and "con" arguments for each. (You can view their work here.) Remember, your local ballot will probably have additional questions...

Republicans In Name

House Speaker Tom Craddick put voice this week to what conservative voters have been depressed about for several years: there are some Republican legislators who work against the conservative agenda. Here's what Speaker Craddick said in the Midland Reporter-Telegram:...

Running Right

While in Temple this week to guest-host a radio show, I had the opportunity to meet Michael Pearce. Hopefully you'll get to know him, too. A Marine veteran and former classroom teacher, Pearce is running for the open House District 55 seat in the Texas Legislature....

Is Lege’s School Rate Cut Driving Higher School Taxes?

It's an inconvenient truth, but not only did the legislature's effort to buy-down school property tax rates not result in lower tax bills (because they left the appraisal process untouched), but it has lead to higher school taxes. At least one elected official is...

Proposition 2 Shows the Problems with Higher Education Finance

In 2003, the State Legislature passed the tuition deregulation plan which gave university systems the ability to raise their own tuition rates. Previously, the tuition rates for state universities were controlled by the State Legislature. We were assured by university...