For 11/30/23

 - A Texas politician wants to provide emergency services to constituents who don’t have them. Will they let him?

- More than 765,000 older Texans are struggling to cover housing costs.

- Climate change, costly disasters sent Texas homeowner insurance rates skyrocketing this year.

- Federal appeals court questions Texas’ new school library regulations.

From the New York Times: How Does the World’s Largest Hedge Fund Really Make Its Money?

The story does not specifically say so, but could this fund really be a Ponzi Scheme?

- Click here.

For years, the whispered questions have passed from one Wall Street trading floor to the next.

Bridgewater Associates, a global investing force, had $168 billion under management at its peak in 2022, making it not just the world’s largest hedge fund, but also more than twice the size of the runner-up. Bridgewater’s billionaire founder, Ray Dalio, was omnipresent in the financial media and said publicly that he had cracked what he termed “the holy grail” of investing, including a series of trading formulas bound to make money, “by which I mean that if you find this thing, you will be rich and successful.”

So why didn’t anyone on Wall Street know much of anything about it?

Since founding Bridgewater in his Manhattan apartment in 1975, Mr. Dalio has been said to have developed prodigious skill at spotting, and making money from, big-picture global economic or political changes, such as when a country raises its interest rates or cuts taxes. That made both a lot of sense and none at all; what was it about Bridgewater that made it so much better at predictions than any other investor in the world trying to do the exact same thing?

_______

- Hedge Fund:

A hedge fund is a pooled investment fund that holds liquid assets and that makes use of complex trading and risk management techniques to improve investment performance and insulate returns from market risk. Among these portfolio techniques are short selling and the use of leverage and derivative instruments. In the United States, financial regulations require that hedge funds be marketed only to institutional investors and high-net-worth individuals.

- Bridgewater Associates: 

Bridgewater Associates, LP (informally known as "Bridgewater") is an American investment management firm founded by Ray Dalio in 1975. The firm serves institutional clients including pension funds, endowments, foundations, foreign governments, and central banks. As of 2022, Bridgewater has posted the second highest gains of any hedge fund since its inception in 1975. The firm began as an institutional investment advisory service, graduated to institutional investing, and pioneered the risk parity investment approach in 1996.

- Ray Dalio: 

. . . an American billionaire investor and hedge fund manager, who has served as co-chief investment officer of the world's largest hedge fund, Bridgewater Associates, since 1985. He founded Bridgewater in 1975 in New York.

. . . At age 12, he started caddying at The Links Golf Club, which was within walking distance of his childhood home. He caddied for many Wall Street professionals during his time there, including Wall Street veteran George Leib. Leib and his wife Isabelle invited Dalio to their Park Avenue apartment for family dinners and holiday gatherings. The couple's son, a Wall Street trader, later gave Dalio a summer job at his trading firm. He began investing at age 12, when he bought shares of Northeast Airlines for $300 and tripled his investment after the airline merged with another company. By the time he reached high school, he had built up an investment portfolio of several thousand dollars. He received a bachelor's degree in finance from Long Island University (C.W. Post College) and an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1973.

State regulations of lot sizes

 - Do minimum lot sizes in suburbs contribute to Texas sprawl?.

- DENSITY BILLS WOULD LIMIT CITY LAND USE AUTHORITY, EXEMPT PROPERTY OWNERS' ASSOCIATIONS.

- To tackle high housing costs, Texas lawmakers push to build more homes.

- Do Minimum-Lot-Size Regulations Limit Housing Supply in Texas?

- New Minimum Lot Size is No Small Victory.

From the Fort Worth Telegram: Looking to make up to $300,000 a year? These 10 Texas state jobs pay the most

 Some street level bureaucrats make a lot of money.

- Click here.

Here's the skinny: 

PSYCHIATRIST IV: $23,068-$24,222 A MONTH Agency: Texas Health and Human Services Commission

This position performs advanced psychiatric work under direct supervision of the state supported living centers medical director. Duties includes overseeing the examination and diagnoses of patients, administering psychiatric treatment and directing staff.

STAFF PHYSICIAN: $19,684-$24,222 A MONTH
- Agency: Texas Health and Human Services Commission

This position serves as a staff physician at a state supported living center, where they serve individuals with intellectual disabilities. Duties include diagnosing and treating individuals, Developing health care plans and participating in treatment processes.

LEAD CERTIFIED NURSE MIDWIFE: $149,000 A YEAR Agency: The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas

This position will work in the obstetrics an gynecology department at Clements University Hospital. Duties include overseeing and managing schedules for both inpatient and outpatient advanced practice providers, along with conducting annual staff performance reviews.

PHARMACY INFORMATION RESOURCES MANAGER: $164,000 A YEAR
- Agency: The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas

This position in the pharmacy information systems team in the department of health ancillary information resources. Duties include managing information resource sections, developing policies and coordinating on various projects and programs.

ASSISTANT DEPUTY COMMISSIONER: $11,836-$20,018 A MONTH Agency:
- Texas Department of Family and Protective Services

This position reports to the DFPS deputy commissioner and performs senior-level policy administration and managerial work. Duties include overseeing cross-agency functions such as providing oversight related to strategic initiatives and foster care litigation.

CHIEF AUDIT AND COMPLIANCE OFFICER: $171,000-$265,000 A YEAR Agency:
- Texas Department of Transportation

This position will work in TxDOT’s internal audit and compliance divisions. Duties include overseeing internal audit and compliance activities, as means to provide analyses, appraisals, recommendation and counsel to assist the Texas Transportation Commission.


DIRECTOR OF TRANSPORTATION OPS: $111,000-$189,000 A YEAR
- Agency: Texas Department of Transportation

This position oversees transportation operations function for its district’s highways and facilities. Duties include managing employees, contacting government officials and acts as a liaison with TxDOT’s traffic operations division

REGIONAL MEDICAL DIRECTOR: $13,020-$22,020 A MONTH

- Agency: Texas Department of State Health Services

This position serves as the regional medical director for the DSHS in El Paso. Duties include organizing public health services to counties without a local health department, directing regional programs and developing/maintaining relationships with local agencies.

ANTITRUST LAWYER: $12,249-$13,650 A MONTH
- Agency: Attorney General of Texas

The position will serve as an antitrust litigator who leads the state’s antitrust enforcement efforts. The antitrust divisions in charged with investigating and prosecuting violations of the Texas Free Enterprise and Antitrust Act.

CHIEF INFORMATION SECURITY OFFICER: $11,250-$12,083 A MONTH
- Agency: Governor’s Office

This position works in the administration division for the office of the Governor. Duties include performing senior-level security work, along with providing direction and guidance in strategic information technology operations.

From the Washington Post: How to become an air marshal, the most secretive job in the sky

You too can be a street level bureaucrat in the sky.

Here's how: 

- Click here. 

If you don’t know much about air marshals, mission accomplished.

The service has been an anonymous layer of public security since the concept was created in response to a spate of plane hijackings in the 1960s and expanded in the 1970s. After the terrorist attacks of 9/11, air marshals moved under the newly created Department of Homeland Security and TSA. The number of air marshals grew from 33 to thousands.

. . . To become an air marshal, applicants must be U.S. citizens between the ages of 21 and 36, although they can make exceptions for military veterans over 36. They need to have a bachelor’s degree or three years of relevant work experience. They have to undergo a drug test as well as a criminal and credit background check. They have interviews, mental and physical evaluations, a polygraph test and a physical training assessment. Starting salaries begin around $60,000.

The job attracts a variety of backgrounds, but it’s common to get people who’ve worked in military, law enforcement or government, LaFrance said.

Air marshal Regina W. Boateng, who’s now the assistant supervisory air marshal in charge of strategic communications and public affairs, says her application and interview process took roughly nine months. At the time, she was working as a TSA screener and was interested in a career at the Drug Enforcement Administration until she met an air marshal at her college’s career fair.

. . . Phase one starts with roughly seven weeks of what LaFrance calls “Police 101” at a Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in either Glynco, Ga., or Artesia, N.M. Alongside students pursuing other fields like the Secret Service or Amtrak police, their basic training covers a broad curriculum, including crowd control, constitutional law, crime scene preservation, responding to individuals in mental health crisis and more — everything you’d need to know for an entry-level federal law enforcement position.

etc . . .

Slime in the Ice Machine - FULL SONG

 https://youtube.com/shorts/vFgTvnyCOd8?si=WwN8bVfA8P4s2xhh

Here's some bureaucracy for ya

No disrespect meant, but we'd probably rather not have to interact with them. Just sayin'

From the Texas Tribune: A Texas university removed its unique public billboards after students used them to share thoughts on Gaza war

It seems that students pushed controversial speech on their college campus beyond what the administration tolerated. 

In so doing, were free speech rights undermined? 

- Click here for the article.  

For years, three large lumpy rocks bedecked in bright paint announced events or bore symbolic messages at the University of Texas at Dallas — a cornerstone of campus life.

Sometimes the messages were political, “Vote Blue.” Sometimes not, “Welcome Scholars!”

But Monday morning students found the university uprooted their beloved boulders, known as the Spirit Rocks, overnight and replaced them with freshly planted trees.

The rocks’ removal came weeks after student groups took turns painting pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian messages on their surfaces in response to the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip.

The Oct. 7 terrorist attack, and ensuing assault on Gaza, has triggered intense debates over the decades-old conflict as many urge for a ceasefire. College campuses like UT Dallas have become a nexus of those debates and, in some cases, a test of students’ freedom of expression.

. . . Student protests across the country, often accompanied by calls for an end to occupation of Palestinian land by Israeli forces, have prompted backlash by those who perceive these protests as antisemitic, endorsements of Hamas. College administrators have since been tasked with navigating those accusations, while not suppressing student voices.

In a Monday statement following the removal of the rocks, the university affirmed the importance of free speech and said the recent paintings related to the Middle East conflict strayed too far from the original purpose of the public message board.

“The spirit rocks were not intended to be a display for extended political discourse, and because painted messages have been negatively impacting people on and off campus, our best solution was to remove them,” read the statement.

- Spirit Rocks.

- Speech Expression and Assembly. Policy Statement. Section A: Governing Principles.

Public Finance: Definition

- Wikipedia: 

Public finance is the study of the role of the government in the economy. It is the branch of economics that assesses the government revenue and government expenditure of the public authorities and the adjustment of one or the other to achieve desirable effects and avoid undesirable ones. The purview of public finance is considered to be threefold, consisting of governmental effects on:

- The efficient allocation of available resources;
- The distribution of income among citizens; and
- The stability of the economy.

Economist Jonathan Gruber has put forth a framework to assess the broad field of public finance. Gruber suggests public finance should be thought of in terms of four central questions:

- When should the government intervene in the economy? To which there are two central motivations for government intervention, Market failure and redistribution of income and wealth.
- How might the government intervene? Once the decision is made to intervene the government must choose the specific tool or policy choice to carry out the intervention (for example public provision, taxation, or subsidization).
- What is the effect of those interventions on economic outcomes? A question to assess the empirical direct and indirect effects of specific government intervention.
- And finally, why do governments choose to intervene in the way that they do? This question is centrally concerned with the study of political economy, theorizing how governments make public policy.

- From CFI: What is Public Finance?

Public finance is the management of a country’s revenue, expenditures, and debt load through various government and quasi-government institutions. This guide provides an overview of how public finances are managed, what the various components of public finance are, and how to easily understand what all the numbers mean. A country’s financial position can be evaluated in much the same way as a business’ financial statements.

- Tax collection
- Budget
- Expenditures
- Deficit/Surplus
- National Debt

For More: 

- Texas AG: Public Finance.
- IMF: Public Finances in Modern History.

Are you flummoxed?

well . . . are you?

- Cambridge Dictionary: 

to confuse someone so much that they do not know what to do:

I have to say that last question flummoxed me.

- Etymology: 

1837, cant word, also flummux, of uncertain origin, probably risen out of a British dialect (OED finds candidate words in Herefordshire, Gloucestershire, southern Cheshire, and Sheffield). "The formation seems to be onomatopœic, expressive of the notion of throwing down roughly and untidily" [OED]. Related: Flummoxed; flummoxing.

For more: Confuse-A-Cat ~ Monty Python's Flying Circus.

From AP: Federal judge grants injunction banning ‘Kansas Two-Step’ Highway Patrol tactic

Thanks Jared.

- Click here for the article.  

The Kansas Highway Patrol must stop using a tactic known as the “Kansas Two-Step” to detain out-of-state drivers long enough to find a reason to search their vehicles for illegal drugs, a federal judge has ruled.

U.S. District Judge Kathryn H. Vratil on Monday granted a permanent injunction. The injunction was not unexpected. It follows Vratil’s ruling in July that determined that the tactic violated drivers’ constitutional rights against unreasonable searches.

KHP spokeswoman Candice Breshears said the order is being reviewed by the state attorney general’s office and declined further comment. A message left Tuesday with the office of Attorney General Kris Kobach was not immediately returned.

The injunction has several requirements, including cameras and audio for all marked and unmarked patrol cars. It also says troopers must inform drivers that they can refuse or revoke consent for a search at any time. The injunction also requires better training and documentation. . . . 

Happy Now????

 

 https://www.instagram.com/p/C0APFQaOO7Z/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

 📸 Look at this post on Facebook https://www.galveston.com/whattodo/tours/self-guided-tours/historical-markers/mexican-telegraph-company-zimmerman-telegraph/?fbclid=IwAR3WJkMFyEw9LLdB1nBKt0QsbCVqrrFxk8n10Fm1EfGMDlTU8jP8vIVWDmI_aem_AVIjvZ1AIkJf6HkqTzZhyYsUVHz-V3HiB28f364ljVYCfNcvYcWua8-x26vDqpGqRAo

 https://newrepublic.com/article/176854/republican-red-states-brain-drain

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Rainbow_Bridge_explosion?wprov=sfti1#Explosion

From the Houston Chronicle: How the Art Institute’s abrupt closure impacts Houston restaurants

In the spirit of the idea that everything is a market, here's a story about how the closure of a school impacts the local labor market. Beyond that, how it impacts Houston's effort to stay at the forefront of the national restaurant scene. 

- Click here. 

The Art Institute of Houston’s brightest culinary school graduates through the years offered a glimpse of success to prospective students. Their accomplishments included winning prestigious James Beard awards, competing on TV shows such as "Top Chef," opening splashy restaurants, writing glossy cookbooks, collaborating with brands on lucrative deals — all glamorous opportunities compared with the daily grind of laboring over a hot stove.

“You walked into the school believing this was the path you were destined for if you worked hard enough,” said Sean Davis, a former student in the culinary program.

Behind the scenes, however, the school struggled to stay afloat in recent years. Ownership switched several times, and the network of Art Institutes across the country, some of which lost accreditation, faced financial troubles. Some staffers in Houston said they cleaned toilets when the school lacked basic janitorial services. Students thought they would receive career advice but at times had no access to counselors. Basic necessities such as proper knives and ingredients went missing.

On Sept. 30, the Art Institute of Houston, 4140 Southwest Freeway, closed with little warning.

Students and employees were given less than a week’s notice that all eight Art Institute campuses across the country would shut down. The closures — in Austin, Dallas, San Antonio, Atlanta, Miami, Virginia Beach, Va., and Tampa, Fla., in addition to Houston — left 1,700 students in limbo, according to the Department of Education.

From Bloomberg Law: Kellogg, Kraft Win Price-Fixing Suit Against Egg Companies

Another example of market failure and the use of governmental power to address it.

Notice that one set of businesses were brought down by another set. The general public may not be in a position to successfully address these issues legally.

- Click here. 

General Mills Inc., a Kraft Heinz Co. unit, Kellogg Co., and Nestle SA for years likely overpaid for eggs because the nation’s largest producers and two trade groups conspired to restrict the supply, an Illinois federal jury decided on Tuesday.

A US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois jury of nine men and three women said the two largest US egg producers, Cal-Maine Foods Inc. and Rose Acre Farms Inc., along with two egg-industry trade groups, will have to pay damages to the food companies.

The same jury will decide the amount of damages in a trial scheduled to begin Nov. 29 that is expected to last two days. By law, whatever damages the jury awards will be trebled, though the jury will not be told about that statutory requirement.

The case outcome in favor of the food companies could embolden other plaintiffs who are seeking to go after food producers for anticompetitive behavior.

Now comes the appeal, this could be overturned by the Supreme Court.

_________

For more: 

“People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices.”
 ― Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations

- Adam Smith on the Inevitability of Price Fixing.

Private Right of Action

From the Houston Chronicle: Meet Kelly Young, the new CEO tasked with lowering Houston’s homeless count

Caring for the poor - in this case those that are homeless - has always been a major component of local budgets.

Here's info on how Houston addresses it.

- Click here for the article.

The Coalition for the Homeless announced on Nov. 2 that Young will take the reins as its new chief executive. The decision comes when the organization is celebrated for its role in Houston’s decreasing homeless count in the past decade when other major cities experienced an increase.

__________

For More:

- Governing: How Houston Cut Its Homeless Population by Nearly Two-Thirds.

- Coalition for the Homeless of Houston/Harris County.

- Career and Recovery Resources, Inc.
 

From Politico: Federal appeals court ruling threatens enforcement of the Voting Rights Act

Attacks on the Voting Rights Act continue. This one does not try to change the law, but limits its enforcement. 

- Click here for how:

A federal appeals court issued a ruling Monday that could gut the Voting Rights Act, saying only the federal government — not private citizens or civil rights groups — is allowed to sue under a key section of the landmark civil rights law.

The decision out of the 8th Circuit will almost certainly be appealed and is likely headed to the Supreme Court. Should it stand, it would mark a dramatic rollback of the enforcement of the law that led to increased minority power and representation in American politics.

The appellate court ruled that there is no “private right of action” for Section 2 of the law — which prohibits voting practices that discriminate on the basis of race.

That, in practice, would severely limit the scope of the protections of Section 2. On paper, those protections are themselves unchanged by the ruling. But for decades, private parties — including civil rights groups, individual voters and political parties — have brought Section 2 challenges on everything from redistricting to voter ID requirements.

For more: 

- Is the Voting Rights Act nearly dead?

What is a private right of action? 

Here are explanations from: 

- Democracy Docket.

- Brookings.

- DOJ.

S.B. No. 412: AN ACT relating to protections for pregnant and parenting students enrolled in public institutions of higher education.

We've received notice at ACC to comply with this recently passed ball.

It's meant to address pregnancy and parenting discrimination.

- Click here for info from TLO.

Sections: 

- An institution of higher education may not require a pregnant or parenting student, solely because of the student's status as a pregnant or parenting student or due to issues related to the student's pregnancy or parenting

- An institution of higher education shall provide reasonable accommodations to a pregnant student

- An institution of higher education shall, for reasons related to a student's pregnancy, childbirth, or any resulting medical status or condition: (1) excuse the student's absence; (2) allow the student to make up missed assignments or assessments; etc . . .

- An institution of higher education shall allow a pregnant or parenting student to: (1) take a leave of absence, etc . . .

- Each institution of higher education shall adopt a policy for students on pregnancy and parenting discrimination.

- The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, in consultation with institutions of higher education, shall adopt rules as necessary to administer this section. The rules must establish minimum periods for which a pregnant or parenting student must be given a leave of absence under Subsection

- Not later than January 15, 2024, each public institution of higher education shall adopt and post on the institution's Internet website the policy on pregnancy and parenting discrimination required under Section 51.982(f), Education Code, as added by this Act.

Senate Passes Rule Change for Military Nominations, 9-7

From the Washington Post: Fight against strip club set Speaker Mike Johnson on his moral crusade

I've fielded a few questions about how and why people get involved in politics.

Here's one story:

- Click here for the article. 

Mike Johnson was an eager young lawyer, four years out of law school, when he stayed up until 5 a.m. one night poring over the details of a controversy roiling his hometown: the opening of a new strip club.

By the morning, he was so worked up about the issue, he said, that he appeared later that day at a Shreveport City Council meeting to implore city leaders to block the Deja Vu club from moving in downtown.

“I have done an exhaustive legal research on this matter, probably more than anyone,” he told municipal lawmakers in April 2002, according to minutes of the meeting. He argued that the arrival of another “sexually oriented business,” or “SOB” as he called it, would spread sexually transmitted diseases and other social ills.

Johnson’s pitch failed, and the club opened early the following year. But the dispute over Deja Vu proved to be a turning point for him. It marked the end of his short-lived career as a general practice lawyer and the beginning of his single-minded focus on the culture wars. The shift put him on the path to elected office, first in the Louisiana legislature and then in Congress, and ultimately last month to the House speakership.

- House Speaker Mike Johnson used faith in campaign against gay rights.

__________

For more:

What is the culture war?

A culture war is a cultural conflict between different social groups struggle to impose their own virtues, beliefs, and practices over society. The notion of "war" is a metaphor for how to how social groups holding entrenched values and ideologies build adversarial narratives around "hot button" topics on which there is general societal disagreement and polarization over politics, public policy or consumption issues. Culture wars often delve around wedge issues, often based on values, morality, and lifestyle which often lead to political cleavage.

Opened today in class - 11/20/23

- invisible hand.

- State Medical Cannabis Laws.

- Alcohol laws of Texas.

- List of alcohol laws of the United States.

- Alvin Code of Ordinances: Health and Sanitation.

 

Does Texas had a Foreign Policy? The case of CHAPTER 808. PROHIBITION ON INVESTMENT IN COMPANIES THAT BOYCOTT ISRAEL

States aren't supposed to, it falls under the prohibited powers. 

But Texas is Texas.

A law passed in 2017 mandates that the state not invest in companies that boycott Israel.


- Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar Reminds Businesses About Agency’s Boycott Israel List Amid Israel-Hamas Conflict.

. . . The Hamas terrorists have underestimated Israeli resolve and have invited the full retribution of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Similarly, as Israel’s ally, we must not waiver in our support.

“As this conflict unfolds, I remind businesses that my office maintains a list of companies that boycott Israel. Texas Government Code Chapter 808 defines ‘boycott Israel' as ’refusing to deal with, terminating business activities with or otherwise taking any action that is intended to penalize, inflict economic harm on or limit commercial relations specifically with Israel or with a person or entity doing business in Israel or in an Israeli-controlled territory … .'

“Texas has long been a friend and ally of Israel, and we support Israel’s right to defend its land and people. Companies that do business with the state of Texas should keep that in mind.”

__________

For more: 

- From the Comptroller's office: DIVESTMENT STATUTE LISTS.

- Texas Government Code: Chapter 808.

- HB 89 - 85(R).

Word of the Day: Vermin.

- Dictionary.com: 

- noxious, objectionable, or disgusting animals collectively, especially those of small size that appear commonly and are difficult to control, as flies, lice, bedbugs, cockroaches, mice, and rats.
- an objectionable or obnoxious person, or such persons collectively.

- Merriam Webster: 

- small common harmful or objectionable animals (such as lice or fleas) that are difficult to control.
- birds and mammals that prey on game
- animals that at a particular time and place compete (as for food) with humans or domestic animals
- an offensive person

- Wikipedia: 

Vermin (colloquially varmint(s) or varmit(s)) are pests or nuisance animals that spread diseases or destroy crops, livestock, and property. Since the term is defined in relation to human activities, which species are included vary by region and enterprise.

The term derives from the Latin vermis (worm), and was originally used for the worm-like larvae of certain insects, many of which infest foodstuffs. The term varmint (and vermint) has been found in sources from c. 1530–1540s.

From Wikipedia: Golden Age of Piracy

Markets rest on the assumption that things that items that are demanded will actually make it from suppliers to their eventual destination. This entry covers an era when this didn't always happen. It helps explain the development of navies - specifically the British and American.

- Click here for it. 

The Golden Age of Piracy is a common designation for the period between the 1650s and the 1730s, when maritime piracy was a significant factor in the histories of the North Atlantic and Indian Oceans.

Histories of piracy often subdivide the Golden Age of Piracy into three periods:

The buccaneering period (approximately 1650 to 1680), characterized by Anglo-French seamen based in Jamaica and Tortuga attacking Spanish colonies, and shipping in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific.

The Pirate Round (1690s), associated with long-distance voyages from the Americas to rob Muslim and East India Company targets in the Indian Ocean and Red Sea.

The post-Spanish Succession period (1715 to 1726), when Anglo-American sailors and privateers left unemployed by the end of the War of the Spanish Succession turned en masse to piracy in the Caribbean, the Indian Ocean, the North American eastern seaboard, and the West African coast.

Narrower definitions of the Golden Age sometimes exclude the first or second periods, but most include at least some portion of the third. The modern conception of pirates as depicted in popular culture is derived largely, although not always accurately, from the Golden Age of Piracy.

Factors contributing to piracy during the Golden Age included the rise in quantities of valuable cargoes being shipped to Europe over vast ocean areas, reduced European navies in certain regions, the training and experience that many sailors had gained in European navies (particularly the British Royal Navy), and corrupt and ineffective government in European overseas colonies. Colonial powers at the time constantly fought with pirates and engaged in several notable battles and other related events.

What makes people corrupt?

- Why Be Honest If Honesty Doesn’t Pay

- Ethical Free Riding: When Honest People Find Dishonest Partners.

- 

 

Houston Chronicle: FERC orders Colonial Pipeline to redraw rates from Gulf Coast after overcharge claims

This is an example of an overcharge - a common type of market failure.

- Click here for the article. 

Colonial Pipeline will need to adjust how it charges customers for moving fuel from refineries along the Gulf of Mexico to the East Coast after customers complained of tens of millions of dollars in overcharges, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ruled in a decision published late Thursday.

The order follows a six-year fight by large fuel producers and buyers, including Valero, Phillips 66, United Airlines and Chevron, who said that Colonial, the nation's largest fuel network, was charging excessive rates to move the more than 100 million barrels of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel that run through its pipeline each day.

FERC found that Colonial's methodology for charging customers for fuel lost in transportation — either because of evaporation or metering errors — was "not just and reasonable" and was assessed without logical explanation to customers and regulators.

"It is a black box. Colonial does not disclose the model’s inputs, show how it makes projections using the model, or provide support for any past projections used to adjust the (lost fuel) charges," the opinion read.

In their arguments to FERC ahead of the ruling, Colonial's attorneys said the mechanism for calculating fuel loss was based on conventional methods and earned the company no additional profit.

"We are reviewing the commission’s orders and determining next steps," a spokesman for Colonial said Friday.

Phillips 66 declined to comment on the ruling. Valero, Chevron and United did not respond to a request for comment Friday.

In their complaint in 2017, the pipeline's customers said they had collectively been overcharged $60 million. An administrative law judge in 2021 found that FERC should order Colonial to pay its customers reparations.

__________

- Overcharge: Overcharge is an economic term that refers to the difference between an observed market price and a price that would have been observed in the absence of collusion. The latter is often called a "but-for price" or a competitive "benchmark price". When collusion is not in use, such as by privately owned businesses, overcharge is considered as a markup of the observed market price for the sole profit of the business and in some states is considered illegal, similar to profiteering and price gouging.

An overcharge may be expressed as a mark-up on the benchmark price, or it may be divided by the observed market price. When the benchmark price is equal to the marginal cost of production, as it is in perfect competition, then ratio of the overcharge to market price is the Lerner Index of market power.

When the overcharge is multiplied by the quantity purchased, it becomes the monetary injury or damages incurred by a buyer of goods sold by a cartel.

- Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is the independent agency of the United States government that regulates the transmission and wholesale sale of electricity and natural gas in interstate commerce and regulates the transportation of oil by pipeline in interstate commerce. FERC also reviews proposals to build interstate natural gas pipelines, natural gas storage projects, and liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals, in addition to licensing non-federal hydropower projects.

FERC is an independent federal agency, even though it is part of the U.S. Department of Energy. FERC is composed of five commissioners who are nominated by the U.S. president and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. There may be no more than three commissioners of one political party serving on the commission at any given time.

From the Washington Post: From airlines to ticket sellers, companies fight U.S. to keep junk fees

Is this market failure? 

Suppliers seem to inflate prices by adding on various fees. I think we've all dealt with this.

Uneven information.

- Click here for the article.

Frustrated with airlines that charge passengers steep fees to check bags and change flights, President Biden last fall embarked on a campaign to crack down on the practice — and force companies to show the full price of travel before people pay for their tickets.

Fliers rejoiced, flooding the Department of Transportation with letters urging it to adopt the policy. Airlines including American, Delta and United, however, did not seem so enthused.

It would be too difficult to disclose the charges more clearly, warned Doug Mullen, the deputy general counsel at Airlines for America, an industry lobbying group representing the three carriers. Testifying at a federal hearing in March, he said the new policy would only cause customers “confusion and frustration” — and, besides, the extra costs for bags and other services historically have resulted in “very few complaints.”

“The department should not regulate in this area,” Mullen added.

Since then, the Biden administration has broadened its efforts to expose or eliminate “junk fees” throughout the economy, touching off a groundswell of opposition from airlines, auto dealers, banks, credit card companies, cable giants, property owners and ticket sellers that hope to preserve their profits.

Behind the scenes, these corporations have fought vigorously to thwart even the most basic rules that would require them to be more transparent about hidden charges, according to a Washington Post review of federal lobbying records and hundreds of filings submitted to government agencies. The fees together may cost Americans at least $64 billion annually, according to a rough White House estimate, underscoring its efforts to deliver financial relief to families grappling with high prices.

__________

For More:

- Ticketmaster to Show Full Ticket Pricing and Eliminate Hidden Fees.

- How much does Taylor Swift make from Spotify?

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trial_of_Derek_Chauvin

Municipal Courts: Iowa County and Manvel

- City of Alvin.

- City of Iowa Colony.

- City of Manvel.

- City of Pearland.

 https://kinder.rice.edu/research/kinder-houston-area-survey-2023-results

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/11/16/oregon-bar-exam-alternative-apprenticeship/

Dan Davis

 That's all I can say right now.

From the Houston Chronicle: Constitutional showdown over immigration

- Click here for the article.

If the U.S. Supreme Court hadn’t lurched so far to the right under former President Donald Trump, there’s a good chance the Texas Legislature may have never tried to pass the bill it voted out last night.

It was in 2012 the Supreme Court ruled that states cannot enforce immigration laws just because they don’t think the federal government is doing it well enough. Yet, reporter Jasper Scherer writes that the Texas House voted anyhow to pass legislation that would allow Texas law enforcement to arrest people they suspect to have crossed the border illegally and order them back to Mexico.

Democrats, civil rights groups and even some Republicans have warned the bill flat out conflicts with the U.S. Constitution and that 2012 Supreme Court ruling.

But that may be the point. Since that 2012 ruling, Trump was able to add Amy Coney Barrett, Neal Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh to the court. Some Republicans are convinced if they could get the issue to the Supreme Court again, the more conservative justices might just flip the 5 to 3 ruling in 2012, much like what happened last year with the challenge to Roe v Wade.

During a contentious debate on the Texas House floor, state Rep. Victoria Neave Criado, a Dallas Democrat, accused Republicans of engineering the bill for that purpose, a charge state Rep. David Spiller, the North Texas Republican who led the bill, denied.

But when the same bill cleared the Texas Senate last week, state Sen. Charles Perry, R-Lubbock, acknowledged it is “testing and pushing envelopes.”

The ACLU of Texas has already vowed to sue the state over the bill if Gov. Greg Abbott signs the it into law as he has promised to do. And now comes word Mexico opposes the legislation, which raises questions about how Texas would enforce the law if Mexico blocks people from other countries from reentering that nation.

__________

For more, click here: Texas legislators approve bill allowing police to arrest people who cross the border illegally.

For the bill itself, click here: SB4 (88-4)

Sam Bankman-Fried and Market Failure

As we look at public policy, and the concept of market failure, here seems to be an example of the problem posed by one type of market failure: uneven information.

The problem with fraud is the person perpetuating the fraud knows what they are doing, the victim does not. Laws related to fraud are meant to punish such actions. Bankman-Fried is an example.

- Click here for the Wikipedia page on him.

The public success of Bankman-Fried masked significant problems at FTX, and in November 2022 when evidence of potential fraud began to surface, there was a rush by depositors to withdraw funds forcing the company into bankruptcy. On December 12, 2022, Bankman-Fried was arrested in the Bahamas and extradited to the United States where he was indicted on seven criminal charges including wire fraud, commodities fraud, securities fraud, money laundering, and campaign finance law violations.

In United States v. Bankman-Fried, on November 2, 2023, he was convicted of fraud and conspiracy, on all seven counts. His sentencing, where experts say he likely faces decades in prison, is scheduled for March 28, 2024. A second trial—for five additional charges, including bank fraud and bribery—is scheduled for early March 2024.

Here's more on some of the charges: 

- fraud: In law, fraud is intentional deception to secure unfair or unlawful gain, or to deprive a victim of a legal right. Fraud can violate civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrator to avoid the fraud or recover monetary compensation) or criminal law (e.g., a fraud perpetrator may be prosecuted and imprisoned by governmental authorities), or it may cause no loss of money, property, or legal right but still be an element of another civil or criminal wrong.

- wire fraud: Mail fraud and wire fraud are terms used in the United States to describe the use of a physical or electronic mail system to defraud another, and are U.S. federal crimes. Jurisdiction is claimed by the federal government if the illegal activity crosses interstate or international borders.

- commodities fraud: The illegal act of obtaining (or the attempt of obtaining) a certain amount of currency in accordance with a contract that promises the later exchange of equated assets, which ultimately never arrive, is a type of fraud, known as commodities fraud.[40] Alternatively, the term can relate to: the failure of registering in an exchange; the act of deliberately providing falsified information to clients; the action of executing transactions with the sole purpose of making a profit for the payee; the theft of client funds.

- securities fraud: Securities fraud, also known as stock fraud and investment fraud, is a deceptive practice in the stock or commodities markets that induces investors to make purchase or sale decisions on the basis of false information. The setups are generally made to result in monetary gain for the deceivers, and generally result in unfair monetary losses for the investors. They are generally violating securities laws. Securities fraud can also include outright theft from investors (embezzlement by stockbrokers), stock manipulation, misstatements on a public company's financial reports, and lying to corporate auditors.

__________

- U.S. Code: Title 18.

- Texas Penal Code, Chapter 7.

Is cow tipping illegal?

Apparently its not possible (according to some of my students), but still...

- Comments from quora.com.

From the Bureau of Labor Statistics: What is the sequence of events in the criminal justice system?

- Click here. 

From the Aspen Institute: For community colleges, a lack of trust contributes to a lack of students

For our look at education policy

- Click here for it. 

Community colleges were created to broaden access to higher education in this country, and they’ve largely succeeded in that goal—including for students from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds. On the foundation of open access, community colleges have worked to understand and mitigate the challenges their students face as they complete their degrees. Colleges nationwide have been helping students stay enrolled and move towards graduation, including by adding more advisors, developing clearer course sequences, offering faster ways for students to catch up, and providing much needed additional support such as food assistance. The results have been positive, and graduation rates have improved substantially over the past decade.

While these gains are important, they are not enough. Many colleges still miss something important—the fact that students don’t come to college to graduate, but to improve their lives. For community college students, success means starting on the path to a bachelor’s degree or attaining the skills needed to land a good job right after graduating. Unfortunately, too many students—more than half—don’t graduate. Of those that do, too many don’t earn degrees that offer strong labor market value. Only about a quarter (23%) of associate degree graduates and a little more than a third (37%) of occupational certificate completers earn at least $35,000 two years after completion, according to CCRC. To rebuild trust, colleges must make sure more of their degrees are pathways to social mobility while also developing talent to meet the needs of employers in their communities.

 https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/11/13/xi-biden-meeting-united-states-china-apec-diplomacy/

 https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/13/us/politics/supreme-court-ethics-code.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

 https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/houston/article/candidates-began-filing-18480754.php

When was the Gulf Freeway finished?

Gulf Freeway at 70: See photos of I-45 from the start, as Houston's first freeway

Flour Power | Full Documentary

Wanna be an EMS?

ACC has got you covered.

- EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES.

- Technical Standards.

ACC GOVT 2305: 
- - Chapter Ten: Public Opinion
- - Chapter Five: Civil Rights
- - Chapter Fifteen: Economic Policy
- - Chapter Sixteen: Social Policy
- - Chapter Seventeen: Foreign Policy

ACC GOVT 2306: 
- - Chapter Eleven: Criminal Justice.
- - Chapter Twelve: Local Government.
- - Chapter Fourteen: Public Policy in Texas.


UH GOVT 2306 

Chapter 12

CPS
Policy Making Process
Rationality
Education Policy
public schools
Gilmer – Aikin Laws
TEA
Desegregation
Equal Protection Clause
San Antonio v Rodriquez
Welfare Policy
poverty
poverty line
THHS
TANF
SNAP
New Deal
Medicaid
SSI
AFDC
Health Care Policy
health insurance
CHIP
abortion policy
Affordable Care Act

Public Finance

Revenue
State revenue by source
State tax revenue sources
income tax
wealth tax
progressive
regressive
Texas tax system
matching funds
state funds
general revenue funds
permanent school funds
available school funds
state highway funds
economic stabilization fund
permanent university fund
higher education fund
national research university fund
biennial budget cycle
pay as you go limit
appropriations
limits on growth of certain appropriations
welfare spending limit
limits on debt payable from GRF
players in the budgetary process
state auditors office
public finance

Crime Corrections and Public Safety

policing
police departments
Texas Commission on Law Enforcement
use of force
Sandra Bland Act
categorizing crime
felonies
misdemeanors
probation
three strikes
criminal justice process
arraignment
bail
bail reform
grand jury
indictment
pre trial hearings
plea bargains
trials
sentences
marijuana laws
district attorneys
county attorneys
criminal defense
assigned counsel
public defender
prisons
corrections
prison population
TDCJ
SAFPF
population by offense
death penalty
Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles
clemency
self defense
open carry
fairness
Michael Morton
drug treatment programs
prison construction

Public Policies for a Changing Texas

Transportation
roads
highways
centerline miles
lane miles
vehicle miles traveled
funding
gas tax
toll roads
bullet train
public transit
demographic change
Texas’ immigrants
naturalized citizens
Texas Dream Act
labor force
immigration policy in Texas
sanctuary cities
SB 4 – 2017 (85)
DACA
Border Security
higher education policy
permanent university fund
university systems
THECB
tuition and fees
special items
Higher Education Fund
60X30TX
water policy
water law in Texas
water rights adjudication act
law of capture
planning authorities
TWDB
State Water Plan
EAA v Burrell Day
Texas Water Code

From EMS1: Private vs. public ambulance services: What's the difference?

For our look at public and private goods:  

- Click here for the article. 

In the fire service, the career versus volunteer battle is a never-ending debate. And, in a similar vein, the discussion of private versus public ambulance services is often met with animosity.

In Costa Mesa, Calif., city officials voted against a public-private model, stating that they wanted to maintain the city's current ambulance transportation service. The plan would have assigned ambulance transport to the fire department for patients with serious injuries, and to a private company for non-life threatening cases.

D.C. Fire and EMS introduced a similar plan, which passed unanimously among city council members. The plan allows private companies to handle low-level transports, while D.C. Fire and EMS ambulances handle more emergent cases. Putting aside any pro-public or pro-private arguments, here's a breakdown of the differences between private and public ambulance services.

AMBULANCE SERVICE SYSTEMS IN THE U.S.

According to the National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians, the breakdown of ambulance service systems in the U.S. includes:

- Fire department with cross-trained EMS personnel: 40%
- Fire department with separate EMS personnel: 9%
- Government or third service: 14.5%
- Private company: 18%
- Hospital-based service: 7%
- Other: 8%
- Public utility model: 2%
- Police department with cross-trained EMS personnel: 0.5%
- Police department with separate EMS personnel: 1%

PUBLIC AMBULANCE SERVICES

Public ambulance services, according to Elite Ambulance, are supported through both user fees and tax revenue. Taxpayers fund public ambulance services, like those provided by fire departments, regardless of whether or not they actually use the service.

PRIVATE AMBULANCE SERVICES

On the opposite spectrum, user fees solely fund private ambulance services; taxpayers do not fund these agencies. Therefore, patients are only billed when they use the services.

Generally, public ambulance services typically respond to 911 calls and private providers perform interfacility, discharge and other scheduled, non-emergency transports. However, there are private services that contract with municipalities to provide 911 response and there are public services that perform interfacility, discharge and other scheduled, non-emergency transports.

More street level bureaucrats

What is Harris Health System?

- Baylor College of Medicine.

Harris Health System is the public healthcare system providing primary, specialty and hospital care to the residents of Harris County, Texas, the third most populous county in the United States with a population of nearly four million people.

Baylor College of Medicine faculty and residents staff 7 of the 13 community health centers in Harris Health as well as Ben Taub Hospital and Quentin Mease Community Hospital.
 
- Website: 

Harris Health System is a fully integrated healthcare system that cares for all residents of Harris County, Texas. We are the first accredited healthcare institution in Harris County to be designated by the National Committee for Quality Assurance as a Patient-Centered Medical Home, and are one of the largest systems in the country to achieve the quality standard. Our system includes community health centers, same-day clinics, three multi-specialty clinic locations, a dental center, mobile health units and two full-service hospitals.



- Wikipedia: 

The Harris Health System, previously the Harris County Hospital District (HCHD), is a governmental entity with taxing authority that owns and operates three hospitals and numerous clinics throughout Harris County, Texas, United States, including the city of Houston. The entity's administrative offices are in Bellaire, Texas.

Harris Health System is an integrated delivery system that provides healthcare services open to all residents of Harris County, Texas. It is the first accredited healthcare institution in Harris County to be designated as an NCQA Medical Home and one of the largest in the country.

What is a Market?

- Britannica.

. . . a means by which the exchange of goods and services takes place as a result of buyers and sellers being in contact with one another, either directly or through mediating agents or institutions.

Markets in the most literal and immediate sense are places in which things are bought and sold. In the modern industrial system, however, the market is not a place; it has expanded to include the whole geographical area in which sellers compete with each other for customers. Alfred Marshall, whose Principles of Economics (first published in 1890) was for long an authority for English-speaking economists, based his definition of the market on that of the French economist A. Cournot:

Economists understand by the term Market, not any particular market place in which things are bought and sold, but the whole of any region in which buyers and sellers are in such free intercourse with one another that the prices of the same goods tend to equality easily and quickly.

- Investopedia: 

A market is any place where two or more parties can meet to engage in an economic transaction—even those that don't involve legal tender. A market transaction may include goods, services, information, currency, or any combination that passes from one party to another. In short, markets are arenas in which buyers and sellers can gather and interact.

Two parties are generally needed to make a trade. However, a third party is required to introduce competition and balance the market. As such, a market in a state of perfect competition, among other things, is characterized by a high number of active buyers and sellers.

Beyond this broad definition, the term market encompasses various things, depending on the context. For instance, it may refer to the stock market, which is the place where securities are traded. It may also describe a collection of people who wish to buy a specific product or service in a particular place, such as the Brooklyn housing market. Or it could refer to an industry or business sector, such as the global diamond market.

- Wikipedia.

In economics, a market is a composition of systems, institutions, procedures, social relations or infrastructures whereby parties engage in exchange. While parties may exchange goods and services by barter, most markets rely on sellers offering their goods or services (including labour power) to buyers in exchange for money. It can be said that a market is the process by which the prices of goods and services are established. Markets facilitate trade and enable the distribution and allocation of resources in a society. Markets allow any tradeable item to be evaluated and priced. A market emerges more or less spontaneously or may be constructed deliberately by human interaction in order to enable the exchange of rights (cf. ownership) of services and goods. Markets generally supplant gift economies and are often held in place through rules and customs, such as a booth fee, competitive pricing, and source of goods for sale (local produce or stock registration).

Is this Houston or a squashed bug?

 

What just happened to the Texas Constitution?

As I mentioned in class, we now have a longer constitution than we had at the beginning of the semester. 

I'm trying to make sense of the results of the recently election. 14 amendments were proposed to the Texas electorate, 13 were approved. Turnout was around 14% - which is high compared to past amendment elections. Generally the figure is around 5%. The number were likely up because of the Mayor's race in Houston. 

From the Texas Legislative Reference Library:

The Texas Constitution is one of the longest in the nation and is still growing. As of 2022 (the 87th Legislature), the Texas Legislature has proposed a total of 700 amendments. Of these, 517 have been adopted, and 180 have been defeated by Texas voters, and three amendments never made it to the ballot. Thus, the Texas Constitution has been amended 517 times since its adoption in 1876.

[Update: As of 11/7/23: 714 amendments have been proposed. 530 have been passed. 181 have been defeated.]

Links: 

- Tarlton Law Library 1876 Texas Constitution.

- Texas Legislative Reference Library: Constitutional Amendments.

- Texas Legislative Council: Amendments to the Texas Constitution Since 1876.

- Texas Legislature Online: Current Texas Constitution.

- Texas Legislative Council: ANALYSES OF PROPOSED CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS.

- Texas Secretary of State: Election results.

Proposed Amendment 1. The constitutional amendment protecting the right to engage in farming, ranching, timber production, horticulture, and wildlife management.

Article I, Texas Constitution, is amended by adding Section 36 to read as follows:

Sec. 36. 
(a)  The people have the right to engage in generally accepted farm, ranch, timber production, horticulture, or wildlife management practices on real property they own or lease.
(b)  This section does not affect the authority of the legislature to authorize by general law the regulation of generally accepted farm, ranch, timber production, horticulture, or wildlife management practices by:
(1)  a state agency or political subdivision when there is clear and convincing evidence that the law or regulation is necessary to protect the public health and safety from imminent danger;
(2)  a state agency to prevent a danger to animal health or crop production; or
(3)  a state agency or political subdivision to preserve or conserve the natural resources of this state under Section 59, Article XVI, of this constitution.
(c)  This section does not affect the authority of the legislature to authorize by general law the use or acquisition of property for a public use, including the development of the natural resources of this state under Section 59, Article XVI, of this constitution.

- 1876 Texas Bill of Rights.
- Current Texas Bill of Rights. 

- Ballotpedia.

__________

Proposed Amendment 2. The constitutional amendment authorizing a local option exemption from ad valorem taxation by a county or municipality of all or part of the appraised value of real property used to operate a child-care facility.

Article VIII, Texas Constitution, is amended by adding Section 1-r to read as follows:

Sec. 1-r.  The governing body of a county or municipality may exempt from ad valorem taxation all or part of the appraised value of real property used to operate a child-care facility.  The governing body may adopt the exemption as a percentage of the appraised value of the real property.  The percentage specified by the governing body may not be less than 50 percent.  The legislature by general law may define “child-care facility” for purposes of this section and may provide additional eligibility requirements for the exemption authorized by this section. 

- 1876 Texas Article VIII.
- Current Texas Article VIII. 

- Ballotpedia.
__________

Proposed Amendment 3. The constitutional amendment prohibiting the imposition of an individual wealth or net worth tax, including a tax on the difference between the assets and liabilities of an individual or family.

Article VIII, Texas Constitution, is amended by adding Section 25 to read as follows:

Sec. 25.  The legislature may not impose a tax based on the wealth or net worth of an individual or family, including a tax based on the difference between the assets and liabilities of an individual or family.

- 1876 Texas Article VIII.
- Current Texas Article VIII. 

- Ballotpedia.
__________

Proposed Amendment 4. The constitutional amendment to authorize the legislature to establish a temporary limit on the maximum appraised value of real property other than a residence homestead for ad valorem tax purposes; to increase the amount of the exemption from ad valorem taxation by a school district applicable to residence homesteads from $40,000 to $100,000; to adjust the amount of the limitation on school district ad valorem taxes imposed on the residence homesteads of the elderly or disabled to reflect increases in certain exemption amounts; to except certain appropriations to pay for ad valorem tax relief from the constitutional limitation on the rate of growth of appropriations; and to authorize the legislature to provide for a four-year term of office for a member of the board of directors of certain appraisal districts.

SECTION 1. 

Section 1, Article VIII, Texas Constitution, is amended by adding Subsections (n) and (n-1) to read as follows:

(n)  This subsection does not apply to a residence homestead to which Subsection (i) of this section applies. 

Notwithstanding Subsections (a) and (b) of this section, the Legislature by general law may limit the maximum appraised value of real property for ad valorem tax purposes in a tax year to the lesser of the most recent market value of the property as determined by the appraisal entity or 120 percent, or a greater percentage, of the appraised value of the property for the preceding tax year. 

The general law enacted under this subsection may prescribe additional eligibility requirements for the limitation on appraised values authorized by this subsection.  A limitation on appraised values authorized by this subsection:
(1)  takes effect as to a parcel of real property described by this subsection on the later of the effective date of the law imposing the limitation or January 1 of the tax year following the first tax year in which the owner owns the property on January 1;
and (2)  expires on January 1 of the tax year following the tax year in which the owner of the property ceases to own the property. (n-1)  This subsection and Subsection (n) of this section expire December 31, 2026.

SECTION 2. 

Sections 1-b(c) and (d), Article VIII, Texas Constitution, are amended to read as follows:

21 (c)  The amount of $100,000 [$40,000] of the market value of the residence homestead of a married or unmarried adult, including one living alone, is exempt from ad valorem taxation for general elementary and secondary public school purposes. 

SECTION 3. 

Section 22, Article VIII, Texas Constitution, is amended by adding Subsection (a-1) to read as follows:
(a-1)  Appropriations from state tax revenues not dedicated by this constitution that are made for the purpose of paying for ad valorem tax relief as identified by the legislature by general law are not included as appropriations for purposes of determining whether the rate of growth of appropriations exceeds the limitation prescribed by Subsection (a) of this section.

SECTION 4. 

Section 30, Article XVI, Texas Constitution, is amended by adding Subsection (e) to read as follows: (e)  The Legislature by general law may provide that members of the governing body of an appraisal entity established in a county with a population of 75,000 or more serve terms not to exceed four years.

SECTION 5.  The following temporary provision is added to the Texas Constitution:

TEMPORARY PROVISION.  (a)  This temporary provision applies to the constitutional amendment proposed by H.J.R. 2, 88th Legislature, 2nd Called Session, 2023. (b)  The amendments to Section 1-b, Article VIII, of this constitution take effect for the tax year beginning January 1, 2023. (c)  The amendment to Section 22, Article VIII, of this constitution applies to appropriations made for the state fiscal biennium beginning September 1, 2023, and subsequent state fiscal bienniums. (d)  This temporary provision expires January 1, 2025.

- 1876 Texas Article VIII.
- Current Texas Article VIII. 

- 1876 Texas Article XVI.
- Current Texas Article XVI. 

- Ballotpedia.
__________

Proposed Amendment 5. 

The constitutional amendment relating to the Texas University Fund, which provides funding to certain institutions of higher education to achieve national prominence as major research universities and drive the state economy.

Section 49-g, Article III, Texas Constitution, is amended by adding Subsections (p) and (q) to read as follows:

(p)  On the first business day occurring on or after the 90th day of each state fiscal year, an amount equal to the interest income, dividends, and investment earnings attributable to the economic stabilization fund for the preceding state fiscal year, not to exceed the amount determined under Subsection (q) of this section, is appropriated from the economic stabilization fund to the comptroller of public accounts for the purpose of immediate deposit to the credit of the Texas University Fund. 

For purposes of this subsection, the amount of interest income, dividends, and investment earnings attributable to the economic stabilization fund for a state fiscal year is computed by:

(1)  determining the amount of interest and dividends due to the fund for that fiscal year, including any interest credited to general revenue under Subsection (i) of this section;
(2)  adding to the amount determined under Subdivision (1) of this subsection an amount equal to the increase, if any, in the fair market value of the fund between the last day of that fiscal year and the last day of the preceding state fiscal year; and
(3)  subtracting from the amount determined under Subdivision (2) of this subsection the amount of any expenses of managing the investments of money in the fund that are paid from the fund during that fiscal year.

(q)  The amount of the appropriation made under Subsection (p) of this section may not exceed:
(1)  for the state fiscal year beginning September 1, 2023, $100 million;
or (2)  for a state fiscal year beginning on or after September 1, 2024, the amount determined under this subsection for the preceding state fiscal year adjusted by the increase, if any, in the general price level during the preceding state fiscal year, as determined by the comptroller of public accounts on the basis of 30 changes in the consumer price index published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the United States Department of Labor or a successor agency and not to exceed two percent per state fiscal year.

SECTION 2. 

Section 20, Article VII, Texas Constitution, is amended by amending Subsections (a) and (g) and adding Subsection (i) to read as follows:

(a)  There is established the Texas University Fund [national research university fund] for the purpose of providing a dedicated, independent, and equitable source of funding to enable emerging research universities in this state to achieve national prominence as major research universities.
(g)  The legislature shall establish criteria by which a state university may become eligible to receive a portion of the distributions from the fund.  A state university that is entitled to participate in dedicated funding provided by Section 18 of this article is [becomes eligible to receive a portion of the distributions from the fund in a state fiscal biennium remains eligible to receive additional distributions from the fund in any subsequent state fiscal biennium.  The University of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M University are] not eligible to receive money from the fund.

(i)  For purposes of Section 22, Article VIII, of this constitution: (1)  money in the fund is dedicated by this constitution; and (2)  an appropriation of state tax revenues for the purpose of depositing money to the credit of the fund is treated as if it were an appropriation of revenues dedicated by this constitution.

- 1876 Texas Article III.
- Current Texas Article III. 

- 1876 Texas Article VII.
- Current Texas Article VII. 

- Ballotpedia.
__________


Proposed Amendment 6. The constitutional amendment creating the Texas water fund to assist in financing water projects in this state.

  Article III, Texas Constitution, is amended by adding Section 49d-16 to read as follows:

Sec. 49-d-16. 

(a)  The Texas water fund is created as a special fund in the state treasury outside the general revenue fund.  The fund is administered by the Texas Water Development Board or by that board’s successor in function as provided by general law.  The legislature may appropriate money for the purpose of depositing the money to the fund to be available for transfer as provided by Subsection (b) of this section.

(b)  The administrator of the Texas water fund may use the fund only to transfer money to other funds or accounts administered by the Texas Water Development Board or that board’s successor in function.  Money transferred from the Texas water fund to a fund or account may be spent without further legislative appropriation in the manner provided by general law governing the use of money in the fund or account to which the money was transferred.  The administrator may restore to the fund money transferred from the fund and deposited to the credit of another fund or account. 
Legislative appropriation is not required for the administrator to transfer money from or restore money to the fund, including the transfer of money from the fund to or the restoration of the money from:
(1)  the Water Assistance Fund No. 480;
(2)  the New Water Supply for Texas Fund;
(3)  the Rural Water Assistance Fund No. 301; or
(4)  the Statewide Water Public Awareness Account.

(c)  The Texas water fund consists of:
(1)  money transferred or deposited to the credit of the fund by general law, including money appropriated by the legislature directly to the fund and money from any source transferred or deposited to the credit of the fund authorized by general law;
(2)  any other revenue that the legislature by statute dedicates for deposit to the credit of the fund;35 (3)  investment earnings and interest earned on amounts credited to the fund;
(4)  money from gifts, grants, or donations to the fund; and
(5)  money returned from any authorized transfer.

(d)  The legislature by general law shall provide for the manner in which money from the Texas water fund may be used, subject to the limitations provided by this section.
(e)  Of the amount of money initially appropriated to the Texas water fund, the administrator of the fund shall allocate not less than 25 percent to be used only for transfer to the New Water Supply for Texas Fund.
(f)  The expenses of managing the investments of the Texas water fund shall be paid from that fund.
(g) 

For purposes of Section 22, Article VIII, of this constitution:

(1)  money in the Texas water fund is dedicated by this constitution; and
(2)  an appropriation of state tax revenues for the purpose of depositing money to the credit of the Texas water fund is treated as if it were an appropriation of revenues dedicated by this constitution.
(h)  Any unexpended and unobligated balance remaining in the Texas water fund at the end of a state fiscal biennium is appropriated to the administrator of that fund for the following state fiscal biennium for the purposes authorized by this section.

- 1876 Texas Article III.
- Current Texas Article III.  

- 1876 Texas Article VIII.
- Current Texas Article VIII.

- Ballotpedia. 

__________

Proposed Amendment 7. The constitutional amendment providing for the creation of the Texas energy fund to support the construction, maintenance, modernization, and operation of electric generating facilities.

 Article III, Texas Constitution, is amended by adding Section 49-q to read as follows:

Sec. 49-q. 

(a)  The Texas energy fund is created as a special fund in the state treasury outside the general revenue fund.
(b)  As provided by general law, money in the Texas energy fund may be administered and used, without further appropriation, only by the Public Utility Commission of Texas or that commission’s successor in function to provide loans and grants to any entity to finance or incentivize the construction, maintenance, modernization, and operation of electric generating facilities, including associated infrastructure, necessary to ensure the reliability or adequacy of an electric power grid in this state. 
The commission shall allocate money from the fund for loans and grants to eligible projects:
(1)  for electric generating facilities that serve as backup power sources; and
(2)  in each region of the state that is part of an electric power grid in proportion to that region’s load share.

(c)  The entity administering the Texas energy fund may establish separate accounts in the fund as necessary or convenient for the fund’s administration.
(d)  The Texas energy fund consists of:
(1)  money credited, appropriated, or transferred to the fund by or as authorized by the legislature;
(2)  revenue that the legislature dedicates for deposit to the credit of the fund;
(3)  the returns received from the investment of the money in the fund; and
(4)  gifts, grants, and donations contributed to the credit of the fund.41
(e)  The reasonable expenses of managing the Texas energy fund’s assets shall be paid from the fund. (f)  The legislature by a provision of a general appropriations act may provide for the transfer to the general revenue fund of money that is subject to this section.
(g)  The legislature may appropriate general revenue for the purpose of depositing money to the credit of the Texas energy fund to be used for the purposes of that fund.
(h) 

For purposes of Section 22, Article VIII, of this constitution:
(1)  money in the Texas energy fund is dedicated by this constitution; and
(2)  an appropriation of state tax revenues for the purpose of depositing money to the credit of the Texas energy fund is treated as if it were an appropriation of revenues dedicated by this constitution.

- 1876 Texas Article III.
- Current Texas Article III.  

- 1876 Texas Article VIII.
- Current Texas Article VIII. 

- Ballotpedia.
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Proposed Amendment 8. The constitutional amendment creating the broadband infrastructure fund to expand high-speed broadband access and assist in the financing of connectivity projects.

Article III, Texas Constitution, is amended by adding Section 49-d-16 to read as follows:

Sec. 49-d-16. 
(a)  In this section:
(1)  “Comptroller” means the comptroller of public accounts of the State of Texas or its successor.
(2)  “Fund” means the broadband infrastructure fund.
(b)  The broadband infrastructure fund is created as a special fund in the state treasury outside the general revenue fund.
(c)  The fund consists of:
(1)  money transferred or deposited to the credit of the fund by this constitution, general law, or the General Appropriations Act;
(2)  revenue that the legislature by general law dedicates for deposit to the credit of the fund;
(3)  investment earnings and interest earned on money in the fund; and
(4)  gifts, grants, and donations to the fund.
(d)  Money in the fund shall be administered by the comptroller.  Money from the fund may be used, without further appropriation, only for the expansion of access to and adoption of broadband and telecommunications services, including:
(1)  the development, construction, reconstruction, and expansion of broadband and telecommunications infrastructure or services;
(2)  the operation of broadband and telecommunications infrastructure;
(3)  the provision of broadband and telecommunications services; and
(4)  the reasonable expenses of administering and managing the investments of the fund.
(e)  The legislature by general law shall provide for the manner in which the assets of the fund may be used, subject to the limitations of this section. Money in the 47 fund may be used in conjunction with other funds or financial resources, including money from the federal government, in accordance with procedures, standards, and limitations established by federal law and general law of this state.
(f)  The comptroller may transfer money from the fund to another fund as provided by general law.  The state agency that administers the fund to which the money is transferred as authorized by this subsection may use the money without further appropriation only for the expansion of access to and adoption of broadband and telecommunications services as provided by general law.
(g)  Unless extended by adoption of a concurrent resolution approved by a record vote of two-thirds of the members of each house of the legislature, this section expires on September 1, 2035.  A resolution suspends the expiration of this section until September 1 of the 10th year following the adoption of the resolution.
(h)  Immediately before the expiration of this section, the comptroller shall transfer any unexpended and unobligated balance remaining in the fund to the general revenue fund.
(i) 

For purposes of Section 22, Article VIII, of this constitution:
(1)  money in the fund is dedicated by this constitution; and
(2)  an appropriation of state tax revenues for the purpose of depositing money to the credit of the fund is treated as if it were an appropriation of revenues dedicated by this constitution.

SECTION 2.  The following temporary provision is added to the Texas Constitution:

TEMPORARY PROVISION.  (a)  This temporary provision applies to the amendment to Article III of this constitution as proposed by the 88th Legislature, Regular Session, 2023, creating the broadband infrastructure fund to expand highspeed broadband access and assist in the financing of connectivity projects. (b)  The change made to Article III of this constitution by the amendment described in Subsection (a) of this section takes effect January 1, 2024. (c)  This temporary provision expires January 1, 2025.

- 1876 Texas Article III.
- Current Texas Article III. 

- 1876 Texas Article VIII.
- Current Texas Article VIII. 

- Ballotpedia.

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Proposed Amendment 9. The constitutional amendment authorizing the 88th Legislature to provide a cost-of-living adjustment to certain annuitants of the Teacher Retirement System of Texas.

 Article XVI, Texas Constitution, is amended by adding Section 67-a to read as follows:

Sec. 67-a. 
(a)  As the Teacher Retirement System of Texas is actuarially sound according to an actuarial valuation update performed in February 2023,  the 88th Legislature, Regular Session, 2023:
(1)  by general law may provide a cost-of-living adjustment to annuitants of the Teacher Retirement System of Texas who are eligible for the adjustment as determined by that general law; and
(2)  may appropriate an amount of money from the general revenue fund to the comptroller of public accounts for deposit to the trust fund of the Teacher Retirement System of Texas to pay the adjustment authorized by Subdivision (1) of this subsection. (b) 

For purposes of Section 22, Article VIII, of this constitution, an appropriation of state tax revenues made by the 88th Legislature, Regular Session, 2023, for the purpose described by Subsection (a)(1) of this section is treated as if it were an appropriation of revenues dedicated by this constitution. (c)  This section expires September 1, 2025.

- 1876 Texas Article VIII.
- Current Texas Article VIII. 

- 1876 Texas Article XVI.
- Current Texas Article XVI. 

- Ballotpedia.

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Proposed Amendment 10. The constitutional amendment to authorize the legislature to exempt from ad valorem taxation equipment or inventory held by a manufacturer of medical or biomedical products to protect the Texas healthcare network and strengthen our medical supply chain.

Article VIII, Texas Constitution, is amended by adding Section 1-x to read as follows:

Sec. 1-x.  The legislature by general law may exempt from ad valorem taxation the tangible personal property held by a manufacturer of medical or biomedical products as a finished good or used in the manufacturing or processing of medical or biomedical products.

- 1876 Texas Article VIII.
- Current Texas Article VIII. 

- Ballotpedia.

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Proposed Amendment 11. The constitutional amendment authorizing the legislature to permit conservation and reclamation districts in El Paso County to issue bonds supported by ad valorem taxes to fund the development and maintenance of parks and recreational facilities.

Section 59, Article XVI, Texas Constitution, is amended to read as follows:

(c-1)  In addition and only as provided by this subsection, the Legislature may authorize conservation and reclamation districts to develop and finance with taxes those types and categories of parks and recreational facilities that were not authorized by this section to be developed and financed with taxes before September 13, 2003.  For development of such parks and recreational facilities, the Legislature may authorize indebtedness payable from taxes as may be necessary to provide for improvements and maintenance only for a conservation and reclamation district all or part of which is located in Bexar County, Bastrop County, Waller County, Travis County, Williamson County, Harris County, Galveston County, Brazoria County, Fort Bend County, [or] Montgomery County, or El Paso County, or for the Tarrant Regional Water District, a water control and improvement district located in whole or in part in Tarrant County.  All the indebtedness may be evidenced by bonds of the conservation and reclamation district, to be issued under regulations as may be prescribed by law. 

The Legislature may also authorize the levy and collection within such district of all taxes, equitably distributed, as may be necessary for the payment of the interest and the creation of a sinking fund for the payment of the bonds and for maintenance of and improvements to such parks and recreational facilities.  The indebtedness shall be a lien on the property assessed for the payment of the bonds.  The Legislature may not authorize the issuance of bonds or provide for indebtedness under this subsection against a conservation and reclamation district unless a proposition is first submitted to the qualified voters of the district and the proposition is adopted. 

This subsection expands the authority of the Legislature with respect to certain conservation and reclamation districts and is not a limitation on the authority of the Legislature with respect to conservation and reclamation 62 districts and parks and recreational facilities pursuant to this section as that authority existed before September 13, 2003.

- 1876 Texas Article XVI.
- Current Texas Article XVI. 

- Ballotpedia.

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Proposed Amendment 12. The constitutional amendment providing for the abolition of the office of county treasurer in Galveston County.

 Section 44, Article XVI, Texas Constitution, is amended by adding Subsection (d) to read as follows:

(d)  The office of County Treasurer in Galveston County is abolished.  The Commissioners Court of Galveston County may employ or contract with a qualified person or may designate another county officer to perform any of the functions that would have been performed by the County Treasurer if the office had not been abolished.



- 1876 Texas Article XVI.
- Current Texas Article XVI. 

- Ballotpedia.

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Proposed Amendment 13 was defeated.

- Ballotpedia.


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Proposed Amendment 14. The constitutional amendment providing for the creation of the centennial parks conservation fund to be used for the creation and improvement of state parks.

 Article III, Texas Constitution, is amended by adding Section 49-e-1 to read as follows:

Sec. 49-e-1. 

(a)  The centennial parks conservation fund is established as a trust fund outside the treasury.  In accordance with general law, the fund may be used only for the creation and improvement of state parks.
(b)  The centennial parks conservation fund consists of:
(1)  money appropriated, credited, or transferred to the fund by the legislature;
(2)  gifts, grants, and donations received by the Parks and Wildlife Department or the department’s successor in function for a purpose for which money in the fund may be used under this section; and (3)  investment earnings and interest earned on amounts credited to the fund.
(c)  The legislature may appropriate money from the centennial parks conservation fund to the Parks and Wildlife Department or the department’s successor in function for the purposes prescribed for the fund by this section and general law.
(d)  For purposes of Section 22, Article VIII, of this constitution:
(1)  money in the centennial parks conservation fund is dedicated by this constitution; and
(2)  an appropriation of state tax revenues for the purpose of depositing money to the credit of the fund is treated as if it were an appropriation of revenues dedicated by this constitution.
(e)  The reasonable expenses of managing the fund and its assets shall be paid from the fund.

- 1876 Texas Article III.
- Current Texas Article III. 

- Ballotpedia.

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