Perry Reversal Irks Business Group
The leader of Texas' largest business group said Wednesday that Gov. Rick Perry's new election promise to crackdown on employers who hire undocumented workers would be unfair and untenable."Our view is...
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Guest Column: The 2010 Agenda: Business
Unemployment trends are reversing and, thankfully, more of our state’s employers are opening their doors to new employees. However, in order to restore jobs lost during the recession and to prepare for...
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The Nativists Are Restless
Texans narrowly oppose a "pathway to citizenship" for illegal immigrants, strongly favor an end to in-state tuition for non-citizens, would support a constitutional "English-only" amendment and...
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No More Valley Carve-Out?
When Texas expanded its Medicaid managed care program in 2003 to cover more than the state’s urban centers, the Rio Grande Valley narrowly avoided being included — the result of last-minute maneuvering...
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Learnstrong
The future of the state’s workforce may depend on getting Texans to feel as committed to higher education as they are the fight against cancer. At least, that’s what the state’s education policymakers...
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The Crackdown Begins
Republican state lawmakers, buoyed by their party’s resounding victories on Election Day, are signaling just how far they're willing to go in cracking down on illegal immigration in the upcoming...
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TribBlog: Proposed Immigration Laws Create Unlikely Alliances
Proposing state enforcement of immigration laws can produce strange bedfellows.The Texas ACLU and an El Paso county sheriff who supports the controversial Secure Communities program stood side by side...
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Who's on Texas Monthly's Power List?
The full story, by Nate Blakeslee, Paul Burka and Patti Hart, will be live on the Texas Monthly site at midnight. It appears in the magazine's forthcoming February 2011 issue. For now, here's the list...
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Business: Hands Off Public Education
Lawmakers will soon take an ax to the state budget, but business leaders are hoping one big-ticket item will be spared. At its annual conference in Austin this week, the Texas Association of Business...
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E-Verify Battle Could Soon Greet Texas Lawmakers
State legislators intent on cracking down on the hiring of undocumented workers could be embracing a system so fraught with errors that some critics say it actually hinders employers who use it to...
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Hammond: No Time to Be Penny-Wise, Pound-Foolish
There’s something to be said for leaders in the Texas Legislature sticking to their guns and releasing a state budget that keeps spending within existing revenues.To my friends in the House and Senate,...
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What They'd Do About the Budget Shortfall
Everyone has an opinion about the budget shortfall these days: how big it is, what cuts we should make to confront it, whether new taxes — or new revenue of any kind — can be employed as a stop-gap. In...
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Rainy Day Fund: Is it Drizzling Out — or Pouring?
States across the nation are making similarly dramatic budget cuts, but just about everyone admits it's raining in Texas. Falling revenues and a number of other factors could force up to $27 billion in...
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Battle Over Rainy Day Fund Heating Up
Texas, like many other states, is proposing billions of dollars in cuts to help close a budget gap. But as Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports, one thing Texas has that nobody else does is...
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For Republicans, the Hazards of Red Meat
The growth of the state’s Hispanic population and the rise of immigration as a political issue put Texas Republicans in a tight spot — especially the ones with statewide aspirations.It’s clear in the...
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Berman Leads Charge From GOP's Right Flank
Sitting in his Texas Capitol office, surrounded by pictures of his storied 22-year military career, the seven-term, 75-year old state Rep. Leo Berman, R-Tyler, said in his distinctive New York accent,...
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Guest Column: How to Bridge the Budget Gap
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I’ve told lawmakers repeatedly that the task of balancing our state’s budget this go-round would be difficult but doable. Now, as the clock counts down to...
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Special Session, Court Decision Could Give E-Verify New Life
A decision by the U.S. Supreme Court last week upholding an Arizona law that punishes employers who hire illegal immigrants may give Texas lawmakers some newfound momentum to file immigration-related...
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That $6 Billion Left in the Rainy Day Fund? Already Used, Some Say
About 10 minutes into his speech in New Orleans last week, Gov. Rick Perry geared up for one of the afternoon’s many applause lines.Taking a moment to praise his state, he told the audience at the...
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Higher Ed Standstill
Heading into the regular session, conservative business leaders like Woody Hunt and Bill Hammond were leading the charge for higher education reform. Their proposals for getting more graduates in the...
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Graduation-Rates Campaign Heads to Dallas
A new billboard that will tower over Dallas' North Central Expressway on Monday offers a startling message: "8% OF DCCCD STUDENTS GRADUATE IN 3 YRS. IS THAT FAIR TO THE STUDENTS? TX ASSN OF...
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Back in Texas, Perry Begins Mending Fences
When Gov. Rick Perry suspended his presidential bid, he said it was because there was no “viable path forward.” But is there a viable path back?In his five-month run for the White House, he called...
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Business Group Offers Tax Cut Plan
When Texas lawmakers found out they’d have more than $101 billion to spend this legislative session, some immediately began calling for tax cuts. Now, one prominent business lobbying group has laid out...
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Immigration Reform Advocates Open to Taking Piecemeal Approach
*Correction appendedEL PASO — Although U.S. House members are back in their districts after leaving the issue of immigration reform untouched, advocates for change — including members of the business...
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More Than 368,000 Deported From U.S. in FY 2013
The Obama administration on Thursday announced that it deported 368,644 undocumented immigrants from the country during the 2013 fiscal year.That's a decrease from the 409,849 removals during fiscal...
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The Brief: March 10, 2014
The Big ConversationThe Tea Party's big moment last week in the GOP party primaries already is creating anticipation of a more libertarian tilt to next year's legislative session, wrote the Austin...
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The Brief: March 14, 2014
The Big ConversationThe Dallas Morning News has obtained an email that seemed to reference attempts by UT System Regent Wallace Hall to undermine UT Chancellor Francisco Cigarroa, who is stepping down...
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Business Group: Legislature Should Stop Gas Tax Diversions
Texas business leaders are prioritizing road funding and higher education spending as lobbying issues for the upcoming legislative session, according to the Texas Association of Business’ 2015 agenda,...
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GOP Leaders Divided on Immigration Crackdown
Though they appear to be universally outraged by President Obama’s executive order affecting millions of undocumented immigrants, Texas Republican leaders are far from united on how to use their own...
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The Brief: March 5, 2015
The Big ConversationBusiness interests on Wednesday told Senate budget writers that a tax relief plan focused on making changes to the business margins tax prioritized the wrong issue.“The biggest sore...
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The Brief: April 2, 2015
The Big ConversationThe blowback experienced by Indiana over its religious freedom law, seen by many as a vehicle to protect discrimination against gays and lesbians, has Texas' largest business...
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Analysis: Texas Legislative Review Process in Need of a Review of Its Own
Editor's note: If you'd like an email notice whenever we publish Ross Ramsey's column, click here.When the Texas Department of Transportation was up for its periodic legislative review in 2009, the...
View ArticleSpeak to Me
In his State of the Union message tonight, Barack Obama is expected to touch on dozens of topics, including the subjects of two high-priority and high-drama bills currently before lawmakers: health...
View ArticleHappy Birthday, Stimulus!
Later today — exactly one year to the day since President Obama signed the federal stimulus bill — the Austin Water Utility will break ground on a $32 million wastewater treatment project paid for...
View ArticleTribuneFest: A Conversation About Standardized Testing
At the 2012 Texas Tribune Festival, I talked about standardized testing and accountability in public education with Texas Education Commissioner Michael Williams, Carolyn Heinrich of the LBJ School of...
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