AUSTIN – The Texas Legislature deserves praise for sending the Health Care Compact to Gov. Rick Perry’s desk, the Texas Public Policy Foundation said. The Health Care Compact was included in the conference committee report on Senate Bill 7, which won final approval in both houses earlier today. “The Texas Legislature’s approval of our state’s...
Press Release June 27, 2011AUSTIN – “The U.S. has far more energy resources than any other country, yet no other country so limits and blocks access to its own energy supply,” writes Kathleen Hartnett White in the latest issue of National Review. Ms. White, Director of the Armstrong Center for Energy & the Environment at the Texas Public Policy...
Press Release June 7, 2011AUSTIN – Professor Richard A. Epstein of the University of Chicago, New York University, and the Hoover Institution, has joined Mario Loyola, director of the Texas Public Policy Foundation’s Center for Tenth Amendment Studies, as a co-author of an op-ed in today’s Wall Street Journal challenging the constitutionality of last year’s federal health care reform...
Press Release June 7, 2011AUSTIN – The Texas Public Policy Foundation publicly urges Gov. Rick Perry to include the Health Care Compact in his call for the upcoming special session. Legislation containing the Health Care Compact was approved twice by the Texas House and once by the Texas Senate. However, the final legislation containing the compact died due to...
Press Release May 30, 2011"The life of Governor Bill Clements was truly a tale of the American Dream. From humble beginnings, he came of age in the Great Depression, and went on to serve his country in the Army in the Second World War. His success as a self-made entrepreneur embodied so much of the promise of our great...
Press Release May 29, 2011“We congratulate the Texas Legislature on passing a budget that cuts non-essential spending, does not spend a penny of the rainy day fund, and does not create new taxes. The mandate from Texas voters last November was to pass a fiscally responsible budget, and the 82nd Legislature delivered. “This is the first all-funds Texas state...
Press Release May 28, 2011“We congratulate the conference committee on CSHB 1 for finalizing an agreement on a 2012-13 Texas state budget. We encourage our legislators to complete their constitutional duty and adopt this budget when it reaches the House and Senate floors on Saturday. “The 2012-13 all-funds budget will be $15 billion lower than in the current biennium,...
Press Release May 26, 2011“Today’s Senate passage of HB 274, the ‘loser pays’ bill, is a great step forward for Texas and another step toward getting rid of many frivolous lawsuits that are clogging our courts. This statute will ensure that any Texan who has been wronged will have access to the judicial system. It will cut the costs...
Press Release May 24, 2011AUSTIN – Modest increases in teaching loads at the University of Texas at Austin would produce hundreds of millions of dollars in savings to taxpayers and students, according to a preliminary analysis of faculty data released today by the Center for College Affordability and Productivity (CCAP). “These findings bring to light very real opportunities to...
Press Release May 23, 2011“This state budget deal is a victory for all Texans – and especially for the Texans who worked hard over the past several months to remind our legislators that they wanted a fiscally conservative state budget. The announced budget deal is a win for Texas on three specific points: – It does not use a...
Press Release May 20, 2011“We are pleased by the reports that estimated tax revenue in the next biennium is $1.2 billion more than expected. Any sign of economic vitality is most welcome. The way forward in this budget process is the same now as it always was: make necessary cuts, don’t raise taxes, and preserve the Rainy Day Fund.”...
Press Release May 17, 2011“The conference committee budget continues Texas’ recent progress in emphasizing cost-effective sanctions and treatment in the community for nonviolent offenders, which has led to an 8 percent decline in the state’s incarceration rate since 2004, and most importantly, an 11 percent drop in the serious crime rate over this period. This budget constitutes a well-deserved...
Press Release May 17, 2011