Texas Public Policy Foundation

On the second day of his congressional campaign for District 21, Chip Roy received the endorsement of his former boss, Senator Ted Cruz.

Editor’s Note: This Op-Ed was submitted to Breitbart Texas by the Texas Public Policy Foundation and was written by Dr. Deane Waldman, MD, MBA. So many narratives about healthcare abound, it is hard to understand why no one seems able to

Three Republican Texas state legislators pre-filed legislation on Tuesday that if passed, would make the Lone Star State the eighth state to call for an Article V convention of states.

Austin firefighters sued for allegedly spending time on union activities instead of answering emergency calls have filed their response to the lawsuit that seeks to halt the practice.

An Austin city ordinance designed to regulate short-term rental properties with warrantless “bed checks” and curfews is now in legal crosshairs amid a lawsuit filed Monday by local homeowners. Should the City prevail, sharing economy staples like Airbnb could effectively follow Uber and Lyft’s example by vacating the Texas capital city.

Local regulations from city governments in Texas are harming the state’s poor who are seeking housing. The Texas mantra of lower taxes and limited government has no doubt inspired the “Texas Miracle” and generated the Texas Model for others to follow. But, the Lone Star State’s municipal governments stand in the way of further growth — often harming its poorest citizens in the process.

The federal government transfers some $628 billion every year to state and local government. All of the money, much of it borrowed from future generations, comes with strings attached as it flows into hundreds upon hundreds of programs. About 83 percent of this federal aid is spent on social programs, most of which is for federal health programs, such as Medicaid.

When progressive U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis gave his now famous dissent in the landmark case New State Ice v Liebmann, he wrote, “It is one of the happy incidents of the federal system that a single courageous State may, if its citizens choose, serve as a laboratory; and try novel social and economic experiments without risk to the rest of the country.”

The Cold War between the West, led by America, and the Communist bloc, led by the former Soviet Union, was a titanic struggle that spanned six decades. Its grinding permanence is now largely lost to the post-9/11 generation.

October heralds the return of the endangered Whooping Crane to Texas. Over the next two months the only self-sustaining wild population of Whooping Crane will migrate from its summer home in Canada to its winter home in Aransas National Wildlife Reserve. Once close to extinction, this federally endangered flock has slowly continued to grow in size and is now close to 300 birds.

A police search in San Marcos, Texas made headlines this past month after two individuals accused officers of breaking into their private property.

The Texas economy has taken hits from a plunge in oil prices, global economic weakness, and a stronger U.S. dollar during the last year. One indication of this combined blow is the latest report by the Dallas Federal Reserve showing a 7.7 percent drop in exports during the last year through July. With exports contributing to almost one-fifth of the state’s total economy and supporting more than one million jobs, it’s no shock that the state’s economy is slowing.

Constitution Day might as well be called America’s forgotten holiday, or so joshed a colleague of mine in the office elevator. There was a lilt of exaggeration in his voice, but he was not too far off the mark.

Texans benefit from living in one of only nine states without a personal income tax. However, Texas’ cumbersome property tax system warrants concern as it essentially functions as a replacement to the income tax and harms property owners.

Most people are unaware of the unconstitutional expansion of federal authority to take control of electric generation in this country.

“Guns are rarely used to kill criminals or stop crimes.”

Such is the claim made by a new report released by the Violence Policy Center this month. According to the report—in which they cite data from the FBI’s annual Uniform Crime Report—there were “only” 259 justifiable homicides across the country in 2012 involving a private citizen’s use of a firearm, compared to the 8,342 criminal homicides that occurred the same year. Put another way, for every defensive use of a firearm that year, there 32 guns implicated in a criminal homicide.

In Part III of our exclusive interview with Rick Perry, he shares his thoughts about Texas’ successful criminal justice reforms, his philosophy on the Tenth Amendment and how he would encourage more innovation and freedom for the states, and the special role his wife Anita will play in his campaign.

The government is not allowed to ban peaceful political advocacy or violate your privacy rights just for exercising your First Amendment rights. But some activists and politicians are using the scare term “Dark Money” to shut down anonymous political speech and take away our free-speech rights.

The Texas House and the Texas Senate haven’t yet come to an agreement on the best way to provide tax relief—but there’s a growing recognition in both chambers that tax reform is equally, if not more, important. Especially when it comes to property taxes.

A heated debate erupted over a proposed bill that would decriminalize truancy for minors in Texas. The Senate Committee on Criminal Justice hearing room was standing room only as legislators prepared to hear public testimony on the matter. Senate Bill

Breitbart Texas Contributing Editor and border security expert Sylvia Longmire has written a paper, “The Nature and Impact of Illegal Immigration on Security in Texas,” for the Texas Public Policy Foundation. The paper, which examines the security threat posed by illegal immigration in Texas, is reprinted below with permission.

A bill in the Texas House authored by State Rep. Jason Villalba (R-Dallas) would allow a school district to require mental health evaluations of students at the sole discretion of the school. This could lead to wrongful mental health determinations, and result in suspensions or alternative education placements of students, even creating an offense.

Few public policy issues are more boring than public employee pensions.

Really, who wants to sit around the dinner table and talk about pension amortization, funded ratios, or unfunded liabilities? By comparison, C-SPAN 2 looks like a summer blockbuster.

Former Texas Governor Rick Perry has joined the list of prominent conservatives who have endorsed the Statement of Principles of the Right on Crime campaign. The announcement was made on Wednesday. Right on Crime is a project of the Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF) in partnership with the American Conservative Union Foundation and Justice Fellowship and seeks to promote criminal justice reforms from a conservative perspective.

A new poll released by Right on Crime, a project of the Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF), shows that Texas voters strongly support the criminal justice reforms passed in recent years, and would like to see those reforms continue.

Today, Texas is only one of two states that still criminalizes truancy. Texas prosecutes children for truancy at more than double the rate of all forty-nine other states combined. Schoolchildren are prosecuted, punished and fined for cutting classes and missing school. Their futures are often jeopardized by criminal records over their unlawful absenteeism.

The old expression “you can’t fight city hall” seems more relevant than ever, with cities all over the state and country imposing massive new regulatory schemes that threaten both our liberty and pocketbooks.

Texas Republicans and Democrats found some common ground recently on a difficult issue plaguing every homeowner and business in the state: sky-high property taxes.

Indiana Gov. Mike Pence is the most recent Republican governor to buy into President Obama’s push to expand Medicaid.

AUSTIN, Texas — Lieutenant Governor-elect Dan Patrick and Attorney General Ken Paxton spoke out about the ongoing admissions scandal at the University of Texas at Austin Thursday evening, voicing their support for Wallace J. Hall, Jr., the embattled Board of Regents member. Patrick went one step further, specifically criticizing legislators who had sought an unfair advantage for their children in getting admitted to UT.

AUSTIN, Texas — As the Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF) kicked off their annual Policy Orientation for the Texas Legislature conference on Wednesday, the first day ended with a spirited discussion of school choice issues. TPPF Senior Fellow and Director of the Center for Education Freedom Kent Grusendorf moderated the discussion between Lieutenant Governor-elect Dan Patrick and economist Art Laffer.