Current Articles for July 17, 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.

• Local film crews ready for more action. By Justin Sayers. Austin Business Journal, July 11-17, 2025, pp. 14-16.
  Discusses new incentives passed by the 89th Legislature (SB 22) for the film and television production industries.
• What will Texas do with THC? By Sahar Chmais. Austin Business Journal, July 11-17, 2025, pp. 12-13.
  Discusses efforts to regulate the hemp industry in Texas, including Governor Abbott’s veto of SB 3, 89th Legislature, R.S., and potential legislative activities during the upcoming special called session.
• Low-income homeowners hit by disasters may get less help from the government, as Trump administration nixes rules on fairness, community input and resilience. By Ivis Garcia. The Conversation, June 20, 2025, pp. 1-5.
  Reports on the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) March 2025 memo addressing revisions to congressionally approved recovery funding for disasters that occurred in 2023 and 2024. Points out changes to the allocation of Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) funds.
  See: https://theconversation.com/low-income-homeowners-hit-by-disasters-may-get-less-help-from-the-govern ...
  Related information at: https://www.hud.gov/sites/default/files/CPD/documents/CPDUniversalnotice.pdf
  
• A line in the sand: The brewing storm between public access and private property on Texas beaches. By Stan M. Stanulonis. Houston Law Review, Spring 2025, pp. 1055-1080.
  Provides analysis, application, enforcement, and a brief history of the Texas Open Beaches Act (OBA). Discusses multiple federal and state court cases related to the OBA, including Severance v. Patterson; Cedar Point Nursery v. Hassid; Porretto v. Texas General Land Office; and Luttes v. State. Offers policy solutions to address the issues raised by the court decisions.
  See: https://heinonline.org/HOL/P?h=hein.journals/hulr62&i=1091
  See: https://houstonlawreview.org/article/138620-a-line-in-the-sand-the-brewing-storm-between-public-acce ...
  
• Bad bets: The new culture of sports gambling. By Jack Butler. National Review, August 2025, pp. 45-47.
  Considers the legalization of sports betting. Examines the growing profits of gambling companies, sports franchises, and sports leagues coinciding with reduced household savings, ballooning lines of unsecured credit, and increased bank overdrafts. Points out that sports betting is not legal in Texas, although legislation to legalize it has been introduced in the past.
  See: https://research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=3da2d784-bd27-3cf0-a88c-c6c41cae1f5e
  
• Elite schools face big, new taxes on their endowments. By John Fund. Newsmax, July 2025, pp. 14-15.
  Discusses the recent legislation, part of the "One Big Beautiful Bill," related to the taxation of university endowments.
  Related information at: https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/1/text
  
• The five-year outlook for the Texas economy. By M. Ray Perryman. Perryman Report and Texas Letter, July 8, 2025, pp. 1-3, 6.
  Projects significant growth in the state economy over the next five years, despite the challenges of tariff uncertainty and immigration policies. Notes that Texas has gained 213,800 jobs in the last year, more than fourteen percent of the nation's total gain.
• Almost 200 Texas public school districts adopt four-day week. By Meridith Dyer. Texan, July 14, 2025, p. 1.
  Notes that according to a 2025 working paper by the University of Houston Education Research Center, 181 independent school districts in Texas adopted a four-day school week in 2024–2025. Explains that a 2015 bill (HB 2610, 84th Legislature) passed by the Legislature made this possible by changing the minimum instruction requirement from 180 days to 75,600 minutes, allowing for alternative schedules. Adds that teacher retention is a main driver for the schools making the switch.
  See: https://thetexan.news/issues/education/almost-200-texas-public-school-districts-adopt-four-day-week/ ...
  Report at: https://uh.edu/education/research/institutes-centers/erc/reports-publications/4dsw-working-paper---f ...
  
• House Bill 2 teacher pay raises spark mixed reactions from Texas educators. By Meridith Dyer. Texan, July 4, 2025, p. 1.
  Discusses the school districts that have announced teacher salary increases using the $4.2 Teacher Retention Allotment in HB 2, 89th Legislature, R.S., and teacher incentive plans.
  See: https://thetexan.news/issues/education/house-bill-2-teacher-pay-raises-spark-mixed-reactions-from-te ...
  
• Texas legislature creates select committees on disaster, flooding response. By Brad Johnson. Texan, July 11, 2025, p. 1.
  Presents details of the newly appointed Select Committees on Disaster Preparedness and Flooding in both chambers of the Texas Legislature. Notes that the committees will focus on flood warning systems, flood emergency communications, relief funding for Hill Country floods, and natural disaster preparation and recovery.
  See: https://thetexan.news/state/legislature/89th-session/texas-legislature-creates-select-committees-on- ...
  
• The secret to reindustrializing America is not tax cuts and tariffs. It’s regulated competition. By Phillip Longman. Washington Monthly, July/August 2025, pp. 33-39.
  Argues that rules and regulations created an environment in which competitive industries thrived and grew. Highlights the aviation industry's history from the 1800s through federal legislation, the market's boom, and the impacts of deregulation starting in 1978. Discusses the deregulation of other industries like gas and oil; electric; communications; and finance.
  See: https://research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=c62119e3-1d45-365b-9d0a-a31003e59f13
  See: https://washingtonmonthly.com/2025/06/01/the-secret-to-reindustrializing-america-is-not-tax-cuts-and ...