As lawmakers consider cutting community-based mental health care services by about 20 percent in the 2012-2013 budget, the Texas Tribune talks with mentally ill Harris County Jail inmates and with consumers who use community-based services to stay out of jail and off the streets.
Economy
Get the latest on jobs, business, growth, and policy shaping the state’s economy with in-depth reporting from The Texas Tribune.
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Economy
Mental Health Cuts Would Strain Local Jails
Proposed reductions in community-based mental health treatment, experts say, will mean more mentally ill Texans are likely to end up on the streets, in emergency rooms and behind bars, where it will cost local taxpayers even more to care for them.
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Demographics
Bill: Hire an Illegal Alien, Go to Jail — Unless It’s Your Maid
The bill would broaden the scope of employers subject to scrutiny — and extend penalties for violators to include possible jail time and big fines. Exempt? People who hire undocumented workers as domestic help.
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Guides
Texplainer: Can Wisconsin Happen Here?
Gov. Scott Walker should come to Texas, where much of what he’s seeking already exists. The right to bargain collectively isn’t allowed among state employees, and no public employee in Texas may legally go on strike.
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University of Texas/Texas Tribune Polls
UT/TT Poll: Senate Race Wide Open as Voters Are Glum About Future
Most Texas voters haven’t decided, but if they voted today, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst would lead the field for the Republican nomination to replace U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, according to the latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll.
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Inside Intelligence
Inside Intelligence: Public Education Funding Is…
For the latest installment of our nonscientific survey of political and policy insiders on issues of the moment, we asked whether public education is sufficiently funded in Texas — and how deep the coming cuts are likely to be.
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Economy
“Rube Goldberg” School Finance System Faces New Test
Cutting $10 billion public education funding could push more than two-dozen school districts from the group that receives state financing into the group that writes checks to the state to even things out between richer and poorer districts.
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Economy
What’s at Stake in the Texas-Amazon Fight Over State Sales Taxes?
The fight over Amazon’s taxes isn’t just about the giant online retailer. State officials say Texas is losing $600 million annually on taxable items purchased online. And as they work to close a budget gap of up to $27 billion, they’re chasing every penny.
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Economy
Budget Cuts Trickle Down to Local Governments
One lawmaker has proposed a constitutional amendment blocking lawmakers from passing so-called unfunded mandates on to local governments. But as Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports, cities and counties worry the costs will come anyway.
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Economy
The Governor’s Symbolic Cuts and His Real Ones
The proposed budget cuts Gov. Rick Perry laid out in his State of the State speech are more symbolic than lucrative and trivialize the cuts that are being made elsewhere in state services and programs.