Current Articles for October 24, 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.

• In deep trouble: Surfacing tech-powered sexual harassment in K-12 schools. By Elizabeth Laird, Maddy Dwyer, and Kristin Woelfel. Center for Democracy and Technology, September 2024, p. 1-43.
  Presents data from a survey of public high school students and public middle and high school parents and teachers to understand the prevalence of deepfakes, non-consensual intimate imagery (NCII), and related issues in K-12 schools. Finds that these issues are a significant problem in K-12 public schools, with females more likely to be targeted and female and LGBTQ+ students most alert to the impact. Notes that school responses to the problem tend to focus more on punishing the perpetrator than on supporting the victim.
  See: https://cdt.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/2024-09-26-final-Civic-Tech-Fall-Polling-research-1.pdf
  
• Are noncitizens really voting in US elections? By Christa Case Bryant and Sophie Hills. Christian Science Monitor, October 2024, pp. 12-13.
  Discusses the wave of concern about the possibility of noncitizens voting in U.S. elections. Highlights the lack of evidence of a widespread issue. Looks at examples of states preventing noncitizen voting, including in Texas.
  See: https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2024/0911/illegal-immigration-noncitizen-voting-save-act
  
• A fraught new era. By Eric Hoover. Chronicle of Higher Education, October 4, 2024, pp. 32-33.
  Considers some available demographic data of incoming university first-year classes one year after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the use of affirmative action programs in college admissions.
• Why is it so hard to measure poverty? By Ed Dolan. Milken Institute Review, Fourth Quarter 2024, pp. 58-67.
  Explores the challenges of defining poverty to determine whether specific people qualify for public government assistance. Outlines three different methods of measuring poverty, including the official poverty measure (OPM), the full income poverty measure (FPM), and the Supplemental Poverty Measure. Makes recommendations to redesign and improve the poverty measure to maintain political balance, redefine basic needs, centralize resource data, and unify reporting of deductions.
  See: https://www.milkenreview.org/articles/why-is-it-so-hard-to-measure-poverty
  
• How immigration became a lightning rod . . . in American politics. By Gaby Del Valle. Nation, October 2024, pp. 36, 38-41, 59.
  Examines the issue of immigration in American politics and key events in the history of U.S. immigration law. Traces the origins of the modern immigration restriction movement to John Tanton, who founded anti-immigration groups such as Federation for Immigration Reform (FAIR) and U.S. English. Discusses the development of English-only measures in the states, as well as California's Proposition 187.
  See: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=179720221&site=ehost-live
  
• Do you know where the children are? A five-year analysis of public school enrollment. By Drew Jacobs and Debbie Veney. National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, October 2024, pp. 1-36.
  Reports on year-to-year enrollment trends for charter and neighborhood public schools across the nation. Examines the enrollment trends among different demographic groups. Highlights Texas as one of the states with the highest charter enrollment gains.
  See: https://info.publiccharters.org/hubfs/2024 Enrollment Report/2024 Final Enrollment Report.pdf
  
• Silicon Valley's influence game. By Charles Duhigg. New Yorker, October 14, 2024, pp. 38-47.
  Reports on the growing influence of wealthy technology executives and investors on U.S. politics. Describes how this group is donating billions to super PACs (political action committees) and how these efforts are likely to affect everything from Presidential races to control of Congress and the regulation of antitrust and artificial intelligence.
  See: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=180098426&site=ehost-live
  See: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/10/14/silicon-valley-the-new-lobbying-monster
  
• Doomsday preppers go mainstream. By Matthew Lysiak. Newsmax, October 2024, pp. 46-49.
  Considers how and why an increasing number of Americans are preparing for a worst-case scenario catastrophe. Includes a sidebar about survival bunkers.
• Abolish the MPRE. By Michael Ariens. St. Mary's Journal on Legal Malpractice & Ethics, Fall 2024, pp. 151-203.
  Argues for the termination of rules requiring new applicants to the bar to first pass the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination (MPRE). Reasons that the MPRE tests short-term rule memorization, but has no correlation with eventual ethical conduct or misconduct. Discusses some of the drawbacks of the MPRE, including an unnecessary cost and burden placed on law students and a reduction of the role of law schools in shaping their students’ professional identities.
  See: https://commons.stmarytx.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1169&context=lmej
  
• Texas Windstorm Insurance Association denied 10 percent rate increase, prefacing legislative fight. By Brad Johnson. Texan, October 15, 2024, pp. 1-2.
  Discusses the official order of the Texas Commissioner of Insurance denying the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association (TWIA)'s proposed ten percent rate increase. Notes TWIA funding and rising insurance premiums as potential issues for the 89th Legislature.
  See: https://thetexan.news/state/texas-state-news/texas-windstorm-insurance-association-denied-10-percent ...
  Related information at: https://www.tdi.texas.gov/orders/documents/20248911.pdf
  
• Ranchers face uncertainty in rebuilding cow herds in Texas, U.S. By Shelby Shank. Texas Agriculture, October 4, 2024, pp. 8-9.
  Notes that cattle numbers are currently at some of their lowest in U.S. history, but that economic and climate conditions forecast for the coming months and years are casting doubt that a big expansion is forthcoming. Outlines some key considerations for herd growth, including pasture conditions and the price of breeding females.
  See: http://texasagriculture.texasfarmbureau.org/articles/ranchers-face-uncertainty-in-rebuilding-cow-her ...
  
• RGV farmers tell Congress to act on the water crisis with Mexico. By Julie Tomascik. Texas Agriculture, October 4, 2024, p. 14.
  Reports on a recent roundtable discussion with Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Senator John Boozman (R-Arkansas and the chair of the Senate Agricultural Committee) in the Rio Grande Valley. Notes that the farmers and ranchers in attendance are eager for resolution of issues such as the need for a new farm bill and the intensifying water crisis.
  See: http://texasagriculture.texasfarmbureau.org/articles/rgv-farmers-tell-congress-to-act-on-the-water-c ...
  
• The limitations of land use deregulation for housing affordability. By Ben Martin and Sidney Beaty. Texas Housers, October 8, 2024, pp. 1-24.
  Highlights the housing affordability crisis in Texas and potential policy solutions. Explores the concept of land use deregulation to expand the supply of housing.
  See: https://texashousers.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Land-Use-Short-Report-FINAL.pdf
  
• The border crisis won't be solved at the border. By Jack Herrera. Texas Monthly, November 2024, pp. 94-106, 108, 110, 112, 115-116, 118.
  Posits that Texas officials have effective tools to combat illegal immigration, particularly by making it difficult or impossible for undocumented immigrants to work in the U.S. Notes the statistics showing that to do so, however, would decimate the Texas economy. Discusses the difficult balance this poses for legislators and activists on both sides of the immigration issue.
  See: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=180312609&site=ehost-live
  See: https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/border-crisis-texas-solutions/