Current Articles for January 30, 2025

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.

• Medicaid work requirements could put 36 million people at risk of losing health coverage. By Gideon Lukens and Elizabeth Zhang. Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, January 16, 2025, pp. 1-11.
  Analyzes the potential effects of expanded Medicaid work requirements, including loss of health insurance coverage and lack of access to treatment for chronic conditions. Includes a 50-state table of the number of people at risk of losing Medicaid coverage under work requirements, showing Texas at 828,000, or 19 percent of all Medicaid enrollees.
  See: https://www.cbpp.org/sites/default/files/1-16-25health.pdf
  
• Funding approaches and sources to improve adolescent school health. By Obioma Okogbue and Kaylor Garcia. Child Trends, December 2024, pp. 1-10.
  Reviews funding and grant programs within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Department of Education to help public schools support health education, health services, and safe and supportive school environments. Discusses how school health efforts can be incorporated into state budgets, using Michigan as a case study.
  See: https://cms.childtrends.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/LEAHPFunding_ChildTrends_Dec2024.pdf
  
• In Texas, removal of a federal judge overseeing foster care reforms troubles legal advocates. By Sandy West. The Imprint: Youth & Family News, January 16, 2025, p. 1.
  Discusses the concerns of child welfare attorneys and advocates on the removal of federal judge Janis Jack from the long-running foster care lawsuit against the state of Texas.
  See: https://imprintnews.org/top-stories/in-texas-removal-of-a-federal-judge-overseeing-foster-care-refor ...
  
• What will Trump’s executive order on private prisons really do? By Shannon Heffernan. Marshall Project, January 22, 2025, p. 1.
  Discusses the recent reversal of former President Joe Biden's executive order barring contracts between the U.S. Department of Justice and private detention centers. Notes that because many federal facilities are facing deteriorating infrastructure and insufficient funds to fix buildings, a small portion of the population may be moved to private facilities, with some specific groups such as undocumented prisoners more likely to be kept in private detention than others.
  See: https://www.themarshallproject.org/2025/01/22/trump-private-prisons-executive-order
  
• The economics of tenure: Be careful what you wish for. By Edward Tenner. Milken Institute Review, First Quarter 2025, pp. 59-67.
  Explores the history of university faculty tenure and its relation to academic freedom and teaching. Highlights institutions of higher education that have abolished tenure.
  See: https://www.milkenreview.org/articles/the-economics-of-tenure?IssueID=56
  
• Fixing unemployment insurance. By Kathryn Anne Edwards. Milken Institute Review, First Quarter 2025, pp. 68-79.
  Reviews the history of the state-run national unemployment system, originally mandated in 1935 as part of the Social Security Act. Identifies challenges and weaknesses in the unemployment insurance (UI) system, including funding approaches; benefit formulas designed by states; and inequitable access. Outlines potential areas of UI reform, either dictated from the federal government to the states, or a policy change to absorb state UI benefit programs into a federal system.
  See: https://www.milkenreview.org/articles/fixing-unemployment-insurance?IssueID=56
  
• Regulations could slow renewable energy. By Amber Serio. San Antonio Business Journal, January 17-23, 2025, p. 11.
  Discusses potential challenges to the growth of renewable energy in Texas caused by newly-introduced bills centered on increasing state control over renewable energy installations. Mentions Representative Jared Patterson and HB 553, 89th Legislature, which seeks to alter the process of approving construction on a solar or wind farm by having required hearings and regulatory approval before construction can begin. Notes that the bill's requirement that renewable energy developments have large buffer zones between a solar panel or wind turbine and the neighboring property could increase real estate costs.
• Passing the gavel: The brawl for the Texas House speakership. By Brad Johnson. Texan, January 27, 2025, p. 1.
  Details the history of the Speaker campaign for the 89th Legislature.
  See: https://thetexan.news/state/legislature/texas-state-house-news/passing-the-gavel-the-brawl-for-the-t ...
  
• Speaking out: Keith Bell, State Representative and Chairman of the Texas Sunset Commission. Texas Builder, Winter 2024, pp. 24-25.
  Interviews Representative Keith Bell about his experiences in business and public service, his appointment as Chairman of the Sunset Advisory Commission, and his role in legislation relating to the construction industry.
  See: https://www.mydigitalpublication.com/publication/?i=836979&p=24&view=issueViewer
  
• 2025 rural Texas maternal health rescue plan. Texas Health Institute, November 2024, pp. 1-34.
  Analyzes access to maternal health care in rural areas. Highlights health care priorities and urges the 89th Legislature to act to improve health care access for rural Texas women.
  See: https://texashealthinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/2025-Rural-Texas-Maternal-Health-Rescue- ...
  
• Looking to 2025, Texas Housers is focusing on these housing issues at the 89th Texas Legislature. Texas Housers, December 12, 2024, p. 1.
  Reviews the legislative priorities of Texas Housers in the 89th Legislature, including the housing cost burden; basic renter protections under the law; and the effectiveness of state housing programs for low-income Texans.
  See: https://texashousers.org/2024/12/12/2025-legislative-priorities-texas-housers/
  Related information at: https://texashousers.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Texas-Housers-2025-Texas-Legislative-Priorities. ...
  
• Name games: Trump’s 'Gulf of America' move flouts history, international cooperation. By Lise Olsen. Texas Observer, January 24, 2025, p. 1.
  Discusses President Donald Trump's executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico the "Gulf of America." Notes that while the President can order federal agencies to use the new name, state and local officials are not obligated to do so. Adds that most of the Gulf is international waters, and that the International Hydrographic Organization, which maintains registries of names, will likely not adopt the name.
  See: https://www.texasobserver.org/name-gulf-mexico-america-history/
  
• Texas Legislature defines the relationship between students and digital devices. By Steve Barnwell. Texas School Business, January/February 2025, pp. 11-12.
  Discusses the use of digital devices in public schools. Focuses on school policy to remain compliant with HB 3489, 87th Legislature, R.S. and SB 1893, 88th Legislature, R.S.
  See: https://issuu.com/tasanet/docs/tsb_jan-feb_2025_final/10
  
• Lone stare decisis: Precedent and authority in Texas courts. By Mark E. Steiner. Texas Tech Law Review, Fall 2024, pp. 39-117.
  Examines the doctrine of stare decisis, which makes precedent matter, and the factors used by Texas courts when considering whether to override precedent. Explains the precedential significance of the notations used by Texas high courts when denying or refusing applications or petitions for review. Discusses the precedential authority of the lower appellate courts in Texas, and when federal case law is authoritative or persuasive in state courts. Looks at secondary sources as persuasive authority and establishes which sources courts find particularly impactful and which are underused by advocates.