Republican leaders in the Texas Legislature are insisting that it will be a no-new-taxes session. In response, one Democratic lawmaker is pushing to expand the definition of the word “taxes” to include fees. Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports.
Politics
Stay informed with The Texas Tribune’s in-depth political coverage, including Texas elections, state government, policy debates, and the leaders shaping the future of the state.
Posted in
Higher Education
TribBlog: Texans OK With Some Higher Ed Cuts
A new survey commissioned by the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a conservative think tank, finds that 80 percent of Texas voters believe that colleges and universities could be run more efficiently than they are now.
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Demographics
Single White Female
The force of the GOP wave in November was so strong that black Republicans and Latino Republicans outnumber the Texas House’s new endangered species: the white Democratic woman. And if the 16-vote victory of state Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin, doesn’t survive a recount, the species will be extinct.
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Criminal Justice
Marc Levin: The TT Interview
Marc Levin, director of the Center for Effective Justice at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, talks with the Texas Tribune about how the upcoming state budget crunch will affect criminal justice.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Marc Levin: The TT Interview
The director of the Center for Effective Justice at the Texas Public Policy Foundation on the criminal justice challenges lawmakers will face next session (and how they can get the greatest return for each dollar spent), why eliminating prisons could be the most cost-effective way to improve safety and why creating new criminal offenses is the wrong thing to do.
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Health care
Tom DeLay Wins!
Yes, a jury convicted the former U.S. House majority leader of money laundering. But his maps — the ones that upended the careers of Democrats and helped the GOP take over Congress — are still in place. No amount of jail time can change that.
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Politics
Derision Points
To the list of things that Rick Perry shows contempt for — Barack Obama’s leadership abilities, excessive federal regulation, coyotes that interrupt his morning jog — add this surprising one: George W. Bush’s ideological disposition. The governor seems to go out of his way to criticize his predecessor as insufficiently conservative. Bush, for his part, makes no mention of Perry in his memoir. “There’s certainly no love lost between these two men,” says UT presidential scholar Bruce Buchanan.
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Economy
Arlene Wohlgemuth: The TT Interview
The former budget-slashing Texas House member and current executive director of the Texas Public Policy Foundation on how she reads the mood out there, what reductions in state spending should be on the table, whether cost-shifting to local school districts is a plausible option, why lawmakers should forget about new sources of revenue, the trouble with Medicaid and what members of the Republican near-supermajority in the Legislature must do to keep the confidence of voters — and get re-elected.
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Economy
Audio: An Interview With Arlene Wohlgemuth
An interview with Arlene Wohlgemuth of the Texas Public Policy Foundation.
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Economy
Wohlgemuth on the State’s Budget Woes
The former Texas House member and current director of the Texas Public Policy Foundation on how lawmakers should address the state’s multibillion-dollar budget shortfall.