The 89th Texas Legislative Session came to an end on June 2nd, culminating with several meaningful wins for fiscal conservatives across the Lone Star State, but also leaving them with much to be desired and far more work to be…

Taxpayers should be alarmed at final 2026–27 budget passed by the Texas Legislature. What started as competing proposals from the Senate and House has ended in a bloated conference committee budget that dramatically expands state government beyond what key measures like…

Texas Taxpayers Need a Break State Funds Spending Up $25 Billion The Texas Legislature is on the verge of adopting its final budget for the 2026-27 fiscal biennium. Few people are aware of this, but that budget consists of two…

A rare win for taxpayers is sitting on Governor Greg Abbott’s desk—but powerful forces are working behind the scenes to derail it. House Bill 21 by State Rep. Gary Gates (R-Richmond)has cleared both chambers of the Texas Legislature with bipartisan…

Many Texas politicians are claiming the proposed 2026-27 Texas budget is conservative. But the facts tell a different story. Examples of poor fiscal discipline in the proposed 2026-27 Texas budget include more than $50 billion of new state funds spending,…

When the Texas House and Texas Senate vote on whether to approve the final versions of House Bill 500 and Senate Bill 1, Figure 1 shows that they will be voting on whether to approve more than $53 billion in…

Once hailed as a national model for fiscal responsibility and economic freedom, Texas now appears to be drifting dangerously close to California’s big-government playbook. The recently proposed 2026–27 Texas state budget sends a clear signal: the Lone Star State is…

Since 2019, including what is proposed this session, the Texas Legislature has increased spending on public schools by about $23 billion in the name of property tax relief. It has done little to help Texans; during that period, Figure 1…

Texas continues to lead in many ways. There were 192,100 new jobs added over the past year — the most of any state in raw numbers. In March alone, Texas added 26,500 nonfarm jobs, bringing the total number of jobs…

On April 11, 26 Texas House members voted against the budget bill, Senate Bill 1 (SB 1). That was the most no votes against a Texas budget since 29 members voted against the budget in 2013. Nineteen of the no…

Testimony on HB 4568 The 79th Texas Legislature established the Texas Moving Image Industry Incentive Program (TMIIIP), also known as the Film Incentive Program, in 2005. Since then, star-struck legislators have thrown well over $100 million of Texas taxpayer money…

Wherever you turn these days, Texas politicians are claiming that they are spending $51 billion on property tax relief. The problem is that the $51 billion figure has no connection to reality. For at least two reasons. First, if they…

“This week, I helped pass the most conservative Texas House budget in history.” Texas Republican Rep. Jared Patterson posted that message after the Republican-led Texas House recently passed its 2026–27 budget version CSSB 1. He and other Republicans also claimed…

In the early hours of Friday morning, the Texas House of Representatives passed SB 1, the proposed state budget for the 2026–27 biennium, after over 14 hours of debate that stretched from noon on April 10 into 3 a.m. on…

Introduction The 2026–27 Texas proposed biennial budget should be rejected this week when brought to the House floor on Thursday, April 10th. This budget, and many before it over the last two decades since Republicans gained a trifecta in 2003,…