Current Articles for July 10, 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.

• Looking across the landscape: State opportunities to increase access to SNAP, Medicaid, and WIC. By Jennifer Wagner, et al. Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, June 27, 2025, pp. 1-16.
  Presents a comprehensive survey of eligibility criteria, waivers, and operations metrics across the 50 states for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Medicaid, and the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program. Advocates for states to improve access to economic and health security programs for vulnerable populations such as the elderly, people with disabilities, children, and pregnant women. Includes a series of 50-state maps on various human services.
  See: https://www.cbpp.org/sites/default/files/6-27-25fa.pdf
  
• Pay for play: New era. By Nell Gluckman. Chronicle of Higher Education, June 20, 2025, p. 10.
  Discusses the settlement agreement in The House v. NCAA, which addresses the relationship between Division I student athletes and their colleges. Notes potential conflicts with the terms of the settlement.
  Related information at: https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.360907/gov.uscourts.cand.360907.978.0_2.pd ...
  Related information at: https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/17248915/in-re-college-athlete-nil-litigation/
  
• Extreme weather's true damage cost is a mystery—that's a problem for understanding storm risk. By John Nielsen-Gammon and William Baule. The Conversation, June 4, 2025, pp. 1-6.
  Discusses how the costs of severe weather are calculated. Notes that the existing patchwork of damage estimates lacks transparency and validation. Provides four steps to improve disaster data.
  See: https://theconversation.com/extreme-weathers-true-damage-cost-is-a-mystery-thats-a-problem-for-under ...
  
• What if universal rental assistance were implemented to deal with the housing crisis? By Alex Schwartz and Kirk McClure. The Conversation, June 26, 2025, pp. 1-5.
  Argues the most effective solution to the current housing affordability crisis is to make three forms of rental subsidies more widely available. Points out existing challenges to implementing this kind of program.
  See: https://theconversation.com/what-if-universal-rental-assistance-were-implemented-to-deal-with-the-ho ...
  
• Trump administration actions on gun violence so far. Everytown for Gun Safety, May 2025, p. 1.
  Outlines the Trump administration’s positions on gun violence prevention policies, funding, and public safety. Notes that under President Trump’s administration, law enforcement has fewer tools to fight and solve gun crime; people prohibited from owning firearms can access firearms more easily; gun accessories to turn firearms into machine guns have been legalized; suppliers of guns used in the commission of crimes are protected; and public health and safety infrastructure is dismantled.
  See: https://www.everytown.org/trump-administration-guns-federal-action/
  
• The diversity dilemma: Navigating Senate Bill 17's impact on faculty hiring in Texas public universities. By Sofia Winograd. Houston Law Review, Spring 2025, pp. 1081-1112.
  Explores the lesser-known aspects of SB 17, 88th Legislature, R.S., which mandated that Texas universities close diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) offices. Analyzes the impact the bill has on public universities on considering diversity-related materials in faculty hiring decisions. Discusses the U.S. Supreme Court decisions on affirmative action.
  See: https://houstonlawreview.org/article/138622-the-diversity-dilemma-navigating-senate-bill-17-s-impact ...
  
• Reversing a national trend, DAs and state lawmakers push to treat youth who've committed crimes as adults. By Nell Bernstein. The Imprint: Youth & Family News, June 30, 2025, p. 1.
  Discusses the movement by California district attorneys (DAs) and several state legislatures back toward charging juvenile offenders as adults. Explores possible contributing factors, including the pandemic; increases in localized crime; and a short-term increase in youth and adult homicide rates. Notes black youth are the hardest hit by adult transfer laws.
  See: https://imprintnews.org/top-stories/reversing-a-national-trend-das-and-state-lawmakers-push-to-treat ...
  
• When hospitals vanish, mothers die: Why giving birth is riskier in these US states. By Andrea Flynn and Martinique Free. Institute for Women's Policy Research, May 2025, pp. 1-3.
  Presents statistics on Black maternal health in the series Birthing While Black: The Urgent Fight for Maternal Health Reform. Identifies Texas as one of the five states with the highest proportion of maternity care deserts, and finds 72 percent of counties in Texas have no or low maternity care access.
  See: https://iwpr.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/When-Hospitals-Vanish-Mothers-Die-Why-Giving-Birth-Is-Ri ...
  
• Toward defining problematic media usage patterns in adolescents. By Dimitri A. Christakis and Lauren Hale. JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association), June 17, 2025, pp. 2045-2046.
  Considers how to define problematic digital media use in adolescents. Compares the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Addiction drinking pattern definitions with the Stony Brook University Measuring Electronic Devices in Adolescents study usage patterns. Calls for further study to develop an empirical model for defining and measuring problematic digital media use in adolescents.
• Rulemaking petitions in a world without deference to agencies: A new lease on life? By Daniel E. Walters. Natural Resources & Environment, Spring 2025, pp. 9-12.
  Explains what rulemaking petitions are in the context of the federal Administrative Procedures Act. Discusses the potential role of rulemaking petitions as they relate to environmental regulations, especially in light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s opinion in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo.
  Related information at: https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/23pdf/22-451_7m58.pdf
  
• Refoul play. By C.J. Ciaramella. Reason, July 2025, p. 14.
  Compares the definition and use of the terms "deportation" and "refoulement" within the context of the Trump administration's policies addressing the undocumented immigrant community. Argues the Trump administration is actually engaging in "refoulement," as opposed to "deportation" or "expulsion."
  See: https://reason.com/2025/06/16/refoul-play/
  
• Red states' school vouchers mark biggest shift in U.S. education in a century. By David Osborne. The 74, June 18, 2025, pp. 1-4.
  Argues states with laws creating education savings accounts will accelerate the process of segregating students by income.
  See: https://www.the74million.org/article/red-states-school-vouchers-mark-biggest-shift-in-u-s-education- ...
  
• Measles is scary, says a Lubbock health official. So is government upheaval. By Sasha von Oldershausen. Texas Monthly, July 2025, pp. 40-42.
  Presents a Q&A with Katherine Wells, public health director for the city and county of Lubbock, regarding the West Texas measles outbreak. Discusses vaccine hesitancy, misinformation, federal funding cuts, and other factors that contributed to the crisis.
  See: https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/lubbock-health-official-measles-vaccine/
  
• Activate your AI superpowers: How to use new tech tools for images, videos, podcasts, marketing, tenant screening, note taking, customer service, and more! By Patee Franks. Texas Realtor, May/June 2025, pp. 12-15.
  Highlights the ways in which real estate agents can use artificial intelligence (AI) in marketing, branding, and operations. Notes an AI-based tenant screening service available for members of Texas REALTORS®.
  See: https://www.texasrealestate.com/wp-content/uploads/TexasRealtor0325.pdf#page=8