Chip Roy is completely correct

"The rich rules over the poor,
And the borrower is servant to the lender."
Proverbs 22:7

+1:

These spending bills are atrocious. It'll be interesting to watch my Republican colleagues, who look their constituents in the eyes while campaigning on fiscal restraint and a "balanced budget amendment," vote in favor of this package. The party of fiscal restraint ... pic.twitter.com/HOICzkO96i

— Rep. Chip Roy (@RepChipRoy) December 17, 2019

Highlights:

• "This bill doesn't provide anything, the American people provide."

• "This bill borrows."

• "Our nation is $23 Trillion in debt, racking up $100 million worth of debt per hour."

• "This bill is filled with massive policy changes, that we should debate, and vote on, individually."

• "It has a bailout for big insurance."

• "The bill changes the tobacco age nationwide."
• Note: Are you serious?!?

• "Turning Federalism on its head, with nary a whimper from Republicans who like to talk about the tenth amendment in speeches back home."

• "The bill continues the giveaway to big corporations like Boeing in the form of Ex-Im for seven years."

• "The bill funds bureaucrats who wish to target your second amendment rights."

• "It funds abortion through Obamacare plans."

• "The biggest problem is we haven't read the bill."

• "The worst kind of bi-partisanship."

Apparently, this spending bill is longer than the original Obamacare bill.

It's disgraceful.

But kudos to Chip Roy for fighting the good fight.

Bottom Line: There's a reason why Chip Roy is one of the few elected officials that deserves re-election.

#TXLEGE: Thoughts on the Abolition Bill hearing

"And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart."
Galatians 6:9

Obviously, we stayed late to testify on Monday night.  These are our thought.  No particular order:

• Jeff Leach did a really good job running the hearing.  With such an intense topic, the hearing could have been easily derailed.  It wasn't.
  
  Credit for that goes to the chair.

• We know some people were annoyed at the pace of the hearing.  We respectfully disagree.  On a topic like this, it's better to let everybody speak.  If it takes an extra four hours, so be it.

• Speaking of Jeff Leach: That exchange with the chick from NARAL was quite something.  ICYMI, she attacked Leach over taking an allegedly non-mainstream position.  Leach asked her whether she supported legal abortion at 39 weeks, 6 days, and 23 hours.  When she said yes, Leach correctly refused to be lectured about mainstream positions on abortion.

• The post-abortive women who testified as to how this sort of law would have impacted their thinking were easily the most compelling of the night; they should be the face of the movement moving forward.

• Tom Glass is right: The real solution on any number of issues, including abortion, is for the states to become much more assertive with the federal government.  Baby steps.

• Speaking of Baby Steps: We referenced the Capitol euphemisms "beginning the conversation" and "multi-session process."  Monday's hearing was the former.  It begins the latter.  You've gotta start somewhere.

• Speakiung of Starting Somewhere: Tony Tinderholt and Jeff Leach deserve tremendous credit for getting this ball rolling.

To be clear: This author's concerns about the unintended consequences of this approach remain, but those concerns weren't relevant Monday night....

Bottom Line: Monday night undeniably moved the cultural conversation forward....

Texas [Insert Health Care Pun] against Obamacare!!!

"And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart."
Galatians 6:9

FANTASTIC:

Fort Worth-based U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor on Friday ruled that a major provision of the Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional — and that the rest of the landmark law must fall as well.

In February, a Texas-led coalition of 20 states sued the federal government to end the health care law in its entirety, arguing that after Congress in December 2017 gutted one of its major provisions, the rest of the law was unconstitutional. The U.S. Supreme Court had upheld the law because its individual mandate — a financial penalty for not having insurance — could be interpreted as a tax. But after Congress set that tax at $0, the Texas coalition claimed the rest of the law no longer had “constitutional cover.”

O’Connor sided with Texas, ruling that the individual mandate was rendered unconstitutional. That portion of the law, he argued, is not severable from other provisions, and so the rest of the law must fall.

Honestly, this should be a no-brainer.  Obamacare was originally upheld as a tax.  That tax is gone.  Case closed.

That being said, don't ever underestimate John Roberts' willingness to invent rationalizations for this wretched law.  That's why the "tax" argument emerged in the first place.  It will be interesting to see into what new intellectual pretzels John Roberts might twist himself.

TPPF has more:

“Today’s historic win striking down Obamacare is only the first step,” said Robert Henneke, general counsel and director of the Center for the American Future at the Texas Public Policy Foundation. “We need to focus on the future and look to states like Texas to lead in restoring the relationship between doctor and patient, unencumbered by government and insurance company red tape. Let’s focus on solutions that will drive down costs and restore choice in doctor.”

Please, make it so.

Bottom Line: Health care freedom requires an unencumbered relationship between consumers and providers.  Yesterday's ruling was a necessary, but insufficient, step in that process.  Kudos to Paxton and TPPF!!!

TPPF's D.C. expansion + Open Texas Congressional seats = Unprecedented Opportunity

"A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children,
But the wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous."
Proverbs 13:22

This is huge:

The Texas Public Policy Foundation, which has more than 75 employees in Texas, will open a new office D.C. in January. Its leaders plan to increase its D.C. staff from five to as many as 15 employees in 2018, to seek rollbacks and changes to environmental and health care issues, and work on criminal justice reform.

TPPF’s president and CEO, Fort Worth resident Brooke Rollins, says limited-government advocates have an ally in President Trump – who campaigned on taking power back from Washington – and they’re gearing up to drive policy back the other direction.

“This White House represents the opportunity to completely reinvigorate the idea that the states should be running themselves,” Rollins said in a Star-Telegram interview at the conservative Heritage Foundation in D.C. last month.

....

A powerful lobbying influence in Austin, TPPF opened a state’s rights division in Texas in 2010 to fight the Obama Administration’s implementation of the Affordable Care Act, and later the consideration of the Clean Power Plan. In both cases, it argued the White House had usurped Texas’s power to set its own policies.

TPPF’s Washington goals include rolling back regulations created by the Obama administration, such as the Environmental Protection Agency’s endangerment rule, which mandates that greenhouse gasses be regulated under the Clean Air Act. That 2009 finding laid the groundwork for a of host climate regulations that conservatives have railed against since.

It also plans to continue work on health care, as Republicans revisit plans to repeal and replace Obamacare in 2018.

“We should be in control of our Medicaid and health care, we should be in control of education, and, for the most part, of our environmental regulations,” said Rollins. “This is our time as a state… to stand up and say, ‘give it back.’”

To begin, anything that expands TPPF's influence is good.  They're one of the most effective conservative organizations in existence.  There's a reason why the Straus people HATE them.

But where this gets really interesting is when you combine the TPPF expansion with the number of open Congressional seats in Texas this cycle.  There are currently 8 open seat races in the Texas Delegation.  Of those 8, 6 are Republican.  Of those 6 Republican open seats, 5 are in districts that are essentially safe and the sixth is a likely hold.

Thus, between TPPF growing it's influence in the policy area and sending a bunch of new solid conservatives to DC, Texas' grassroots could see its influence in DC skyrocket over the next few years.

But the task at hand, for now, is the upcoming primary (at both the state and federal level).

Bottom Line: If you're playing the long game, life just got a little more interesting....

EXCLUSIVE (...we think?!?): Paxton teases FINAL LAWSUIT(S?!?) AGAINST OBAMA ADMINISTRATION!!! :D

"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith."
2 Timothy 4:7

We suppose we need to start this post with a confession/disclosure: Both of the events to which we will shortly refer are over 24 hours old.  To be honest, when we first heard General Paxton mention this, we missed it's full significance.  That being said, we can't find any other news reports discussing this...so we suppose it's a de facto exclusive.

We attended two events this week where Attorney General Ken Paxton spoke.  On Monday, Wayne Christian was sworn in to his new seat on the Texas Railroad (ie. Oil and Gas) Commission.  Yesterday, TPPF hosted a panel related to various acts of intimidation by global warming activists.

At both events, Paxton recounted various legal actions his office has taken against the federal government related to maintaining abundant and affordable energy.  We didn't take detailed notes in either event, but we recall him saying that his office has sued the EPA 10 times in the past two years.  Several of those lawsuits have been successful and others are working their way through the process.

But here's the most interesting line he used both times: "As Attorney General, my office has sued the Obama administration 21 times...and there's still a few days left."

Like we said, we didn't record his remarks or take detailed notes in either event, but there were at least 200 people in the room the first time and 25 the second time.

We don't know what it means, but there will be three and a half business days next week before the presidential handover.

Bottom Line: Next week could be fun.

Cornyn abets Federal Law Enforcement Power Grab....

Therefore the Lord said:

“Inasmuch as these people draw near with their mouths
And honor Me with their lips,
But have removed their hearts far from Me,
And their fear toward Me is taught by the commandment of men,
Isaiah 29:13

No, no, no, no, no, no, no:

Days after five police officers were killed by a sniper in downtown Dallas, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, introduced legislation Wednesday that would make killing a police officer a federal crime.

Someone who killed or conspired or attempted to kill a public safety officer, a federally funded law enforcement officer or a federal judge would be eligible for the death penalty as well as a mandatory minimum 30-year-sentence for murder and 10 years for attempted murder, according to Cornyn's office. The bill also would create additional federal crimes for fleeing a state to avoid prosecution for such offenses or for assaulting an officer.

U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Thom Tillis, R-North Carolina, are cosponsors of the bill.

So John Cornyn wants to further entangle the Feds and local law enforcement?!? [Sidenote: WTF, Ted Cruz?!?]

Come on...what could possibly go wrong?!?



At a minimum, Cornyn's proposal would seem to violate that Tenth Amendment over which Texas Republicans love to prattle....

We cannot fathom what Cornyn (Sidenote: And Cruz) is thinking.  At best, he's naive about the potential for unintended consequences in granting this sort of new authority to the Feds.  Or perhaps he supports expanding federal authority....

To grant this sort of power to Barack Obama would be, to put it mildly, unwise; giving it to either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump is dangerous.

Bottom Line: Could our elected officials please think through the consequences of their proposals before they grandstand in the face of national tragedy?!?

Ken Paxton at NE Tarrant Tea Party

"Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution."
2 Timothy 3:12

Ken Paxton spoke at NE Tarrant Tea Party last weekend; it's the biggest update we've heard from him in awhile:



Highlights:

• "If you are running statewide and you don't win Tarrant County, you don't get elected."

• None of the newspapers supported his AG campaign, so it's not surprising they're attacking him now."

• "Sometimes your biggest challenge is not the Democratic [sic] party, it's people in our own party."

• "The reality is, when you go down to Austin and you're going to stick to your conservative principles, there are those in our own party oftentimes who find that too enlightening for them because they have their own path they want to take."

• State bar is investigating his law license.

• 4 issues on which AG's office is focusing:
• Law enforcement.
• Religious Liberty
• Life
• Tenth Amendment

• Started Human Trafficking unit this past January.

• HB 2 was successful at 5th Circuit.

• Sued Obama admin. 9 times since taking office.

• Amnesty - We won at the 5th circuity, so we win with a tie.

• "If the Supreme Court tells us President Obama can change the law, Congress is irrelevant."

• "If you're reading stuff about me in the paper, please don't believe it."

Simpson calls BS on Abbott's #ConCon Stunt

"And this I say for your own profit, not that I may put a leash on you, but for what is proper, and that you may serve the Lord without distraction."
1 Corinthians 7:35

Amen, good for David Simpson:

The Constitution is not the problem. It’s elected officials that won’t stand up and enforce the strict... https://t.co/VEPeQKMFwu

— David Simpson (@davidsimpsontx) January 10, 2016

After the Fall: How will TEXAS PROTECT IT'S CITIZENS after a NATIONAL DEBT CRISIS?!?

"Prepare your outside work,
Make it fit for yourself in the field;
And afterward build your house."
Proverbs 24:27

TPPF Policy Orientation: How can Texas untangle its state finances from the Feds?!?

Susan Combs (Former Texas Comptroller):

• Proposed local govt. debt transparency bill in 2013 session.

• TelltheTruthTexas.org

• Special purpose district are proliferating across the state.

• School construction report: Made them REALLY mad!!!

• "They think we're too dumb to know but just smart enough to pay."

• "It's our money."

• "There's no excuse, in 2016, for everything not to be on the internet."

• Find a few really stupid Federal grants every year and TURN THEM DOWN!!!

Rep. Matt Krause (R - Tarrant County):

• There's very little way to track how much Federal $$ is going to local govts.

• The ability to not have transparency is something people want to hold onto.

• HB 3606.

• "If something is going to crash at the federal level, Texas is going to be on the hook for _________________________"?!?

• Fiscal risk management commission: Figure out what Texas needs to do to prepare in case things go to heck at the Federal level.

• "Texas has to be prepared to take care of its citizens."

• You can't tell the Feds "come and take it" then say "but thank you for the $800 million over here."

• "Open to" an effort to allow state of Texas to accept BITCOIN for purposes of paying taxes.
• Author's Note: We only got this idea this morning, more for the purposes of undermining the Federal Reserve than dealing with the Federal Government's fiscal excesses, but we can see value in this idea for both purposes.

Mario Loyola (TPPF):

• Feds have roped the states into their fiscal problems.

• Approx. 35% of state budgets consist of Federal funds.
• "Conditional grants in aid."

• It's a fiction that states can turn down Federal money without coercion.

• Every year the Feds transfer about 3% of GDP to the states.

• Federal grants to the states are a de facto state income tax.

• A coalition of uncompetitive progressive states controls to the Federal govt and uses it to hold back conservative states.

• "The separation of Federal and State governments has been lost."

SD-24 headed towards a Mayes/Buckingham runoff

"And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose."
Romans 8:28

A couple months ago, Erick Erickson made waves when he predicted the Presidential race would come down to Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio.  Thursday's Central Texas Republican Assembly meeting made it clear a similar dynamic has emerged in the SD-24 race.  Unless one of them commits a game changing mistake, we anticipate a runoff between Brent Mayes and Dawn Buckingham.

The similarities between Marco Rubio and Dawn Buckingham are uncanny.  Both are young, attractive, articulate candidates who are reasonably conservative most of the time.  Both are light years better than the genuine RINO's they've already boxed out of their respective races.  But both raise red flags.  In Rubio's case, it's amnesty; with Buckingham, it's the Texas Medical Association.

One of the first rules we learned following Texas politics is never to trust the Texas Medical Association.  They support Obamacare.  They're pro-Abortion.  They've spread lies about conservative Texas Senators.  Less than a year ago, while she was working with TMA, Buckingham gave a $500 donation to Joe Straus.  When we asked her about it on Thursday, she she she was doing her job for her trade association.  That's hardly a response that inspires confidence.

We could do worse, but we can also do better.

Brent Mayes speaks his mind.  He is, easily, the strongest candidate on Tenth Amendment issues.  Brent Mayes understands Texas can't look to D.C. for help; Texas has to help itself.  If necessary, Bernt Mayes would resist a Republican President.  With C.J. Grisham out of the race, Brent Mayes is the clear conservative choice.

This race reflects the success of Texas' conservative grassroots over the past three cycles.  The genuine RINO's haven't gained traction.  While we have reservations about one of the viable candidates, that candidate is still someone we could support in a general election.  But an 'A+' candidate beats a 'B' candidate every single time.  And remember, Ted Cruz is going to be at the top of this ticket.

Bottom Line: There are only two viable candidates in this race; check back with us on March 2nd if you believe otherwise.

Paxton and TPPF launch COUNTEROFFENSIVE against Obama's Texas Land Grab

“If a man causes a field or vineyard to be grazed, and lets loose his animal, and it feeds in another man’s field, he shall make restitution from the best of his own field and the best of his own vineyard."
Exodus 22:5

We discussed Obama's attempted land grab in North Texas a year and a half ago; yesterday, TPPF filed a lawsuit against the Obama administration to push the BLM back across the Red River:



Highlights:

• BLM seizing 90,000+ acres.

• "If they're gonna do this to us, what are they gonna do to y'all?!?"

• "This is private property; deed and title."

TPPF President Brooke Rollins explains things further:

Right now, D.C. bureaucrats at the federal Bureau of Land Management are seeking to seize up to 90,000 acres of private property along over one hundred miles of the Red River inside of Texas. They are trying to appropriate homes, businesses, farms, and ranchland that have been occupied by American citizens for generations.

The Bureau of Land Management has no purpose that it will share in seizing this land — but it will ruin lives, homes, businesses, and communities if it succeeds.

Together with home and property owners all along the Red River, the Foundation's Center for the American Future today filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas to defend American homes and livelihoods from the depredations of Washington, D.C. The case ofAderholt et al. v. Bureau of Land Management et al. is now on the books. We will pursue it, we will fight it, and in the end, we will win it.

• We will do it for people like Kenneth Aderholt, whose house, inherited from his grandfather, the federal government is attempting to seize. 
• We will do it for people like Patrick Canan, whose ranch and farm of over fifty years will fail if the federal government is allowed to grab his land. 
• We will do it for people like Kevin and Elizabeth Hunter, who want only to build the modest home of their dreams – if only Washington, D.C., won't take their land. 
• We will do it for Kenneth and Barbara Patton, who want only to pass on their land to their children, if only Washington, D.C., will acknowledge that it is in fact theirs.

We will do it for them. And we will also do it for you, and all of us who expect — because we are Americans with rights — that we will be allowed to own property, dispose of it freely, and not have an out-of-control federal government come seize it from beneath us.

The importance of this case goes well beyond the banks of the Red River.It is a compelling cause for each of us who has a home, who has a child, who has a family, or who has a legacy that he wishes to pass on.

 Thankfully, Attorney General Paxton is getting involved:

Texas Attorney General’s Office Intervenes over Federal Red River Land Grab

Wednesday, November 18, 2015 – Austin, Texas 

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton today intervened in Aderholt, et. al. v. Bureau of Land Management (BLM), challenging the federal encroachment on Texas land near the Red River and seeking to establish recognition of our state’s rightful boundary.

“The borders of any state are a fundamental expression of its sovereignty, and are established through extensive surveys and legal precedent,” said Attorney General Paxton. “We will not allow the federal government to arbitrarily infringe upon Texas land and undermine the private property rights of our citizens. The federal government must follow the law and recognize our correct borders, consistent with decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court defining the boundary formed by the Red River.”

Pursuant to various U.S. Supreme Court cases in the 1920’s, the federal government only has rights to a narrow part of the Red River up to its southern bank. The federal government, however, claims that it owns up to 90,000 acres of Texas property along 117 miles of the Red River, much of it miles from the banks of the Red River.

The BLM’s failure and refusal to conduct a proper and complete boundary survey along the Red River directly injures the state’s ability to demand recognition of its boundary. The federal government’s inaccurate and arbitrary claim to land located in Texas conflicts with the requirements of the U.S. Supreme Court.

TPPF's statement in response to Paxton sums things up well:

“On behalf of our Clients – the Texas private property owners and counties impacted locally by this BLM encroachment – the Center for the American Future welcomes the State of Texas as an intervening party versus the federal government. As recognized by the Attorney General’s office in its Motion, BLM’s seizure of territory outside the south-cut bank of the Red River not only harms our Clients, but affects all Texans due to the intrusion upon the State’s sovereignty. We commend the Governor for his support of this effort and the Attorney General for his advocacy on behalf of Texas.”

Bottom Line: Thank goodness we have dedicated public servants like Ken Paxton and institutions like TPPF.

Paxton protects Texans from Obamacare

"Defend the poor and fatherless;
Do justice to the afflicted and needy."
Psalm 82:3

News out of the Attorney General's office:

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton today announced that Texas has filed suit against the federal government over a regulation forcing states to effectively pay an unconstitutional tax to Washington in order to fund Obamacare. The law coercively threatens to choke off Medicaid funds for the health needs of millions of Texas citizens, including over 350,000 children, unless Texas taxpayers pay hundreds of millions of dollars to pay for Obamacare.

“This threat to cut Medicaid funding to Texans unless the state continues to pay hundreds of millions in taxes to Washington amounts to the very ‘gun to the head’ the Supreme Court warned about in earlier rulings on Obamacare,” Attorney General Ken Paxton said. “Not only is the federal government threatening the health care needs of millions of Texans, but it is doing so using Texans’ own money, collected from them through taxes. This represents yet another huge overstep of authority for this administration, which once again has demonstrated their willingness to circumvent the Constitution in order to achieve their policy goals.”

The rule by Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services allows a private entity, the Actuarial Standards Board, to determine that Medicaid insurance rates must include a Health Insurance Providers Fee, which is functionally an unconstitutional tax on the states in order to fund the insolvent Obamacare mandate. This effectively robs the tax coffers of the citizens of Texas. The unwarranted tax on the citizens of Texas was $84 million in 2013, and around $120 million a year since.

This tax is unconstitutional for four reasons:

• The U.S. Constitution requires that state officials “clearly understand” what conditions the State is agreeing to when accepting federal funds. Yet, the Obamacare legislation is completely silent as to whether state taxpayers must pony up to pay for Obamacare or risk losing necessary Medicaid and CHIP funds. The federal government contrived this new scheme, and the states were recently required to pay.
• It represents coercion, which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled was not allowed in the first Obamacare decision,NFIB v. Sebelius. In that ruling, the Supreme Court held that threatening a percentage of a state’s budget unless it agreed to expand Medicaid was coercion. This same funding is at risk again if states refuse to pay the tax.
• It delegated the duties of Congress to a private entity, which violates the delegation doctrine prohibiting private entities from exercising legislative authority.
• The new regulation represents a tax on the states, so it violates the constitutional doctrine prohibiting the taxation of a sovereign state.

Ken Paxton SHATTERS Child Support Collection Records

"Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world."
James 1:27

While 10th amendment lawsuits and opinions on controversial topics generate more headlines, one of the most important day-to-day functions of the Texas Attorney General is to collect and disburse child support; in Ken Paxton's first year on the job, the A.G's office has SMASHED the previous record:

Texas Attorney General’s Child Support Division Sets Record by Collecting $3.9 Billion in Child Support for Texas Children

Monday, September 14, 2015 – Austin, Texas 

The Texas Attorney General’s Office Child Support Division set a record by collecting more than $3.9 billion in child support for the state fiscal year that ended Aug. 31. The $3.9 billion in collections benefitted 943,000 families and topped the previous year’s record by $186 million.

"The efficient and effective collection of child support is of benefit both to Texas families and to Texas taxpayers, helping provide security for children and ensuring that noncustodial parents support their children – not the state," Attorney General Ken Paxton said. "Our state is blessed by the dedication of the hard-working men and women of our Child Support Division, who once again have raised the bar when it comes to protecting the financial well-being of Texas children."

“By ensuring that parents financially support their children – rather than taxpayer-funded public assistance programs – the Child Support Division saved taxpayers an estimated $1.76 billion in state fiscal year 2014, as child support payments reduced the need for TANF, food stamps and Medicaid,” said Deputy Director for Child Support Mara Friesen.

The Texas Attorney General’s Child Support Division ranks first nationally in the amount of child support collected, a position it has held for the past eight years. Texas also ranks first in collections per child support employee and cost effectiveness. According to the federal government’s latest annual report, collections per Texas child support employee averaged $1.4 million in Fiscal Year 2014, compared to the national average of $565,000 per employee. In addition, by collecting $11.34 for every dollar spent, Texas is first in cost effectiveness, besting the national cost effectiveness ratio of $5.25 by 216 percent.

The $3.9 billion collected in state fiscal year 2015 helped more than 240,000 families who once received Temporary Assistance for Needy Families maintain their self-sufficiency without public assistance.

Under state and federal law, the Office of the Attorney General can assist families who request child support services and must serve families who currently receive or have received public assistance. Services offered by the Child Support Division include locating absent parents; establishing paternity for children born to unmarried parents; establishing, enforcing and modifying child and medical support orders; and collecting and distributing child support payments. 

The Attorney General’s Child Support Division is the most successful and cost-effective program in the nation. The division currently administers 1.5 million child support cases, serving 1.7 million children. The division collects $11.34 for every $1 spent to operate the program and collected $3.7 billion in child support in Federal FY 2014.

Bottom Line: It's a shame there are enough families breaking up and out of wedlock births to put us anywhere close to record setting territory, but given that reality it's heartening to see our state agencies achieving maximum results on this important issue with minimal overhead.

TPPF EXCORIATES Lawless SCOTUS ruling

"And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."
Joshua 24:15

This statement speaks for itself:

TEXAS PUBLIC POLICY FOUNDATION STATEMENT ON U.S. SUPREME COURT RULING IN OBERGEFELL ET AL. v. HODGES, DIRECTOR, OHIO DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, ET AL.

AUSTIN – The Texas Public Policy Foundation’s President and CEO Brooke Rollins, and its Director of the Center for Tenth Amendment Action, Thomas Lindsay, Ph.D., issued the following statements in reaction to the Supreme Court of the United States’s ruling in the Obergefell case this morning:             “With the Obergefell decision, we see the Supreme Court of the United States trespass against the principles that constitute the very foundation of United States: democratic self-governance, separation of powers, and the sovereignty of the states under the Tenth Amendment,” said Rollins. “The contention that the Fourteenth Amendment overturns the Tenth, and therefore validates a remote and imperious judiciary’s revision by fiat of the family law and social institutions of all the states, is contrary to the American system, destructive to liberty, and offensive to common sense.             "Whatever one thinks of the marriage question, this is a dangerous decision that only accelerates the accretion of power into the hands of an undemocratic elite."             “Regardless of one’s view of same-sex marriage, even a cursory examination of the 14th Amendment—which the Court relied on in this case—demonstrates that the Amendment’s sole focus was to complete the work begun by Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation,” said Lindsay. “The Court has failed in its fundamental obligation to the American people to interpret the Constitution honestly. It has failed to follow Lincoln’s counsel that freedom can survive only so long as we uphold ‘reverence for the Constitution.’ The Court’s reckless disregard for the Constitution and the rule of law will ultimately destroy its own authority—and with it, the system of checks and balances on which all our liberties depend.”

What #SCOTUSCare means for upcoming #TXLEGE Primaries

"When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice;
But when a wicked man rules, the people groan."
Proverbs 29:2

"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."
Tenth Amendment; United States Constitution

Today's U.S. Supreme Court ruling wasn't surprising.  It was par for the D.C. course.  However, it clarifies priorities closer to home.

Texas has GOT to elect legislators willing to stand up to the federal government.

The tenth amendment was a major reason we shifted our political focus from the Federal to the State level.  Unfortunately, the last two legislatures ignored it.  That must change.

We have to plan for the worst.  Every decision in the coming months must be made under the assumption that either Jeb Bush or Hillary Clinton will be the next President.  Either one will continue business as usual.

The pressure coming from Washington is going to get worse.  When that happens, the Texas Association of Business will fall in line.  When that happens, as currently constituted, the legislature will cave.

-----

The most important way to stand up to the federal government is to stop taking money with strings attached.  In discussing the state budget, there's a dirty little unavoidable phrase: all funds.  "All funds" includes transfer payments from the Feds.

The legislature just approved a budget where federal funds account for 32.4%.  It's primarily Medicaid.  Education is second.  Transportation funding (which usually comes with mass transportation mandates) also takes up a chunk.  That number must come down.  Every one of those dollars gives Washington leverage.

Unfortunately, those dollars also beget Austin lobbyists who will fight to the death for the gravy train.  At this point, who cares?!?  Standing up to the Federal government will require telling Austin lobbyists to pound sand.

-----

One specific note on Medicaid: In 2011, there was talk of having Texas opt-out entirely from the Federal Medicaid program.  That option must come back into consideration.  Obviously, there's no chance this happens if Straus returns.

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While we're on the topic, it's worth noting that reducing Texas' dependence on Federal dollars was a key component of Konni Burton's campaign.  Jonathan Stickland has also spoken favorably about this idea.  Finally, Tarrant County House candidate Bo French addressed the ruling this afternoon:

After the SCOTUS ruling today, I can’t help but think about how we got into this mess. We continue to elect Democrats,...
Posted by Bo French on Thursday, June 25, 2015

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Bottom Line: Today's ruling doesn't change anything.  This case was always a long-shot. Once again, we've seen that D.C. won't get us out of this mess.  Texans need to make standing up to the Federal government a key priority in assessing legislative candidates.  Get to work.

Birdwell Discusses the 84th #TXLEGE

"So then each of us shall give account of himself to God."
Romans 14:12

Senator Brian Birdwell spoke to the Texas Republican Assembly's convention this afternoon:







Highlights:

• His district extends into Tarrant County.

• Lege produced a decent budget.

• 40-50% of the businesses that used to pay the margins tax will no longer be liable.

• Long talk about the border

• "Transportation" as a smokescreen for trains instead of roads.

• TxDOT needs to be on a tighter leash.

• Transportation used to be 30% of the budget but it's been crowded out by Medicaid.

• Caught a lot of flack over pre-K

• Senate deferred to the Governor on UT nominations.
• No bad enough smoking gun to justify going against Gov.
• Abbott's nominees: "Wouldn't have been my choice."

• 10th amendment is the Feds job.

Civil Asset Forfeiture (Legal Theft) Legislative Workshop

"Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need."
Ephesians 4:28

Texas State Capitol -- Earlier this evening, Texans for Accountable Government held a training session to discuss Civil Asset Forfeiture, a practice where law enforcement can confiscate citizen's property without charging them with a crime (let alone a conviction).  Experts from TPPF and the ACLU spoke.  Videos are below:

Michael Searle (TAG):



Highlights:

• Police have a built in incentive to accuse (but not charge) you with a crime in order to confiscate property.

• Used extensively during prohibition but really took off with the war on drugs.

Derek Cohen (TPPF):

Highlights:

• Roots of forfeiture are in the Roman empire.

• A lot of the research that's been done doesn't have major statistical foundation.

• Under suspicion of a crime, police can seize property.

• There was watered down Federal reform in 2000.

• Obama's new A.G. calls forfeiture "an invaluable tool."

• Law enforcement and D.A.'s benefit from forfeiture.

• NO BILLS HAVE BEEN FILED that would require a conviction before forfeiture can take place.

Matt Simpson (ACLU):

Highlights:

• Two counties seized $3 million in East TX from 2006 - 08.
• Victims were exclusively Black and Hispanic.

• There probably shouldn't be work-arounds on the fourth amendment.

• It was A LOT worse five years ago.

• 2011 reforms were a good start, but there's more we can do.

• Lower income folks are more likely to have large sums of cash on them.

• Legislators will say we don't have 'civil asset forfeiture' in Texas.
• Technically, it's criminal forfeiture under a civil standard of evidence.
• That's still an excuse.

• Prosecutors and Law Enforcement will fight like heck to keep the money coming in.

Informal Discussion:

Highlights:

• Stories like these are why conservatives believe in limited government.

• In recent years, some states have attempted to expand forfeiture.

• This session, improving threshold and reporting would be major progress.

• Always go for reporting bills if you can get them; they lay the foundation for future success.

• Decriminalizing non-violent criminal offenses will create a smaller potential pot.

• Equitable sharing usurps the ability of the state to police itself by the Feds.

• If 10% of victims fought these cases, they'd no longer be profitable for law enforcement.

Police Militarization:

Highlights:

• Spending too much money on police is the root of the problem.

• No knock raids are the biggest way people get hurt.

• Body cameras have A LOT of issues.
• Might help, but VERY expensive.

• ISD's in Texas are authorized to have police departments.

• "It's not that this money is being spent on the wrong thing, it's that it shouldn't exist."

Day Before Session: JoAnn Fleming

"Strength and honor are her clothing;
She shall rejoice in time to come."
Proverbs 31:25

JoAnn Fleming addresses the pre-84th #TXLEGE Tea Party event:



Highlights:

• "These high maintenance elected officials, it's like being pecked to death by a bunch of Chickens."

• Texas electorate - 1/3 D, 1/3 R, 1/3 Tea Party;
• "We've done that with virtually no money."

• Working from the ground up provides sustainability.

• Tea Party is framing the debate.

• At TPPF last week, Workman and Estes were falling over themselves to talk about how much they agree with the Tea Party.

• We will work with R's we don't trust: "On a case by case basis."

• Hire slow, fire fast.

• "There's no going up from a C rating."

• "Someday is here."

• "There is no reason why Texas shouldn't be a leader in the liberty movement."

• Need to have a conversation about how and why we spend money.

• "Every time government grows, liberty retreats."

• Let you elected officials know what you think QUICKLY.

• Rinaldi: Kill the idea of expanding pre-K
• Statist approach to education.

• Religious liberty is under assault in the state of Texas and we need to do something about it.
• Houston and Plano.
• Geren bragged about killing religious liberty amendment.

• We are GOING to reform TxDOT.

• It's past time to untangle our finances from the Federal government.

• Don Huffines' idea of term-limiting agency heads is an idea who's long past.

• They like to delay hearings or hold them in the middle of the night
• Written testimony is a good way to get around the games.

• Byron Cook says he has a "heart" for illegals.

• A lot of Reps only care about the border when the media cares about it.

Rehydrating Texas: Regulatory Reform to Keep Water Flowing for Texans

"This same Hezekiah also stopped the water outlet of Upper Gihon, and brought the water by tunnel[a] to the west side of the City of David. Hezekiah prospered in all his works."
2 Chronicles 32:30

Texas State Capitol -- Over the last 15 years Texas has made great strides to ensure that the state’s water resources remain flowing and accessible for a growing number of Texans. The financing has been addressed, the plans have been laid out, and the environmental concerns have been considered. The 84th Legislature now has the opportunity to finish the state’s comprehensive water package by removing regulatory impediments to the free development, management, and trade of surface and groundwater. There is light at the end of the tunnel!

Broadcast live streaming video on Ustream

Highlights:

Toby Baker (Texas Commission on Environmental Quality):

• Water is a major point of contention like air used to be.

• The drought got going in late 2010
• 2011 dryest year in state's history.

• The rain we get now gets instantly soaked into the super dry soil.

• Over 1000 public water systems are in some stage of drought.

Kathleen Hartnett White (TPPF):

• For the market to function, you need clear property rights.

• "Management" is a euphemism for regulation.

• Can't do a lot about complex permitting at the Federal Level.

James Lee Murphy (Guadelupe/Blanco River Authority):

•  Lack of legislative clarity hurts ability to meet water needs.

• The basic question: Do we need new water?!?

• We don't have a commodity market in Water.

Russell Johnson (Austin Water Attorney):

• Groundwater conservation districts (GCD) need to protect the rights of landowners.

• Vast majority of GCD's under 20 years old.  

• GCD's are like teenagers with keys to car, liquor cabinet, and gun cabinet in terms of how they protect property rights.

• The state has created 98 separate TCEQ's with substantial regulatory authority and virtually no oversight.

• Texas has more groundwater to access than any state except Alaska, but unelected boards and commissions restrict access.

• Shouldn't be able to hold up projects 7-8 years.

• GCD's rewards legacy producers.

Konni Burton Burns Democrat Opponent

"For You formed my inward parts;
You covered me in my mother’s womb.
I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Marvelous are Your works,
And that my soul knows very well."
Psalm 139:13-14

Konni Burton debated her Democrat opponent Sunday.  The debate was a nondescript discussion of issues.  Then, Konni was asked about rape exceptions for abortion; watch....



Highlights:

•  Libby attacked Konni for opposing special interest boondoggles.

• Konni: Include water and transportation in regular budget, not slush funds.

• Konni, re: rape exemptions: "This is about life.  This is about a right.  A right is different than a law....It is our God given right: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.  We are talking about a life and what government is supposed to do is to protect the rights of citizens.  That is their first right.  I will always protect the right to life.  Always."

Read our endorsement of Konni here; donate to her campaign here.