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Orwellian Committee Unveiled in New House Rules
On the third day of the 84th legislative session, the Texas House is set to take up a rules resolution, which if adopted, would make permanent an investigatory committee with an Orwellian name and...
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Conservatives Win Big in Rules Fight
Under a time crunch imposed by Texas House leadership and facing a troubling rules resolution proposal, conservative state representatives who two days ago faced down the Speaker won several important...
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Last Exit to Servitude
In the aftermath of Wednesday’s announcement of committee assignments in the Texas House, the establishment political media scrambled to use the assignments to promote their traditional narrative of...
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Support for Straus Yields No Gains for Liberty
During the race for Speaker between Joe Straus and Scott Turner, conservative members who supported Straus teetered between claiming that Straus’ record was already a conservative one and claiming...
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Nominees to UT System Unqualified to Serve
Not much time has passed since Governor Greg Abbott announced his first series of appointments to the University of Texas Board of Regents and more and more information is coming to light on his two...
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Is a Democrat the Real Chair of Higher Ed?
When House Speaker Joe Straus named his committee assignments last week, there was considerable buzz and surprise surrounding his appointment of Rep. John Zerwas to serve as Chairman of the House...
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Troubling Ties Between Two Tuckers
New information is coming to light about the troubling relationship between Sara Martinez Tucker, a proponent of common core who has been nominated by Governor Abbott to be a regent for the University...
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Hey Media, Be Happy We Won!
Lost in the coverage of Michael Quinn Sullivan and Empower Texans' historic win against the Texas Ethics Commission last week was one terrifying argument put forward by lawyers for the Commission. It's...
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Life in the Slow Lane
Under the procedures of the Texas House, the Speaker is commanded to refer “all proposed legislation … to an appropriate standing or select committee with jurisdiction.” But the rules are silent on how...
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Springer Sponsors One Way Tax Deals
UPDATE: After further inspection of HB 1987, I have to lend a bit of a mea culpa to Rep. Drew Springer. Under the current provisions of Chapter 313, school districts are allowed to "waive" the jobs...
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Ex Post Facto Agency
The speech regulators at the Texas Ethics Commission are going after the constitution again, this time attacking sec. 16 of the Texas Bill of Rights, which prohibits “ex post facto” or “retroactive”...
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Seliger Seeks 100% Tax Cut for Race Tracks
Despite being one of only two Republican Senators refusing to sign on in support of the Senate’s bipartisan property tax relief measure, State Sen. Kel Seliger is authoring legislation aimed at giving...
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Straus Confidant Faces Dog Abuse Questions
Greyhound 2k, a Boston-based advocate for the welfare of Greyhounds has lodged complaints against Gulf Greyhound Park related to the abuse of dogs at the track. The track is owned in part by Robert and...
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Will Senators Allow Themselves to be Used Again?
Last session, members of the Texas Senate were used by Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst to defend Bill Powers and the elites who control the University of Texas at Austin. In light of recent reports exposing...
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Calendars Confusion
There may be no better example in the Texas Legislature of the tyranny of House leadership and the corruption of the legislative process than the current practice of the House Calendars Committee....
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Coup at the University of Texas
The horizon for the future of the University of Texas at Austin grew a shade darker yesterday. News broke that the UT System Board of Regents is set to appoint Greg Fenves, the current Executive Vice...
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Straus Shifts Gears
Earlier this month we wrote about how Texas House Speaker Joe Straus was slow-rolling the reading and referral of bills – particularly certain conservative priorities. Since then, Straus has picked up...
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Higher Ed Chairmen Seek Higher Tuition
In both the Texas House and Senate, the chairmen of the Higher Education committees will be working to raise tuition for Texas students and families on Wednesday. In the House, Higher Education...
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Unconstitutional NASCAR Reimbursement Bill Heads to Governor’s Desk
With full knowledge of how it violated the Texas Constitution, a supermajority of the Texas House of Representatives has voted forward an unconstitutional retroactive law to benefit NASCAR and other...
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River Authority Transparency Turned on its Head
Only in the legislature can a measure designed to provide transparency be morphed so quickly into an instrument of darkness. On Tuesday, Senate Bill 523 by Sen. Brian Birdwell will be eligible for...
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