Current Articles for June 19, 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.

• Will 1,000,000 deportations be enough? By Bradley Devlin. American Conservative, July/August 2025, pp. 13-19.
  Discusses the Trump administration's immigration policy and the goal of one million deportations contained in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
  Related information at: https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/1/text
  See: https://www.theamericanconservative.com/are-1000000-deportations-enough/
  
• Potential THC ban already having ripple effects. By Sahar Chmais. Austin Business Journal, June 6-12, 2025, p. 22.
  Highlights early market reactions to the total ban on THC, which would be enacted in Texas should SB 3, 89th Legislature, become law, including upticks in store closures and bulk orders by consumers.
• Enter Stargate. By Shirin Ghaffary, Brody Ford, and Emily Chang. Bloomberg Businessweek, June 2025, pp. 60-61.
  Discusses the Stargate Project, a collective effort by OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank to build data centers and other artificial intelligence-related infrastructure across the U.S., with the first facility currently under construction in Abilene, TX.
  See: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2025-05-20/inside-stargate-ai-data-center-from-openai-and-so ...
  
• Medicare Advantage denies 17 percent of initial claims; most denials are reversed, but provider payouts dip 7 percent. By Boris Vabson, Andrew L. Hicks, and Michael E. Chernew. Health Affairs, June 2025, pp. 702- 706.
  Explores claim denial rates in 2019 for Medicare Advantage patients. Considers how claim denials may reduce Medicare Advantage spending. Notes that negative effects of claim denials were not measured.
  See: https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/10.1377/hlthaff.2024.01485
  
• Tariffs put Port Houston in cost-control mode. By Naomi Klinge. Houston Business Journal, May 30-June 5, 2025, p. 14.
  Discusses how the Port of Houston is planning amid uncertainty about President Trump's tariffs, noting that they are preparing to control costs by funding "necessities, not niceties." Adds that so far, compared to some West Coast ports, Houston has been less adversely affected by the tariff confusion.
• A call to end daylight saving time—implications for public health. By David Dongkyung Kim, et al. JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association), June 10, 2025, pp. 1955-1956.
  Argues for abolishing Daylight Saving Time and adopting Standard Time year-round. Highlights ways in which Daylight Saving Time and twice-a-year time changes are detrimental for public health.
• Prescriptions for obesity medications among adolescents aged 12–17 years with obesity—United States, 2018–2023. By Lyudmyla Kompaniyets, et al. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), June 5, 2025, pp. 337-344.
  Discusses prescription obesity medication use in adolescents.
  See: https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/74/wr/pdfs/mm7420a1-H.pdf
  
• Nursing homes on life support. By David A. Patten. Newsmax, June 2025, pp. 8-9.
  Explores how an aging population, rising costs, and a lack of qualified workers are leading to nursing homes and long-term care facilities closing permanently. Considers whether the situation may lead to a crisis in health care for the elderly or if the crisis is already here. Includes a sidebar about hospital capacity.
• Hazy futures. By Paul Voosen. Science, June 5, 2025, pp. 1016-1021.
  Examines what warmer, drier weather means for growing cities. Considers water and power infrastructure planning and design aimed at accommodating more people with fewer resources. Profiles water use and reuse strategies of the City of Austin, Texas.
  See: https://www.science.org/content/article/local-predictions-climate-change-are-hazy-cities-need-answer ...
  
• Texas' economic outlook deteriorates as tariff-related uncertainty builds. By Laila Assanie and Ethan Dixon. Southwest Economy (Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas), May 15, 2025, pp. 1-6.
  Describes recent Texas economic indicators, including the monthly manufacturing outlook, which show diminished momentum and elevated uncertainty in the economy. Reports that higher tariffs have dimmed business outlooks and weakened demand in the state, with policy uncertainty and inflation among the top concerns.
  See: https://www.dallasfed.org/research/swe/2025/swe2508
  
• Real state tax revenues decline amid growing fiscal uncertainty: State Tax and Economic Review, 2024 Quarter 4. By Lucy Dadayan. Tax Policy Center (Urban Institute and Brookings Institution), May 2025, pp. 1-49.
  Analyzes the state fiscal outlook and tax revenue trends from July 2024 through December 2024. Considers the effects of recent federal government decisions—including funding cuts, new tariffs, and reductions in federal employment—on state and local budgets. Includes tables of quarterly state government tax revenue, by state.
  See: https://taxpolicycenter.org/sites/default/files/2025-05/STER_2024Q4.pdf
  
• 'Best session I've ever had': Abbott recaps 89th Legislature, hints at property tax crusade. By Brad Johnson. Texan, June 11, 2025, pp. 1-3.
  Assesses the 89th Legislature in terms of Governor Greg Abbott's legislative priorities and emergency items. Discusses the Governor's thoughts on education savings accounts, bail reform, property tax relief, prospects of a special session on Congressional redistricting, and the proposed THC ban.
  See: https://thetexan.news/state/legislature/89th-session/best-session-ive-ever-had-abbott-recaps-89th-le ...
  
• Kumbayas, defused bombs, third rails: A review of the 89th Legislative Session. By Brad Johnson. Texan, June 10, 2025, pp. 1-5.
  Recaps the politics of the 89th Legislature, including the Speaker's race and the performance of Speaker Dustin Burrows; the debate on education savings accounts (SB 2); the House rules vote and Democratic vice chairs; and the Lieutenant Governor's priority legislation, including the THC ban (SB 3).
  See: https://thetexan.news/state/legislature/89th-session/kumbayas-defused-bombs-third-rails-a-review-of- ...
  
• Did the Legislature pass that bill? A preliminary recap of key children's bills from the 2025 Texas legislative session. Texans Care for Children, Updated June 12, 2025, pp. 1-12.
  Summarizes the significant child-related bills that passed and did not pass during the 89th Legislature, Regular Session, in the areas of early learning; healthy families; and child protection and mental health.
  See: https://txchildren.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Preliminary-Recap-2025-June-12.pdf
  
• U.S. House of Representatives passes 'One Big Beautiful Bill.' By Jessica Domel. Texas Agriculture, June 6, 2025, p. 8.
  Discusses the U.S. House's recent passage of the spending bill, known as the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act," and how it may affect the agricultural sector in Texas.
  See: http://texasagriculture.texasfarmbureau.org/june-6-2025/page-8
  Related information at: https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/1/text
  
• Opal Lee marches on. By Hanif Abdurraqib. Texas Monthly, June 2025, pp. 129-134, 136, 138, 140, 142.
  Profiles Opal Lee, the "Grandmother of Juneteenth," who was instrumental in making the day commemorating the emancipation of enslaved people in Texas a federal holiday.
  See: https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/grandmother-of-juneteenth-opal-lee/
  
• Reflecting on Bastrop. By Wesley Miller and N. Lee May. Tierra Grande, Spring 2025, pp. 14-19.
  Looks back on the 2011 Bastrop County Complex Fire, which remains the most destructive wildfire in Texas history. Examines how the housing market recovered in the aftermath, including single-family home building and single-family home transactions. Identifies lessons relating to growth in the wildland-urban interface (WUI) for communities around Texas.
  See: https://trerc.tamu.edu/article/reflecting-on-bastrop/
  
• Short-term rentals, long-term struggles. By Rusty Adams. Tierra Grande, Spring 2025, pp. 24-27.
  Discusses the debate on short-term rentals (STR) among property owners and local governments aiming to regulate the industry. Highlights recent STR trends and statistics for Austin, Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth, and San Antonio. Reviews recent litigation challenging local STR ordinances in Zaatari v. City of Austin, Draper v. City of Arlington, and City of Grapevine v. Muns.
  Related information at: https://search.txcourts.gov/Case.aspx?cn=02-19-00257-CV&coa=coa02
  Related information at: https://search.txcourts.gov/Case.aspx?cn=02-19-00410-CV&coa=coa02
  Related information at: https://search.txcourts.gov/Case.aspx?cn=03-17-00812-CV&coa=coa03
  See: https://trerc.tamu.edu/article/short-term-rentals-long-term-struggles/