House budget writers added an additional $800 million to the 2016-17 budget plan on Wednesday in an effort to increase education spending. This brings the House’s proposed education spending to a total of $3 billion, well beyond the $2.2 billion that’s needed to...
Legislators have filed bills seeking to repeal a slurry of petty and outdated taxes. For many of these taxes, administrative costs currently exceed revenue collections gained, making them highly inefficient. Others exist merely as burdensome relics of failed...
Texas State Senators will be able to get to work quickly when they return on Monday after action by their new presiding officer. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick ended his first week in his new office by releasing his Senate committee assignments. In assigning the positions,...
The Texas House gaveled the 84th Legislature into session Tuesday afternoon and the election of a speaker headlined the agenda. Conservative and Tea Party Republicans, frustrated with a moderate-to-outright-liberal speaker with a proven track record of killing...
With the 84th session of the Texas Legislature still over a month away, big-spending politicians are already scheming on how to massively expand the next state budget, all while claiming fiscal discipline. The main obstacle to the grow-government crowd is our...
