The newly redrawn open seat in House District 73 encompasses Comal County and part of Hays County. It is being vacated by incumbent State Rep. Kyle Biedermann (R–Fredericksburg). Former New Braunfels Mayor Barron Casteel and nonprofit executive Carrie Isaac will face...
Texans statewide cried out in February when they were hit with record power blackouts and freezing cold—and it is still uncertain if state officials did much to protect the grid moving forward. “[By the morning of February 15,] half of Texas’ wind turbines were frozen...
Three weeks after Gov. Greg Abbott was publicly taken to task for claiming Texas’ power grid was in “better” shape than ever—despite evidence to the contrary—he has directed a shift in policy away from green energy. However, he didn’t put energy on the agenda in the...
Gov. Greg Abbott was scorched last week after claiming Texas’ power grid was “better today than it’s ever been.” A Forbes opinion piece points out the grid needs attention, corroborating policy experts’ previous statements that more reliable thermal power is needed,...
Despite Gov. Greg Abbott signing legislation in response to the February blackouts, concerns have emerged about Texas’ power grid this summer. Texas Scorecard spoke with three of the state’s energy experts about the possibility of future blackouts, what the Texas...
According to a public policy expert, a series of legislative decisions, combined with actions the day of the cold winter snap, led to the current crisis sweeping the state. For days, millions of Texans have been freezing due to rolling blackouts, prompting a public...
AUSTIN — The dust has settled from Tuesday night’s local runoff and special elections, and Central Texas voters have chosen new candidates to compete for important state and federal positions. Only a handful of races were on the ballot for Central Texans, among which...
Episode 114: Cary Cheshire, Destin Sensky, and Brandon Waltens drop by to discuss this week’s news from around the state. Former State Rep. Jason Isaac, now with Texas Public Policy Foundation joins the show to discuss the cost of left wing “carbon...
Chip Roy, former chief of staff to U.S. Senator Ted Cruz, announced his campaign for Congress Wednesday morning. Roy is running to represent Texas’ 21st Congressional District and is attempting to replace U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith (R–San Antonio), who is retiring after 16...
House leadership has been forced to back down after proposing a tactic that would have blocked all property tax reform and relief amendments. Their capitulation to grassroots opposition signals that House leadership may have fewer than 20 Republican supporters. On...
A quick visit to the Texas Capitol yielded some interesting news today, with lawmakers saying that House Speaker Joe Straus’ key lieutenants are whipping Republicans against the special session agenda of the governor. Specifically, State Reps. Chris Paddie (R-Center)...
On the 140th day of the legislative session, the last day for work to be completed under Texas’ constitution, we generally start gearing up for the release of the Fiscal Responsibility Index, which measures lawmakers’ records on fiscal and governance issues. Not this...
With just hours left in the 85th regular session of the Texas Legislature, lawmakers will be heading home with tales of their governing prowess. For members of the Texas House, that’s exactly what it will be: tall tales. The House failed to deliver on key reforms...
A hot check was written to Texas’ public schools this week by the Democrat-Republican coalition that rules the Texas House. Despite their bankrupt claims, the measure does nothing to reform the state’s broken finance system, end Robin Hood, or implement desperately...
Forcing the State to Live Within Its Means (Page 411) Authored by State Rep. Mike Lang (R–Granbury), this amendment would protect the Economic Stabilization Fund (also known as the Rainy Day Fund) by cutting the budget across the board by a small percentage. The Rainy...
As mentioned yesterday, last week’s unveiling of committee assignments by House Speaker Joe Straus provided cause for celebration for some lawmakers. But just as some were heavily rewarded, others were deliberately snubbed. Here’s Texas Scorecard’s ranking of the...
By a wide margin, Texans are still strongly backing Ted Cruz as he heads into this week’s round of primary contests. But three Texas Republican lawmakers are still opposing his candidacy. We asked our subscribers a simple question: Nearly 60 percent of those...
So who would have thought Republicans in Congress would grow a spine faster than Republicans in the Texas House? Well, they did by kicking the crony DEM-establishment leadership to the curb. As NBC political analyst Mark Murray noted in a tweet today “To recap: [Eric]...
Faced with conservatives increasingly upset by his lackadaisical approach to dealing with the Obama Administration, U.S. House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) abruptly announced on Friday his resignation as speaker and from Congress. In a press conference, Boehner said...
An audit released last Thursday by the Office of State Auditor John Keel details some major accountability problems with the Major Events Trust Fund (METF) from its creation in 2003 to this year. Though not exactly shocking, the audit identified key weaknesses with...
