Phelan Announces House Committee Assignments
On Day 30 of the ongoing 140-day 88th Legislative Session, Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan announced the committee assignments for all House state lawmakers. In comparison, Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick announced the Senate's committee assignments more than...
Amount Spent by Local Governments on Taxpayer-funded Lobbying Increasing
A recent report from the Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF) indicates that an increasing amount of taxpayer money is being spent by local governments for the purposes of hiring contract lobbyists to go to Austin. The report indicates that upwards of $75 million was...
The Fed Raises Rates Again
Today, the Federal Open Market Committee released the minutes from their most recent meeting. The most significant news was that they hiked the interest rate by 25 basis points to give us a total federal rate of 4.5% (up from 4.25%). This was a continued effort by the...
Why Property Taxes Are Immoral: Examining the Impact on Private Property
Property taxes are a contentious issue for many people, with some (mostly local government officials) arguing that they are an important source of funding for government services. In contrast, Texans for Fiscal Responsibility (TFR) and many Texas taxpayers argue that...
Polling Shows Support for School Choice Among Texans
On Monday, the University of Houston's Hobby School of Public Affairs released a report that seems to show a majority support for the policy of school choice. In the wake of government school reaction to the pandemic and in many cases poor outcomes for students as a...
Senate Finance Committee Schedules Hearings on State Budget
Texas taxpayers have an opportunity to voice their concerns on how lawmakers intend to spend their money over the next two fiscal years as a part of the state budget. The Texas Senate Finance Committee has scheduled a series of public hearings on the matter to take...
Episode 4: School Choice, Proposed State Budgets, & Property Tax Relief
https://youtu.be/k1LztOiltdE Episode Description 💰 In this episode of 𝗧𝗔𝗫𝗣𝗔𝗬𝗘𝗥 𝗧𝗔𝗟𝗞𝗦, we discuss the recent Texas Senate committee assignments, as well as Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick appearing to flip-flop over the details of school choice and how such legislation...
Is There Really an Appetite for School Choice in Texas?
It is National School Choice Week, and if you have been paying attention at all over the last few years, you are probably aware that a massive wave of school choice legislation is being implemented across the country. Much of that success can be attributed to Corey...
Patrick Announces Senate Committee Assignments
On Monday, Texas' lieutenant governor announced the committee assignments for the ongoing 88th Legislative Session. Ultimately, there was very little change from the last legislative session with regard to those appointed to be chairman of each Senate committee....