Current Articles for February 06, 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.

• How state education agencies are leveraging ESSER funds. By Jinghong Cai. American School Board Journal, February 2025, pp. 44-45.
  Examines state education agencies' use of Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds. Presents examples of how states have addressed teacher shortages and truancy and invested in career pathway programs.
  See: https://www.nsba.org/resources/asbj/asbj-feb-2025/feb-2025-how-state-education-agencies-are-leveragi ...
  
• Artificial intelligence (1): Marginal revolution. Economist, January 25th-31st, 2025, pp. 51-52.
  Discusses the economics of artificial intelligence (AI) models. Includes information about OpenAI.
  See: https://www.economist.com/business/2025/01/20/openais-latest-model-will-change-the-economics-of-soft ...
  
• Birthright citizenship: Into a scrap. Economist, January 25th-31st, 2025, p. 20.
  Considers the Trump Administration’s argument for his executive order attempting to end birthright citizenship.
  See: https://www.economist.com/united-states/2025/01/23/to-end-birthright-citizenship-donald-trump-misrea ...
  Related information at: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2025-01-29/pdf/2025-02007.pdf
  
• Texas lawmakers consider 'ICWA for All' bill that would set new, higher standards for removing children from home. By Sara Tiano. The Imprint: Youth & Family News, January 31, 2025, pp. 1-3.
  Reviews child welfare legislation filed by Representative Lacey Hull (HB 2216, 89th Legislature).
  See: https://imprintnews.org/top-stories/texas-lawmakers-consider-icwa-for-all-bill-that-would-set-new-hi ...
  
• Trump’s new order to expand the death penalty misses key details. By Shannon Heffernan and Maurice Chammah. Marshall Project, January 22, 2025, pp. 1-2.
  Discusses President Donald Trump's recent executive order expanding the death penalty. Notes that legal experts say the order is short on details about how the administration will carry out its plans in the face of legal and bureaucratic barriers, and explores the challenges that may present to enforcement.
  Related information at: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2025-01-30/pdf/2025-02012.pdf
  See: https://www.themarshallproject.org/2025/01/22/trump-death-penalty-executive-order
  
• Bad behavior: How prison disciplinary policies manufacture misconduct. By Brian Nam-Sonenstein and Nell Haney. Prison Policy Initiative, January 2025, pp. 1-15.
  Analyzes disciplinary policies in all state prison systems and presents testimony from dozens of incarcerated people. Posits that many prison disciplinary systems are unfair and unaccountable and can traumatize incarcerated people and lengthen prison stays.
  See: https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/discipline.html
  
• The case of Robert Roberson. By C.J. Ciaramella. Reason, February 2025, p. 10.
  Summarizes the House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence’s recent attempts to obtain death row inmate Robert Roberson’s testimony as part of their investigation into the state statute addressing 'junk science writs.'
  See: https://reason.com/2025/01/23/the-case-of-robert-roberson/
  
• 'The politics have come to us.' By Fiona Harrigan. Reason, February 2025, pp. 42-47.
  Reports on Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s investigation into Annunciation House. Includes a brief history of churches and religious nonprofits aiding undocumented migrants. Refers to the current case before the Texas Supreme Court.
  See: https://reason.com/2024/12/27/the-politics-have-come-to-us/
  Related information at: https://search.txcourts.gov/Case.aspx?cn=24-0573&coa=cossup
  
• Trump cuts could impact SA properties. By Lauren McDonald. San Antonio Business Journal, January 31-February 6, 2025, p. 4.
  Notes that the General Services Administration (GSA), which oversees the federal government's nearly 360 million-square-foot real estate portfolio, could be a target of aggressive cost-cutting by the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Points out that there are about 55 leased GSA properties in the San Antonio area totaling around 2 million square feet and 53 owned properties covering another 2.2 million square feet.
• Early Childhood Intervention Advocacy Coalition 2025 legislative agenda. Texans Care for Children, January 2025, pp. 1-2.
  Presents legislative and funding priorities relating to Early Childhood Intervention (ECI), which provides therapies and services to babies and toddlers with autism, Down syndrome, and other disabilities and developmental delays.
  See: https://txchildren.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/ECI-Advocacy-Coalition-Agenda-.pdf