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 […]
The discovery of oil in Texas dates back much further, but the first economically significant discovery came in 1894 in Navarro County near Corsicana. According to the Texas State Historical Association, the Corsicana oilfield developed gradually and peaked in 1900, when it produced more than 839,000 barrels of oil. The first relatively modern refinery in […]
Delaware– Gov. John Carney of Delaware recently announced a plan to create the Delaware Prosperity Partnership – a jointly funded public-private entity that will be in charge of state business marketing efforts to attract businesses. The entity will focus on both early-stage technology-based ventures as well as established large employers. The partnership would also support […]
A report released in February by the Environment America Research & Policy Center covered policies in 15 states and graded them on how well they protect children from lead contamination of drinking water at schools. Texas, along with 11 other states, received an “F.” But, the passing of one or more bills during the 85th […]
On March 26, Sen. Judith Zaffirini provided an impactful opening before sharing why Senate Bill 42 should become law. The bill, known as the “Judge Julie Kocurek Judicial and Courthouse Security Act of 2017,” was heard during testimonies in front of the Senate Committee on State Affairs. Zafferini shared that following the attempted assassination of […]
Managing money in our day-to-day lives is quite a balancing act. The key is not to spend more than you have, make stable investments and accrue funds for a nest egg that will serve you well in case of an emergency or during your retirement years. This would be the best-case scenario for everyone, but […]
There are 254 counties in Texas and each year the appraisal districts in these counties assess your property taxes and send you a bill. The final day to pay your 2016 property taxes without being penalized was Jan. 31. Funds collected from property taxes are shared with school districts, cities, counties and special districts like […]
Gov. Greg Abbott delivered his State of the State address this week at the Texas Capitol. He urged lawmakers to get to work immediately on four issues he named as emergency items. During his address, Abbott shared that over 100 children died last year in the child protective system and that Child Protective Services (CPS) […]
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