Interim Hearings – Week of April 21st
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.
April 22nd
House Committee on Business & Industry
Charge: Voluntary nature of workers' compensation in Texas
- Worker’s Compensation, Texas Workforce Commission
- Information for Workers' Compensation Nonsubscribers, Texas Department of Insurance
- Questions and Answers About Nonsubscribing to Workers' Compensation in Texas, Texas Association of Responsible Nonsubscribers
- "Oklahoma Supreme Court Upholds New Workers' Compensation Law," Oklahoman, December 16, 2013
- Universal Workers' Compensation, Rep. Richard S. Geiger, Workcompcentral, December 30, 2006
Charge: Misclassifying employees as independent contractors
- Employee Misclassification as Independent Contractors (U.S. Map), U.S. Department of Labor
- Employee Misclassification (includes 2013 legislation), National Conference of State Legislatures
- Targeted Worker Misclassification Law Takes Effect in Texas, National Alliance of Fair Contracting, February 3, 2014
Charge: Legislative oversight
House Committees on Corrections and Criminal Jurisprudence (Joint Hearing, 10:00 a.m.)
Charge: Association between co-occurring serious mental illness and substance use disorders and parole revocation among TDCJ inmates; dual mental health diagnosis
- Co-Occurring Disorders in Criminal Justice Settings, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMHSA)
- Co-Occurring Disorders in Criminal Justice Settings: Resources and Training, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMHSA), January 2014
- An Overview of Offenders with Behavioral Disorders: Parole Board Member Training (Power Point), The Council of State Governments Justice Center , February 13, 2014
- Integrating Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services for Justice-Involved Persons with Co-Occurring Disorders, SAMHSA's Gains Center for Behavioral Health and Justice Transformation, August 2013
- Six Steps to Improve Your Drug Court Outcomes for Adults with Co-Occurring Disorders, National Drug Court Institute, April 2013
- Adults with Behavioral Health Needs under Correctional Supervision: A Shared Framework for Reducing Recidivism and Promoting, The Council of State Governments Justice Center, September 2012
- Another Look at Mental Illness and Criminal Justice Involvement in Texas: Correlates and Costs, Texas Department of State Health Services, 2010
House Committee on Corrections (2:00 p.m.)
Charge: Juvenile justice outcome-based financing models that allow the state to partner with private investors and innovative service providers
- States' Innovations in Juvenile Justice: Investing in Better Outcomes for Our Communities [video], Council of State Governments Justice Center, July 30, 2013
- Annual Privatization Report 2013: Criminal Justice and Corrections - State and International Corrections Privatization Update, Reason Foundation, May 6, 2013
- Annual Report to the Governor and Legislative Budget Board: Community Juvenile Justice Appropriations, Riders and Special Diversion Programs, Texas Juvenile Justice Department, December 2012
- Performance Incentive Funding: Aligning Fiscal and Operational Responsibility to Produce More Safety at Less Cost, Vera Institute of Justice, November 19, 2012
- "New York City, Massachusetts launching first social impact bond programs in United States," Reclaiming Futures, November 14, 2012
- The Costs of Confinement: Why Good Juvenile Justice Policies Make Good Fiscal Sense, Justice Policy Institute, May 2009
House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence (2:00 p.m.)
Charge: Mental health services for juveniles in the justice system, mental health needs of youth who come into contact with the juvenile justice system
- Better Solutions for Youth with Mental Health Needs in the Juvenile Justice System, National Center for Mental Health and Juvenile Justice and Models for Change Resource Center Partnership, January 22, 2014, and related publications
- The State of Juvenile Justice: A Roadmap to Improved Outcomes in the Texas Juvenile Justice Department, Adult Certification, and Mental Health, Children at Risk, May 2013
- "The Northwestern Juvenile Project: Overview," Juvenile Justice Bulletin, U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, February 2013 (longitudinal study of mental health needs and long-term outcomes of youth detained in the juvenile justice system in Cook County, Illinois)
- Girls' Experiences in the Texas Juvenile Justice System: 2012 Survey Findings, Texas Criminal Justice Coalition, October 2012
House Committee on Public Education
Charge: Student achievement at chronically underperforming schools, alternative governance
- Injecting Charter School Best Practices Into Traditional Public Schools: Evidence From Field Experiments, Harvard University, April 2014
- State-Initiated School Turnaround Strategies: Leveraging the State Education Agency to Drive Meaningful Change, Center on School Turnaround, November 2013
- "Parents revolt against failing schools," Stateline, July 1, 2013
- Which Way Up? What Research Says About School Turnaround Strategies, Center for Public Education, May 2013
- "Leave no school behind: can bad ones be turned around?," USA Today, April 28, 2013
April 23rd
House Committee on Urban Affairs
Topics: organizational hearing, committee schedule, invited testimony from Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs and Texas Commission on Fire Protection
House Select Committee on Transparency in State Agency Operations
April 24th
House Committee on Economic & Small Business Development
Charge: Economic development incentives
- Economic Development Tax Incentives Project fact sheets on Evaluating State Tax Incentives: How to Gauge Progress Toward Goals, How to Inform Policy Choices, and How to Measure Economic Impact Pew Center on the States, February 7, 2014
- “Prove it!: States offer many incentives to promote economic development, but seldom evaluate their effectiveness,” State Legislatures, National Conference of State Legislatures, February 2014
- Evidence Counts: Evaluating State Tax Incentives for Jobs and Growth, Pew Center on the States, April 2012
- Economic Development in Texas: Programs and Incentives, Texas Taxpayers and Research Association, September 2011
- An Analysis of Texas Economic Development Incentives, Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, December 2010, Updated April 2011
Charge: Governor's Office of Economic Development and Tourism and effectiveness on economic development in Texas
House Committees on Technology and Ways and Means (Joint Hearing, 10:00 a.m.)
Charge: Regulatory and tax policy for technology infrastructure
- Tech Trade in the States: A State-By-State Overview of International Trade in Tech Goods, TechAmerica Foundation, February 2014
- 2012 State Technology and Science Index: Enduring Lessons for the Intangible Economy and Texas Ranking No. 19, Milken Institute, April 2013
House Committee on Technology (2:00 p.m.)
Charge: Abuses in the patent system
- "Trolling for dollars," City Journal, April 6, 2014
- "Don't feed the patent trolls; they may byte," Texas Public Policy Foundation, April 3, 2014
- "Taking on 'trolls': 'patent trolls' tough topic for Legislature," Texas Lawyer, February 10, 2014
- "As patent suits increase, firms fight back," Texas Tribune, January 24, 2014
- Intellectual Property: Assessing Factors That Affect Patent Infringement Litigation Could Help Improve Patent Quality, U.S. Government Accountability Office, August 2013
- 2013 Patent Litigation Study, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, June 2013
- "Why East Texas courts are back on 'top' for patent lawsuits," Ars Technica, January 6, 2013
- The Direct Costs from NPE Disputes, Boston University School of Law, June 28, 2012
April 25th
House Committee on Culture, Recreation & Tourism
Topic: Coastal tourism and drought impact on Rio Grande turkey populations and wildlife management practices
- “Tourism industry closely watches cleanup,” Galveston County Daily News, March 25, 2014
- “Are we facing a new normal for wildlife management in Texas?,” Texas Wildlife, Texas Wildlife Association, February 2014
- “Lingering aftereffects of drought could impact turkey hunting,” The Cattleman Update, Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, March 15, 2013
- Rio Grande Wild Turkey in Texas: Biology and Management, AgriLife Extension, Texas A&M System, B-6198, 08-07
