Utah – The National Governors Association (NGA) has a new mission after incoming chairman Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan issued a call to action to upgrade the country’s aging or vulnerable infrastructure. Hogan presented his “Infrastructure: Foundation for Success” initiative to association members at the NGA Summer Meeting on July 26 in Salt Lake City. The yearlong […]
The North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG) has been awarded an $8.78 million federal grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation for work on seven existing bridges. NCTCOG serves a 16-county region of North Central Texas, which is centered on Dallas and Fort Worth. NCTCOG will use funds from the Infrastructure for Rebuilding America (INFRA) […]
Gov. Greg Abbott signed several disaster relief and preparedness bills June 13 to combine with $3 billion in aid earmarked from the state’s ‘Rainy Day Fund’ for areas impacted by Hurricane Harvey. Abbott signed the following bills: HB5 – Requires the Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM) to develop a catastrophic debris management plan and training […]
The Texas Legislature passed a $250.7 billion budget on May 26 and approved several key bills highlighted by property tax relief and school finance reform. Lawmakers set a 3.5 percent cap on local government property tax hikes and a 2.5 percent limit on school district property tax increases. Only by voter permission can those governments […]
Hays County is joining other counties in deciding whether to switch out its voting machines to a paper receipt system, one that seems to be growing in popularity. Before changes could be implemented, the county would need to seek approval from the state. Currently there is proposed legislation at the capitol that could dictate which […]
Maryland– The Maryland Legislature has introduced Senate Bill 175 that would establish the Maryland Technology Infrastructure Program, a funding effort that would support a range of activities, including workforce development programs, research partnerships and physical infrastructure projects. The fund would aim to bolster cybersecurity and life science initiatives. The governor has allotted $16 million in initial funding […]
New Mexico– New Mexico lawmakers from the House of Representatives have approved a bill, House Bill 286, that would allow partnerships in which private entities can bid to help finance and build government-owned facilities. More than 35 states already allow this type of public-private partnership (P3) opportunity. The bill would allow any government agency in the […]
Hurricane Harvey made landfall on the Texas Gulf Coast Aug. 25. We are now in December and there is still a lot of future-proofing to be done. Texas A&M Chancellor John Sharp, spoke of future-proofing Texas after he was chosen to oversee Texas’ hurricane rebuilding efforts. Future-proofing is the process of anticipating the future and developing methods of minimizing […]
Texas voters made their voices heard by choosing for or against bond propositions put forth by cities, counties, school districts, special districts, a community college and hospital district. In total, 83 local government entities made the decision to call for a bond election to see if the majority of voters agreed with the propositions, such as one city that had five. […]
This is the time of year when bond proposals are voted on by residents so cities and towns can take on improvement projects. But new laws might be enacted in 2018 that could take some of the attraction away from bonds. Last week, a tax reform draft, called Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, H.R. 1, released by the House Ways and […]
“This is not a closed book – this is a work in progress.” That is Gov. Greg Abbott’s take regarding ongoing state efforts to secure billions of additional federal dollars to help address damages and destruction left behind when Hurricane Harvey swept over parts of Texas in August. At a press conference Wednesday, Abbott spoke […]
The presiding officers of both the House and the Senate have released interim charges to committees on which issues to examine during the interim between the 85th Legislature and the 86th Legislature in 2019. In Texas’s biennial legislature, a legislative session occurs in odd-numbered years beginning the second Tuesday in January, and running for 140 […]
When a natural disaster occurs, state, county and city leaders must assess the damage and also do a head count of residents that may have lost food, water and shelter. Operations, plans and projects are put into place and state agencies begin requesting waivers and assistance at the federal level. For Texans, that natural disaster is Hurricane Harvey. The […]
Texas lawmakers have requested an additional $18.7 billion in federal aid for recovery efforts from the damage left behind by Hurricane Harvey. On Thursday, Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz, along with other members of Congress and Gov. Greg Abbott, delivered the request in a letter to House and Senate appropriators. The bipartisan request comes […]
Hurricane Harvey is gone, but unfortunately, not forgotten as cities and counties move forward and find the funding to rebuild. Property owners will also recover, but will it be in a home that they might build much higher off the ground or one they are searching for in a part of town that didn’t flood? […]
There are many different kinds, or classes, of government units with an annual budget, including counties, cities, towns, villages, school districts, fire districts, hospital districts and other special districts. All of them have deadlines for their balanced, fiscal year budget that will outline revenue and spending categories and totals for the various funds. A budget contains several important parts, and […]
The last day of the 85th Legislative Session was May 29. Several bills immediately went into effect while others were delayed until Sept. 1, or even further into the future. Over 670 bills become new Texas laws today. Get the full analysis of bills that became law on Sept. 1 here, bills signed by the governor here and bills […]
A special session called by Gov. Greg Abbott reached its 30-day mark on Wednesday, but the Senate and the House wrapped up their final decisions on Tuesday. Abbott had 20 bills that were of high importance to him during the session, but not all of them made it through. There has even been some speculation […]
In 2015, the National Park Service (NPS) reached a record-high of $11.9 billion in deferred maintenance, which NPS defines as “maintenance that was not performed at the required intervals to ensure an acceptable facility condition to support the expected life cycle of an asset.” Around $5.97 billion of the deferred maintenance is for paved roads and […]
Guests who pay to stay in lodging are providing cities with funding that is supposed to help increase and maintain tourism. According to the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, the state’s HOT tax has been around since 1959, when the Texas Legislature enacted a 3 percent hotel occupancy tax. Today, the occupancy tax ranges from 6 to […]
This week Senate lawmakers called for total defense spending in fiscal 2018, which begins Oct. 1, of $700 billion. A total of $696.5 billion was proposed by the House committee Monday, which was approved by the House Appropriations Committee Thursday. The Senate committee’s summary of the bill stated that it backed a $640 billion base budget for the Defense Department and the national security programs […]
Two bills that were introduced June 21 and 22 provide very different outcomes for the future of aviation in the United States. Chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Rep. Bill Shuster, introduced a six-year draft House bill called the 21st Century Aviation Innovation, Reform and Reauthorization Act (AIRR Act), a revised version from […]
Gov. Greg Abbott Thursday vetoed 50 bills passed by the 85th session of the Texas Legislature. Abbott has until Sunday at midnight to veto any bills passed by the House and Senate during the regular session that ended May 29. The governor has called a special session of the Legislature to convene July 18 to […]
Gov. Greg Abbott continues to sign bills into law and had reached 448 bills by this morning. Some of the bills from the 85th Legislative Session that have been signed by Abbott include several that will reform the Texas foster care system. Senate Bill 11 will expand “community-based foster care” to two areas in the state over the next two […]
With just hours left in the 85th Texas Legislative Session, things could change but at the moment here’s where some of the most-watched bills are in the process. Bills intended to make legislative changes to ethics and open government laws fizzled out and didn’t have much of a chance to resurface. Senate Bill 502, authored by […]
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