Current Articles for December 05, 2024

The Legislative Reference Library produces a weekly list of current journal articles for members of the legislative community. Each week, librarians select and abstract articles of interest to the legislature from the latest issues of over 300 journals, newsletters, state documents, and trade publications. Electronic copies of the Current Articles list are distributed to legislative offices each Thursday.

The Legislative Reference Library is located on the second floor of the State Capitol building in Room 2N.3. For more information, please call the Library at 512-463-1252.

• AI and education policy 101: The evolving landscape and examples from early adopters. By Bree Dusseault. Center on Reinventing Public Education, October 2024, pp. 1-3.
  Reviews school districts that are early adopters of AI (artificial intelligence). Examines policies around AI in these early-adopter districts. Provides guidelines of how districts should create policy for adopting AI.
  See: https://crpe.org/ai-and-education-policy-101-the-evolving-landscape-and-examples-from-early-adopters ...
  
• Migration: Deporting the suits. Economist, November 23rd-29th, 2024, pp. 22-23.
  Raises concerns about how the incoming presidential administration will affect the legal migration system. Considers the effects during President-elect Trump’s first term in office and changes made by the Biden administration.
  See: https://www.economist.com/united-states/2024/11/18/what-will-donald-trump-do-about-legal-immigration
  
• 'They asked for more, more, and more paperwork': Administrative burdens when undocumented youth claim in-state resident tuition policy benefits. By Andrea Briceno Mosquera. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, December 2024, pp. 622-645.
  Examines the administrative hurdles undocumented students face when applying for in-state college tuition. Focuses on a small cohort of individuals applying for college, with several applying for in-state tuition in Texas.
• Battery energy storage in Texas: Utility-scale batteries emerge as key to stabilizing energy grid. By Nathan Gonzales. Fiscal Notes, November 2024, pp. 1-6.
  Illustrates the role of battery energy storage systems in maintaining reliability and stability in the Texas electric grid. Charts the top ten states with the most installed battery storage capacity, with Texas coming in second.
  See: https://comptroller.texas.gov/economy/fiscal-notes/infrastructure/2024/battery-store/
  
• Rural law enforcement grant program boosts safety: Local officials use grants for salaries, hires, equipment. By Morgan Hecht. Fiscal Notes, November 2024, pp. 1-2.
  Highlights the rural law enforcement grant program, created by SB 22, 88th Legislature, R.S., which allows eligible law enforcement and prosecutor offices to supplement salaries, hire new officers, and purchase safety equipment. Mentions Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar's Good for Texas Tour to counties that have received first-round rural law enforcement grants, including Comal, Menard, Schleicher, Smith, and Tom Green counties.
  See: https://comptroller.texas.gov/economy/fiscal-notes/government/2024/sb22-photos/
  
• Preventive care coverage threatened by federal court ruling. By Carmel Shachar and Elizabeth Kaplan. JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association), November 19, 2024, pp. 1605-1606.
  Discusses the potential fallout of Braidwood Management, Inc v. Becerra. Outlines how the case, originating in Texas, could affect medical coverage of preventive treatments.
  See: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2823961?resultClick=1
  Related information at: https://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/23/23-10326-CV0.pdf
  
• The family plan. By Emma Green. New Yorker, November 18, 2024, pp. 12-18.
  Discusses President-elect Donald Trump's stance on abortion, which he has moderated since his 2016 campaign, and how Republicans have followed suit. Describes the party's new focus on pro-traditional-family policies and how groups such as the Heritage Foundation are helping to advance them.
  See: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=180754331&site=ehost-live
  See: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/11/18/the-pro-life-movements-new-playbook
  
• The home front. By Charles Bethea. New Yorker, November 11, 2024, pp. 38-47.
  Follows the founder and members of Fortitude Ranch, a network of survivalist retreats constructed in anticipation of civil collapse. Discusses the rising rate of political violence and violent political rhetoric in the U.S. and the growing belief of many that a civil war is inevitable. Describes what these individuals and groups are doing to prepare for the escalating polarization and the potential for future violence.
  See: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=180612060&site=ehost-live
  See: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/11/11/among-the-civil-war-preppers
  
• As ban looms, TikTok popularity skyrockets. By Van Charles. Newsmax, November 2024, pp. 30-31.
  Discusses the impending ban—due to security concerns—on TikTok, a social media platform relied on by millions of Americans for accessing information online. Notes that many politicians who voted to ban it are on the platform.
• No one-size-fits-all solution to chronic absenteeism. By Thomas S. Dee. Phi Delta Kappan, November 2024, pp. 8-12.
  Explains challenges with many suggested solutions to address chronic absenteeism. Argues school districts should address this problem with research-based strategies that can be tailored and refined to fit the specific needs of their communities.
  See: https://kappanonline.org/no-one-size-fits-all-solution-to-chronic-absenteeism/
  
• School and family partnership can reduce chronic absenteeism. By Thomas J. Capretta, Jingyang (Max) Zhang, and Barbara J. Boone. Phi Delta Kappan, November 2024, pp. 13-18.
  Argues that collaborating with families is key to preventing and intervening in absenteeism. Provides five research-based strategies for schools to consider.
  See: https://kappanonline.org/school-and-family-partnership-can-reduce-chronic-absenteeism/
  
• What to do about the data center surge: Evaluate five capabilities. By Hugh Le and Danny Whigham. Public Utilities Fortnightly, October 2024, pp. 64-67.
  Summarizes current issues related to managing the increase of supply and demand for data centers. Recommends five aspects to consider.
  See: https://www.fortnightly.com/fortnightly/2024/10/what-do-about-data-center-surge
  
• Teacher raises a top priority for 89th legislative session. Raise Your Hand Texas, October 2024, pp. 1-3.
  Outlines Raise Your Hand Texas' priorities for teachers for the 89th Texas Legislature.
  See: https://www.raiseyourhandtexas.org/teacher-raises-89th-session/
  
• High times in the Wild West. By Jalen Lopez. San Antonio Business Journal, November 22-28, 2024, pp. 14-15.
  Discusses the current legal landscape around marijuana and hemp in Texas, which has created loopholes for local business owners and farmers to sell legal hemp products with effects similar to marijuana. Notes that Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick listed banning currently-legal hemp products as one of his 2024 interim legislative charges, and that many in the industry are concerned that the 89th Legislature will end the local industry or severely hamper its performance.
  See: https://www.bizjournals.com/sanantonio/news/2024/11/21/texas-hemp-legal-loophole-cannabis.html
  
• Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick announces Texas Dementia Research Institute as legislative priority. By Mary Elise Cosgray. Texan, November 18, 2024, pp. 1-2.
  Highlights Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick's proposal to launch a new taxpayer-funded research program on dementia, similar to the Cancer Prevention Research Institute of Texas. Mentions Senator Joan Huffman and Representative Tom Craddick.
  See: https://thetexan.news/issues/healthcare/lt-gov-dan-patrick-announces-texas-dementia-research-institu ...
  
• Texas lawmakers file health and food-focused bills for 2025 legislative session. By Cameron Abrams. Texan, November 20, 2024, pp. 1-2.
  Previews legislation filed for the 89th Legislature on public health and the state's food system. Includes bills by Senators Bob Hall; Bryan Hughes; and Charles Perry, and Representatives Briscoe Cain; Vikki Goodwin; Caroline Harris Davila; Brian Harrison; Terri Leo-Wilson; Mihaela Plesa; and Valoree Swanson.
  See: https://thetexan.news/state/legislature/89th-session/texas-lawmakers-file-health-and-food-focused-bi ...
  
• Instead of fixing the foster care system, Texas is trying to game the courts. By Forrest Wilder. Texas Monthly, December 2024, pp. 35-36, 38, 40.
  Traces the story of federal district judge Janis Jack, who starting in 2011 presided over landmark cases that sought to reform the state's foster care system. Discusses milestones in the litigation and notes that in October, a panel from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Governor Greg Abbott and his appointees, removing Jack from the case.
  See: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=180813353&site=ehost-live
  See: https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/janis-jack-removed-by-fifth-circuit/
  
• How Texas jails built migrant incarceration. By Brianna Nofil. Texas Observer, November 19, 2024, pp. 1-4.
  Traces the history of immigrant detention in Texas and the ways in which the federal government has relied on partnerships with local jails, local police power, and local community support. Tells the story of the Galveston County Jail, which was used as an immigrant detention center in the 1920s and in which conditions were so poor that following a 1925 investigation, immigrant detention there was declared "a crime against humanity."
  See: https://www.texasobserver.org/texas-jails-migrant-incarceration/
  
• An update on the Second Amendment. By Mary Stillinger and Kate Godinez. Voice for the Defense, November 2024, pp. 10-12.
  Discusses the case of Paola Connelly, an El Paso woman charged with being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm in 2021 after she was found to be in possession of a small amount of marijuana. Traces other prohibited-person cases in the U.S. Supreme Court and the Fifth Circuit.