Legislative library home page
Legislative Reference Library of Texas
your partner in legislative research
Legislative Reference Library of Texas
your partner in legislative research

Skip to main content

Week in Review, December 18th

In this weekly post, we feature online articles and policy reports published recently, and other helpful research tools.
Season's Greetings to all our readers! Week in Review will return on January 8, 2015.
 
 

New Interim Reports

In the past week, we have received reports from the following committees:
 
 
Last week, we received reports from
 
Health and Human Services
Veteran Affairs and Military Installations

Looking for another report? The LRL's Legislative Reports database contains interim committee charges, reports, and other substantive legislative studies published in the House and Senate Journals back to 1846. You may search by committee list, committee name, charge text, or subject.
 

Week in Review, December 11th

In this weekly post, we feature online articles and policy reports published recently, and other helpful research tools.
  • Examine how body-worn cameras affect policing. (U.S. Department of Justice, 2014)
  • Explore the economic effects of shale oil and gas production. (Congressional Budget Office, December 2014)
  • Read about the country's crude oil reserves. (U.S. Energy Information Administration, December 4, 2014)
  • Consider the implications of for-profit prison corporations. (American Friends Service Committee, November 17, 2014)
 
 

New Books, Week of December 10th

The library adds new books to its collection every week. Here are six books recently added.

Burning Down the House: The End of Juvenile Prison, by Nell Bernstein (2014).
"In this clear-eyed indictment of a failed institution—the juvenile detention facility—award-winning journalist Nell Bernstein shows that there is no right way to lock up a child."

Diversity Explosion: How New Racial Demographics are Remaking America, by William H. Frey (2014).
"Through a compelling narrative and eye-catching charts and maps, eminent demographer Frey interprets and expounds on the dramatic growth of minority populations in the U.S. He finds that without these expanding groups, America could face a bleak future: this new generation of young minorities, who are having children at a faster rate than whites, is infusing our aging labor force with vitality and innovation."

In the Common Interest: Embracing the New American Community, by John Carona (2014).
"[This book] explains how the modern community association benefits not only residents but also the country at large. [The author] outlines the pros and cons of these communities, plus prescriptive advice for how we can make them even better."

Lone Star Nation: How Texas Will Transform America, by Richard Parker (2014).
"Richard Parker takes the reader on a tour across today's booming Texas, an evolving landscape that is densely urban, overwhelmingly Hispanic, exceedingly powerful in the global economy, and increasingly liberal."

A Race for the Future: How Conservatives Can Break the Liberal Monopoly on Hispanic Americans, by Mike Gonzalez (2014).
"[This book] reveals exactly how bureaucratic decisions that encourage public assistance and discourage assimilation hinder Hispanics and allow them to be politically monopolized by progressives."

A Wicked War: Polk, Clay, Lincoln, and the 1846 U.S. Invasion of Mexico, by Amy Greenberg (2012).
"It is a story of Indian fights, Manifest Destiny, secret military maneuvers, gunshot wounds, and political spin. Along the way it captures a young Lincoln mismatching his clothes, the lasting influence of the Founding Fathers, the birth of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and America’s first national antiwar movement."

 

 

New Interim Reports

In the past week, we have received reports from the following committees:
 
Health and Human Services
Veteran Affairs and Military Installations

Looking for another report?  The LRL's Legislative Reports database contains interim committee charges, reports, and other substantive legislative studies published in the House and Senate Journals back to 1846. You may search by committee list, committee name, charge text, or subject.

Week in Review, December 4th

In this weekly post, we feature online articles and policy reports published recently, and other helpful research tools.
  • Consider the effects of granting unauthorized immigrants temporary relief from deportation. (Migration Policy Institute, November 20, 2014)
  • Explore diabetes data, state by state. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, October 27, 2014)
  • Read about computer and Internet use in the United States. (American Community Survey, U.S. Census Bureau, November 2014)
  • Access read-only copies of articles in Nature for free. (Nature, December 2, 2014)
  • Examine how money from hydraulic fracturing is affecting banks. (Federal Reserve Bank of New York, December 1, 2014)
 
 

Interim Hearings - Week of December 8, 2014

Interim Hearings - Week of December 8th

Today's Committee Meetings on the LRL website is a calendar of interim committee hearings with links to agendas. Below are resources related to upcoming Interim Hearings.

December 9th Top

Senate Committee on State Affairs

Charge: Actuarial and financial conditions of the pension and health care programs administered by the Teacher Retirement System (TRS) and the Employees Retirement System (ERS)

December 10th Top

Commission decisions

 

Staff presentation and public testimony - Public input form for agencies under review

December 11th Top

Topic: Sufficient balance to maintain in the Economic Stabilization Fund