Current Articles for July 31, 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.

• The funded status of public plans keeps improving–albeit modestly. By Jean-Pierre Aubry and Alicia H. Munnell. Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, July 2025, pp. 1-7.
  Provides the most recent estimates on the funded status of state and local pension plans. Finds that in fiscal years 2024 and 2025, the funded ratio increased from 76.2 percent to 77.7 percent. Discusses how the increase in new hires and resulting benefit reductions have controlled pension liabilities.
  See: https://crr.bc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/IB_25-15-3.pdf
  
• Health economics: Trumpcare. Economist, July 19th-25th, 2025, pp. 17-18.
  Explains three main ways the One Big Beautiful Bill Act will implement “the biggest changes to health policy since the Affordable Care Act (ACA).”
  Related information at: https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/1
  See: https://www.economist.com/united-states/2025/07/16/the-meaning-of-trumpcare
  
• Texas wants to revive, lead shipbuilding sector. By Naomi Klinge. Houston Business Journal, July 25-31, 2025, p. A16.
  Examines the push to make Texas the nation's shipbuilding hub, noting that several overseas companies have invested or are considering investing in shipbuilding assets in the Galveston area. Adds that only 3.2 percent of shipbuilding jobs were based in Texas in 2019, but that the recently announced deals will add about 4,000 jobs.
• Working in harm's way: How occupational segregation impacts Black maternal health. By Andrea Flynn and Martinique Free. Institute for Women's Policy Research, July 2025, pp. 1-16.
  Examines Black maternal health by focusing on the role of Black women who work in the health care system, as part of the series Birthing While Black: The Urgent Fight for Maternal Health Reform. Finds that more than one in five Black women in the labor market work in the health care sector.
  See: https://iwpr.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Working-in-Harms-Way-How-Occupational-Segregation-Impact ...
  
• Where should the wind blow: Using mineral jurisprudence to define the contours of wind ownership in Texas. By Cole Palmer. Journal of the Energy Law Practitioner, May 2025, pp. 297-324.
  Argues that the state legislature should pass a law to codify wind rights as a severable property interest. Explains how the legal framework for mineral rights can be adapted for wind rights. Includes model legislation.
  See: https://ttujelp.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/JELP-Vol-4-Issue-2.pdf#page=135
  
• Health care abundance: A supply-side agenda. By Lawson Mansell. Milken Institute Review, Third Quarter 2025, pp. 36-47.
  Advocates that policymakers shift from "demand-side" health coverage strategies to a "supply-side" focus, in which health care providers are abundant and resources are more accurately funneled to patient needs. Reviews data on the primary care physician shortage, health care costs and utilization, hospital beds, and other indicators of a failing health care system. Discusses the role of Medicare and Medicaid in health expenditures.
  See: https://www.milkenreview.org/articles/health-care-abundance
  
• A new era in Texas real estate: Foreign investment restriction under new state law. The National Agricultural Law Center, July 8, 2025, p. 1.
  Discusses the passage of SB 17, 89th Legislature, R.S., which restricts certain foreign purchases of real property located within the state. Compares and contrasts the bill to similar laws passed in other states. Adds that SB 17 marks a significant shift in Texas' approach to restricting foreign real estate investments.
  See: https://nationalaglawcenter.org/a-new-era-in-texas-real-estate-foreign-investment-restriction-under- ...
  
• The flood will come. By John Seabrook. New Yorker, July 28, 2025, pp. 12-16, 18.
  Discusses the July 4 flooding in Kerrville, Texas, in its historical context. Compares the danger of storm-surge flooding like that caused in New York by Superstorm Sandy to the deadlier river flooding in Kerrville. Cites studies showing that so-called "hundred-year events" such as floods are increasing in frequency.
  See: https://research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=32ef1edb-8922-3b1a-bfa6-3d3007ec8fcc
  See: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/07/28/in-an-age-of-climate-change-how-do-we-cope-with-floods ...
  
• The short-term economic forecast for Texas metropolitan areas. Perryman Report and Texas Letter, July 24, 2025, pp. 1-3, 6-7.
  Discusses the economic outlook for Texas metro areas in the near term. Notes that despite a marked increase in uncertainty, the state's urban areas are projected to grow over the next four years, with a forecast of an additional 1.1 million wage and salary jobs. Breaks down the forecasts by metro area.
• US policy shift results in costly tomatoes. By James McCandless. San Antonio Business Journal, July 25-31, 2025, p. A8.
  Addresses the U.S.' recent withdrawal from the 2019 tomato suspension agreement, a policy that allowed tomatoes grown in Mexico to be imported at level pricing to U.S. grown tomatoes. Notes that Mexican tomatoes will now be subject to a 17.09 percent import duty, which some believe will impact the nation's supply of fresh produce. Quotes the Texas Senate Research Center as estimating that the withdrawal puts 32,000 jobs at risk.
• Texas pays its best educators up to $32,000 to keep them in the classroom. By Chad Aldeman. The 74, July 23, 2025, pp. 1-3.
  Discusses the Teacher Incentive Allotment program, which was created by HB 3, 86th Legislature, R.S. Summarizes changes made by HB 2, 89th Legislature, R.S.
  See: https://www.the74million.org/article/texas-pays-its-best-educators-up-to-32000-to-keep-them-in-the-c ...
  
• The origins of San Antonio's University of Texas Health Science Center and the Good Government League, 1920s—1960s. By Nathan Pipes. Southwestern Historical Quarterly, July 2025, pp. 2-24.
  Discusses the history and development of the University of Texas Health Science Center (UTHSC) and medical school in San Antonio, now known as the UT Health Center. Focuses on the relationship between the UTHSC and the Good Government League, an urban reform agency.
• Fort Bliss to house 5,000-bed illegal immigrant detention center. By Cameron Abrams. Texan, July 25, 2025, p. 1.
  Presents information about the new $232 million, 5,000-bed immigrant detention center planned for the Fort Bliss U.S. Army post in El Paso. Notes that it will be the largest in the U.S. and is estimated to be completed by late September 2027.
  See: https://thetexan.news/issues/immigration-border-issues/fort-bliss-to-house-5-000-bed-illegal-immigra ...
  
• Interview: Abbott discusses special session, THC regulation, congressional redistricting. By Cameron Abrams. Texan, July 22, 2025, p. 1.
  Presents an interview with Governor Greg Abbott on regulation of THC hemp-derived products and congressional redistricting. Includes the reasoning behind the Governor's veto of SB 3, 89th Legislature, R.S., and the comments of Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick on THC.
  See: https://thetexan.news/issues/social-issues-life-family/interview-abbott-discusses-special-session-th ...
  
• Texas lawmakers begin preparing Hill Country flood response, Kerrville hearing to come. By Cameron Abrams and Brad Johnson. Texan, July 25, 2025, p. 1.
  Describes the first few days of testimony on the Hill Country flooding in the Texas House and Senate, from a description of the mechanics of the severe weather event to the testimony of officials including Nim Kidd, chief of the Texas Division of Emergency Management, and Tara Bushnell, general manager of the Upper Guadalupe River Authority.
  See: https://thetexan.news/state/legislature/89th-session/texas-lawmakers-begin-preparing-hill-country-fl ...
  
• The bullish housing market in Texas: Why homebuilders are set up for success. By Meg Kennedy. Texas Builder, Summer 2025, pp. 21-23.
  Interviews Scott Norman, CEO of the Texas Association of Builders, and Lloyd Potter, Texas State Demographer, about the housing market; Texas' population growth; and demand for skilled labor. Includes a map identifying population growth hotspots across the state.
  See: https://www.mydigitalpublication.com/publication/?i=847258&p=20&view=issueViewer
  
• Housing affordability 'crisis' is a top priority for the Texas Legislature. By J.D. Hale. Texas Builder, Summer 2025, pp. 26-27.
  Highlights recent discussions at the Texas Capitol on housing affordability as a priority issue. Includes a list of bills in the 89th Legislature, Regular Session, tracked by the Texas Association of Builders.
  See: https://www.mydigitalpublication.com/publication/?i=847258&p=26&view=issueViewer
  
• AI in action: What's possible with artificial intelligence in real estate. By Harold D. Hunt, Stephen A. Ramseur, and Bucky Banks. Tierra Grande, Summer 2025, pp. 20-23.
  Highlights how artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming Texas real estate, including site selection; investment analysis; market forecasting and analysis; and facilities management. Reviews AI product solutions for commercial real estate. Includes Texas universities implementing AI in the classroom.
  See: https://trerc.tamu.edu/article/ai-in-action-whats-possible-with-artificial-intelligence-in-real-esta ...
  
• Pressure test. By Philip Elliott. Time, July 28, 2025, p. 8.
  Summarizes the contents of the recently passed "One Big Beautiful Bill," which extends the first-term Trump tax cuts; rolls back clean energy programs; and increases immigration enforcement while cutting food stamps and Medicaid. Notes that the bill will increase the national debt by trillions of dollars.
  See: https://research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=fc83af5c-54b0-3fe8-a2c9-093afe9634a0
  Related information at: https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/1/text