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 […]
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 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 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 […]
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 […]
Thousands of bills go through each session of the Texas Legislature. Some are subject to interpretation. Unfortunately, some are also subject to misinterpretation. Part of Senate Bill 20 from the 84th Texas Legislature falls on the side of misinterpretation. The objective of the legislation, as outlined in the statement of intent in the bill analysis […]
Texas Association of Business (TAB) members warned lawmakers of severe losses to the state’s economy if legislation discriminatory to LGBT individuals is moved forward. Business leaders presented a report that estimated the impact from such legislation. The state could lose between $964 million and $8.5 billion and up to 185,000 jobs, according to the association […]
A number of elected officials, along with others in the executive ranks of government in Texas, were among numerous presenters at the 2016 Biennial Legislative Communication Conference. The pre-legislative session event was sponsored by Strategic Partnerships, Inc and the LBJ School of Public Affairs. Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar kicked off the day-long event and discussed […]
Citizens and taxpayers have a right to know how public money is spent — at least that has always been the basic understanding which was codified in the Texas Public Information Act in 1973. “The people, in delegating authority, do not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the people […]
State governments across the United States are doing a lot to ensure their residents are able to access the latest technology. The most recent moves toward that goal in Virginia address both the infrastructure that will bring broadband Internet service to the entire state and create a database of broadband’s reach.
ROADS project leaders conducted surveys and interviews with FDOT staff members to discover what data they use, how they use it and how that can be improved. They realized that the department relied too heavily on obtaining data from individuals who had developed tricks to store and utilize various pieces of data rather than applications or tools.
With appropriations in hand, stage is set for major TPWD construction projects For the 2012-2013 two-year state budget period, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) was allocated $23 million for state park capital repairs. For the next biennium, the department’s capital repairs budget had shrunk to $11 million. For the current budget, the TPWD […]
Energy storage mandate to serve as pilot for other states In June, the Oregon state legislature passed a law requiring the state’s two largest electricity providers to have a minimum of 5 megawatt hours (MWh) of energy storage in service by Jan. 1, 2020. The law is significant, industry leaders say, because it will provide […]
State ranks near bottom in access to information, ethics disclosure The Center for Public Integrity, a national government watchdog, last week released a report ranking the 50 states on transparency, accountability and ethics. Texas did not fare well, ranking 38th overall with a grade of D- and 48th in terms of the public’s access to information. That kind of national ranking does […]
An 11th-hour vote by the Georgia General Assembly last week cleared the way for state agencies and local governments to seek private-sector partners as a new funding source for much-needed projects. The General Assembly passed a public-private partnership (P3/PPP) bill (SB 59)that allows public entities in the state to seek private financing and construction of public […]
You’re driving at a snail’s pace, bumper-to-bumper to and from work on just about any route into downtown Austin five days a week. It’s a match made in – well, certainly not Heaven – for fostering road rage among impatient drivers. Now, close your eyes while you’re at a complete standstill stuck in that traffic […]
“Too early to tell.” That’s the consensus of county officials throughout the state regarding the impact that plummeting oil prices will have on their budgets, says Lonnie Hunt, county relations officer for the Texas Association of Counties. Because counties are in the middle of their current budget cycles, the effects of declining oil prices won’t […]
Texans may be somewhat calmed by the knowledge that transportation infrastructure problems are nationwide. No state is exempt. Citizens won’t, however, be happy to know that transportation-related costs are destined to increase in Texas and in every other state in the near future. The nation’s transportation infrastructure needs have become too critical to ignore any […]
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