Current Articles for February 13, 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.

• Judges without JDs. By Anna Stolley Persky. ABA Journal: The Lawyer's Magazine, February-March 2025, pp. 44-51.
  Discusses the common practice of allowing nonlawyers to act as lower court judges, such as justices of the peace; magistrates; municipal judges; or probate judges. Examines various aspects of the practice, including its history; benefits and disadvantages; various state requirements; and impacts on local communities.
  See: https://www.abajournal.com/magazine/article/judges-without-jds
  
• Collision course: Texas House Bill 19 and proportionate responsibility in commercial motor vehicle litigation. By Alexis Pineda. Baylor Law Review, Fall 2024, pp. 684-718.
  Discusses HB 19, 87th Legislature, R.S., which governs tort cases in which an employer in the commercial motor vehicle industry is potentially liable for their employees' infractions under the respondeat superior and negligent entrustment doctrines. Explores the legislation’s ramifications on proportionate responsibility specifically, and recommends modifications to clarify the statute’s effects on this issue.
• America needs power. Can the industry deliver? By Will Wade and Josh Saul. Bloomberg Businessweek, January 2025, pp. 29-30.
  Notes the rising number of large data centers in the U.S. and the potential sources of electricity they might rely on. Discusses the possible impacts of data center expansion on the environment, the energy industry, and the customers who depend on it.
  See: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-12-17/can-the-us-power-industry-meet-ai-s-steep-energy- ...
  See: https://www.pressreader.com/bahrain/bloomberg-businessweek-europe/20250101/281801404562439?srsltid=A ...
  
• Immigration: Border orders. Economist, January 25th-31st, 2025, pp. 20-21.
  Provides a summary of President Donald Trump’s executive orders addressing immigration enforcement and border security.
  See: https://www.economist.com/united-states/2025/01/23/donald-trump-cries-invasion-to-justify-an-immigra ...
  
• Private school choice will keep expanding in 2025. Here's where and how. By Mark Lieberman. Education Week, January 29, 2025, pp. 10-11.
  Reviews current legislative efforts to expand school choice programs. Examines the reasons why states are pushing to expand school choice. Highlights current efforts in Texas to pass school choice legislation.
  See: https://research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=8e015b34-dfdf-373d-b6fc-4c5e210d4699
  
• Students first, strong public schools for all: IDRA priorities for the 2025 Texas Legislative Session. By Chloe Latham Sikes. IDRA Newsletter (Intercultural Development Research Association), November-December 2024, pp. 3-4.
  Discusses the Intercultural Development Research Association (IDRA)’s five education policy priorities for the 89th Texas Legislative Session.
  See: https://www.idra.org/resource-center/students-first-strong-public-schools-for-all-idra-priorities-fo ...
  
• When judges should leave. By Michael A. Fragoso. National Review, March 2025, pp. 25-27.
  Considers judicial vacancies at the federal level and when would be the most opportune time for sitting judges to retire. Explains the federal judiciary system and whether judges take their potential replacements into account before retirement.
  See: https://research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=e61537db-5c63-3aa9-aadd-b168f0dcdf32
  
• Get the hell out of DOGE: Elon Musk's team infiltrates Education Department data. By Jeremy Bauer-Wolf. New America, February 10, 2025, pp. 1-4.
  Discusses the recent access to U.S. Department of Education data by Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Notes that the data, including sensitive internal financial information, has been injected into artificial intelligence software and that the DOGE team is attempting to halt the Department's spending. Explains these activities in the context of privacy laws.
  See: https://www.newamerica.org/education-policy/edcentral/elon-musks-team-infiltrates-education-departme ...
  
• Facebook, Instagram vow to stop censoring conservatives. By Charlie McCarthy. Newsmax, February 2025, p. 10.
  Discusses changes implemented by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg aimed at restoring free expression on the social media platforms Facebook and Instagram.
• A legend bigger than facts itself: Correcting the myth of the 'Come and Take It' flag at the Battle of Gonzales. By Andrew Druart. Southwestern Historical Quarterly, January 2025, pp. 224-239.
  Chronicles the history of the "Come and Take It" flag at the Battle of Gonzales and the symbolism and iconography of the flag in Texas history and school curriculum. Argues the flag's prominence at the battle seems to have been misunderstood due to historical memory and the cyclical nature of primary sources.
• Efforts to legalize gambling in Texas face Senate roadblock after gaining ground in 2023. By Brad Johnson. Texan, February 6, 2025, pp. 1-5.
  Presents the cases for and against expanding gambling in the 89th Legislature. Reviews three primary fronts in the gambling debate: "resort-style" casinos, sports betting on mobile apps, and live wagering in sportsbooks at athletic arenas. Quotes Representatives John Bucy, Cody Harris, and Cody Vasut, and Senator Charles Schwertner.
  See: https://thetexan.news/issues/social-issues-life-family/efforts-to-legalize-gambling-in-texas-face-se ...
  
• Emergency items, school choice, parliamentary inquiries: This week in the Texas Legislature. By Brad Johnson. Texan, February 7, 2025, pp. 1-5.
  Discusses the emergency legislation topics designated by Governor Greg Abbott in the State of the State address, the Senate floor debate on the education savings account bill (SB 2, 89th Legislature), and recent parliamentary inquiries on the House floor after a contested Speaker's race and the rules debate.
  See: https://thetexan.news/state/legislature/89th-session/emergency-items-school-choice-parliamentary-inq ...
  
• Indigent health care. By Julie Anderson. Texas County Progress, February 2025, pp. 34, 36-37, 46.
  Discusses how county governments contribute to the provision of indigent health care via County Indigent Health Care Programs (CIHCPs). Considers ways counties can improve indigent health care, such as forging working relationships with local clinics and hospitals.
  See: https://countyprogress.com/ihc-fort-bend/
  See: https://dashboard.mazsystems.com/webreader/86939?page=34
  
• What our schools actually need. By Forrest Wilder, et al. Texas Monthly, February 2025, pp. 74-95.
  Presents a series of vignettes on what Texas schools need in order to fully serve all of the state's students. Includes such ideas as more spending per pupil, public school choice rather than private school vouchers, support for the fine arts, adequate money for supplies, and increased respect for teachers. Disputes the idea that school vouchers will benefit Texas.
  See: https://reader.texasmonthly.com/texas_monthly/20250128/index.html#p74
  See: https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/what-texas-schools-actually-need/
  
• Citizenship at risk. By Brian Bennett. Time, February 10, 2025, p. 33.
  Discusses President Donald Trump's recent executive order attempting to end birthright citizenship. Explains what is at stake and notes that a coalition of immigrant rights groups is already challenging the order in court. Quotes legal experts about the unconstitutionality of the executive order.
  See: https://research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=d93bec2b-8e5c-369d-a3ea-377a26d178c2
  Related information at: https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/protecting-the-meaning-and-value-of-american ...
  
• States with weak gun laws and higher gun ownership have highest gun death rates in the nation, new data for 2023 confirm. Violence Policy Center, January 15, 2025, pp. 1-2.
  Presents data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) showing that states with the highest rates of overall gun death in the nation are those with few restrictions on gun access and ownership. Notes that in contrast, the five states with the lowest overall gun death rates have more restrictive laws related to gun access and ownership and lower rates of gun ownership.
  See: https://vpc.org/states-with-weak-gun-laws-and-higher-gun-ownership-have-highest-gun-death-rates-in-t ...