Current Articles for April 11, 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.

• Creatures great and small. By Julianne Hill. ABA Journal: The Lawyer's Magazine, April/May 2024, pp. 54-61.
  Highlights nine U.S. court cases that have tested and shaped the Endangered Species Act since it was first enacted in 1973.
• Help wanted. By Matt Reynolds. ABA Journal: The Lawyer's Magazine, April/May 2024, pp. 38-45.
  Examines the national shortage of civil legal aid lawyers and discusses ways to increase participation, such as increasing pay; building trust in local communities; eliminating "legal deserts;" and embracing new technology.
• Downsizing. By Simon Montlake. Christian Science Monitor, April 2024, pp. 20-22, 24-26, 28.
  Discusses the downward population trend due to declining birthrates nationally and globally. Looks at the causes of low and decreasing birthrates and the future issues facing a decreasing, yet still aging population.
  See: https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2024/0327/US-parents-are-having-fewer-children-later.-What-it-means-fo ...
  
• After Roe: Down is up. Economist, March 23rd-29th, 2024, pp. 27-28.
  Discusses the number of abortions that occurred in America in 2023.
  See: https://www.economist.com/united-states/2024/03/19/fewer-states-allow-abortions-yet-american-women-a ...
  
• The Second Amendment and foreigners: Grin and bear it. Economist, March 30th-April 5th, 2024, pp. 25-26.
  Questions whether undocumented immigrants have the right to own guns. Refers to United States v. Carbajal-Flores, a recent court case from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
  Related information at: https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/48727260/united-states-v-carbajal-flores/
  See: https://www.economist.com/united-states/2024/03/27/do-undocumented-immigrants-have-the-right-to-own- ...
  
• The real impact of the Alabama Supreme Court decision in LePage v. Center for Reproductive Medicine. By Michelle J. Bayefsky, Arthur L. Caplan, and Gwendolyn P. Quinn. JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association), April 2024, pp. 1085-1086.
  Critiques the recent Alabama Supreme Court decision in LePage v. Center for Reproductive Medicine that frozen IVF embryos are legally equivalent to children. Discusses issues that may result from this ruling.
  See: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2816050?resultClick=1
  Related information at: https://publicportal.alappeals.gov/portal/court/68f021c4-6a44-4735-9a76-5360b2e8af13/case/343D203A-B ...
  
• Anatomy of an entrenched error: 'Concurrent causation' in Texas coverage litigation. By Brendan K. McBride and Marc E. Gravely. Journal of Texas Insurance Law, Winter 2024, pp. 3-12.
  Discusses the basic concepts and issues that currently underlie the concurrent causation doctrine. Presents the policyholders' perspective. Includes the history of this doctrine in Texas.
• Holding an insured to its burden to supports its claim: Texas's concurrent causation doctrine. By Eric Bowers, Shannon O'Malley, and Claire Fialcowitz. Journal of Texas Insurance Law, Winter 2024, pp. 13-22.
  Examines the concurrent causation doctrine in Texas. Presents the carrier’s perspective. Includes a rebuttal to the article “Anatomy of an Entrenched Error: ‘Concurrent Causation’ in Texas coverage litigation.”
• The need for process safety management regulatory reform. By Amanda Johnson. Natural Resources & Environment, Winter 2024, pp. 33-36.
  Examines how current regulatory gaps can amplify environmental health and safety hazards caused by chemical disasters. Uses the 2019 fire at Intercontinental Terminals Company, LLC, (ITC) as a case study and refers to the report issued by the United States Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB). Recommends potential regulatory fixes.
  Related information at: https://www.csb.gov/intercontinental-terminals-company-itc-tank-fire/
  
• The next abortion battle. By Amy Davidson Sorkin. New Yorker, April 1, 2024, pp. 7-8.
  Discusses the case before the U.S. Supreme Court, FDA v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, regarding the abortion drug mifepristone. Analyzes the history of the controversy and how a ruling in the case might affect reproductive rights in a post-Roe v. Wade landscape.
  See: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=176200457&site=ehost-live
  See: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/04/01/what-the-abortion-pill-battle-is-really-about
  Related information at: https://www.supremecourt.gov/search.aspx?filename=/docket/docketfiles/html/public/23-235.html
  
• Most Americans favor legalizing marijuana for medical, recreational use. Pew Research Center, March 26, 2024, pp. 1-20.
  Presents the results of a nationwide study on attitudes toward marijuana legalization. Discusses partisan differences of opinion on the potential impact of recreational use of marijuana, as well as demographic and partisan differences in views of marijuana legalization.
  See: https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2024/03/26/most-americans-favor-legalizing-marijuana-for-medica ...
  
• Moving beyond the 'budget dance.' By Bo Yan and Thomas Aberli. Phi Delta Kappan, March 2024, pp. 48-52.
  Proposes a cycle-based approach to school district budgeting that differentiates investment from operation expenditures.
  See: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=175892800&site=ehost-live
  
• California leads among U.S. states sending people to Texas in 2022. By Seth Morehead. Texan, March 27, 2024, p. 1.
  Discusses domestic migration statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau's recently released 2022 State-to-State Migration Flows. Charts interstate migration to Texas by state of origin.
  See: https://thetexan.news/federal/california-leads-among-u-s-states-sending-people-to-texas-in-2022/arti ...
  Related information at: https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/geographic-mobility/state-to-state-migration.htm ...
  
• Keeping it clean: Texas Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) Act. By Harold D. Hunt. Texas Real Estate Research Center at Texas A&M University, Spring 2024, pp. 19-21.
  Discusses the Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) Act (SB 385) from the 83rd Legislature, R.S. Highlights the benefits of the program, and provides an overview of how the program works.
  See: https://issuu.com/recenter/docs/tg_31-2/22