Legislative Digest

Conservative Coalition Outlines Fiscal Priorities

In a letter to their colleagues, 12 Conservative Representatives representing the Texas Conservative Coalition outlined what they consider to be the “imperative” fiscal priorities for Texas in the 81st Legislature.

The letter takes issue with the attitude prevalent in Washington, D.C. which has led to the recent stimulus plan:

“President Obama has made it clear that he rests his hopes on government spending. We reject the fundamental premise of his position that the "federal government is the only entity left with the resources to jolt our economy back into life." The President and Congress are ushering the United States down a well-worn, yet dangerous path.”

Instead of spending, the members outline five goals that Texas should pursue to enact fiscal restraint:

1. Reduce General Revenue and General-Revenue dedicated spending by 2.5 percent in the 2010/2011 budget, as recommended by the Lieutenant Governor and the Speaker of the House.

2. Maintain a Rainy Day Fund balance of at least five percent.

3. Sustain the strength of the Rainy Day Fund by limiting the scope of emergency appropriations to the following disaster-related needs and non-recurring expenses.

4. To the extent possible, limit the use of federal "stimulus" funds to one-time expenditures, or expenditures with a sunset date that matches the end-date of the "stimulus" money. Federal "stimulus" funds must not be used to create new programs or to expand existing programs.

5. Enact stronger state spending limitations.

The letter can be viewed in its entirety here.

TPPF: Free Nurse Practitioners to Practice

The Texas Public Policy Foundation put out a white paper in December outlining the significant regulatory impediments to Nurse Practitioners and arguing for reform. The paper argues that such reform is important in terms of creating new low-cost alternatives in Health Care.

The full report can be found here.

Governor Ron Paul?

During our interview with Congressman Ron Paul, he said that many people have suggested he throw his hat in the ring for governor.

He nonetheless said he has “no intention of doing” such a thing.

“The only thing that would excite me for this is to run only on that one issue (reasserting the 10th Amendment), and...support some type of redeclaration of state sovereignty.”