In this weekly post, we feature online articles and policy reports published recently, and other helpful research tools.

• Explore how the recent recession has struck people's mortgages and other debts and financial resources. (Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, May 2012)
• Review the fiscal impact of the 2011 drought in Texas. (Legislative Budget Board, May 10, 2012)
• Track recent demographic changes in the youngest of America's children. (U.S. Census Bureau, May 17, 2012)
• See which of the country's rivers are most endangered. (American Rivers, 2012)
• See how much health care costs have risen for families in 2012. (Milliman Research Report, May 2012)
• Get an update on the Keystone XL Pipeline project. (Congressional Research Service, May 9, 2012)

This entry was posted on May 24, 2012 at 3:15 PM and has received 1184 views. Print this entry.

Over the last year, the library has worked hard to scan House and Senate journals to make them available on our website. Part of this project included scanning congressional journals from the Republic of Texas. These journals date to the period between 1836 and 1845, just before Texas became a state. At that time, the Republic of Texas had formed as a separate nation after gaining independence from Mexico.

Reading through the journals of the First Congress gives you a sense of how much things have changed:

• The Congress that year consisted of 14 senators and 29 representatives, as opposed to the 150 representatives and 31 senators that make up today's state legislative body.  
• Since no capital had yet been established, the First Congress met in Columbia, TX (today's West Columbia in Brazoria County).
•  In his State of the State address, ad interim President David C. Burnet told the members of Congress, "To you is committed the beginning of legislation, and as you shall lay the foundation, so will be reared the superstructure."  He stressed the importance of adopting a plan for "permanent and certain revenue," and for building up the military organization, whose "strength has been fluctuating on account of the frequent accession and discharges of volunteers under short enlistment."   

The journals include familiar names like Sam Houston, twice President of the Republic of Texas and later Governor of the State of Texas (1859-1861), and J. Pinckney Henderson, Attorney General and Secretary of State in the early years of the Republic, and later the State of Texas' first Governor (1846-47).

Journals for all nine congresses of the Republic of Texas are available online at:  http://www.lrl.state.tx.us/collections/journals/journals.cfm#republic

The library wishes to thank the Daughters of the Republic of Texas Library, the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History (University of Texas at Austin), the Tarlton Law Library at the University of Texas at Austin School of Law, and the Texas State Library and Archives Commission for generously lending us individual congressional journals not present in our own collection.

This entry was posted on May 23, 2012 at 4:39 PM and has received 6790 views. Print this entry.

In this weekly post, we feature online articles and policy reports published recently, and other helpful research tools.

• Explore whether Texas is meeting children's developmental and mental health needs. (Texans Care for Children, May 9, 2012)
• Track regional disparities in unemployment. (CQ Roll Call, May 8, 2012)
• Map where the renewable energy is, state by state. (The Washington Post, May 2, 2012)
• Discover the invisible borders that divide the nation, from colloquialisms referring to soft drinks to communication networks. (The Atlantic, April 26, 2012)
• Find out where tacos originated. (Smithsonian.com, May 4, 2012)

This entry was posted on May 17, 2012 at 3:15 PM and has received 1319 views. Print this entry.

This entry was posted on May 15, 2012 at 8:00 AM and has received 2090 views. Print this entry.

In this weekly post, we feature online articles and policy reports published recently, and other helpful research tools.

• Read about the future of community colleges. (21st-Century Commission on the Future of Community Colleges, April 2012)
• Explore the relationship among housing costs, zoning regulations, and school performance. (Brookings Institution, April 19, 2012)
• Examine the financial health of the Social Security Trust Funds. (Social Security Administration, April 23, 2012)
• Note that more seniors are falling into poverty as they grow older. (Employee Benefit Research Institute, April 25, 2012)
• Review health care disparities among racial and ethnic minorities. (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, April 20, 2012)
• See the links between mental illness and chronic physical illness. (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, April 10, 2012)
• Consider the recent influx of unaccompanied immigrant children from Mexico. (The Wall Street Journal, May 7, 2012)

This entry was posted on May 10, 2012 at 3:15 PM and has received 1207 views. Print this entry.

If you're following the Planned Parenthood vs. Texas case about the Women's Health Program, you may be interested in the key court documents, laws, rules and legislation listed below.

Key court documents

Planned Parenthood of Austin Family Planning, Inc., et al vs. Thomas M. Suehs, Executive Commissioner, Texas Health and Human Services Commission (1:12-CV-00322, Women's Health Program).

April 11, 2012: Original complaint (filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas)

April 11, 2012: Plaintiffs' motion for preliminary injunction

April 30, 2012: Order granting preliminary injunction (Judge Lee Yeakel, U.S. District Judge in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas)

April 30, 2012: State's motion to stay preliminary injunction (filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit)

April 30, 2012: U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit grants state's motion to stay preliminary injunction

May 1, 2012: Planned Parenthood files motion to lift stay of preliminary injunction

May 4, 2012: U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit vacates  its April 30,2012 order granting stay of preliminary injunction. The case is being placed on the Court's oral argument calendar for the week of July 9, 2012.

*In an earlier, related case on March 16, 2012, Texas' attorney general sued the federal government to have federal funding restored to the Women's Health Program. See: State of Texas v. Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; Original complaint (No. 6:12-cv-62)

Related legislation, laws and rules

SB 7, 82nd 1st Called Session (2011): Relating to the administration, quality, and efficiency of health care, health and human services, and health benefits programs in this state; creating an offense; providing penalties.

Laws and rules:

Texas Human Resources Code, Sec. 32.04 (c-1): Authority and scope of program; eligibility; demonstration project for women's health care services

Texas Administrative Code, Part 1, Women's Health Program §§ 354.1361-354.1364 (For background information, please see proposed rule text as adopted: Definition of 'affiliate,' Adopted rules, 1 TAC §§354.1361-354.1364) (Texas Register)

(Federal) 42 U.S.C. § 1396a, State plans for medical assistance, Subsection (a)(23), 'any individual eligible for medical assistance (including drugs) may obtain such assistance from any institution, agency, community pharmacy, or person, qualified to perform the service or services required,' Social Security Act § 1902(a)(23)

This entry was posted on May 9, 2012 at 8:00 AM and has received 2602 views. Print this entry.

• Medicaid Transformation Waiver including overview, timeline, background resources, and proposed rules, Texas Health and Human Services Commission

• 2011 State Physician Workforce Data Book (November 2011), Health Care Reform and the Health Workforce, The Impact of Health Care Reform on Future Supply and Demand for Physicians: Updated Projections Through 2025 (June 2010), Physician Shortages to Worsen Without Increases in Residency Training (June 2010), and other Workforce Data and Reports, Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), Center for Workforce Studies
• Primary Care Physicians by County of Practice, Texas Department of State Health Services, Center for Health Statistics, September 2011
• "A Recipe for Medical Schools to Produce Primary Care Physicians," New England Journal of Medicine, February 10, 2011
• Supply Trends Among Licensed Health Professions, Texas, 1980-2011, Fifth Edition, Texas Department of State Health Services, Center for Health Statistics, January 2012
• Workforce Facts and Briefs including Current Geriatrician Shortfall by state, American Geriatrics Society, Workforce Policy Studies Center, July 2011

• No Financial Accountability: Why Texas K-12 Public Education Lacks Any Real Financial Accountability and the Implications for Both the Ongoing Public School Financing Litigation and the Future of Our State, Texas Education Accountability Project, March 2012
• "A Guide to the Texas School Finance Lawsuits," Texas Tribune, February 2012
• An Introduction to School Finance in Texas, Texas Taxpayers and Research Association, Revised January 2012
• School Finance, Texas Education Agency
• School Funding, Texas Public Policy Foundation
• Resources for the Current Texas School Finance System, Texas Association of School Boards

• Social Media Guidelines, Department of Information Resources, May 4, 2012
• "Social Media Still Has Skeptics in Government," Government Technology for States and Local Government, March 19, 2012
• Social Media Terms of Service Agreements and State Government, Council of State Governments, March 9, 2012
• 2012–2016 State Strategic Plan (Social Media), Department of Information Resources, November 1, 2011
• Friends, Followers, and Feeds: A National Survey of Social Media Use in State Government, National Association of State Chief Information Officers, September 2010
• Social Media Presence, Texas.gov

• "Border Business: El Paso's Commercial Market,” Tierra Grande, Texas Real Estate Center, Texas A&M University, April 2011
• Texas Center for Border Economic and Enterprise Development, Texas A&M International University
• "U.S. Border Cities See Profits in Bridges to Mexico," Governing, February 2011

• 2011 State Teacher Policy Yearbook: Texas, National Council on Teacher Quality, January 2012
• An Examination of Performance-Based Teacher Evaluation Systems in Five States, Institute of Education Sciences, February 2012
• Profile of Teachers in the U.S. 2011, National Center for Education Information, August 2011
• "New Teachers Struggling in Tough Market," Austin American-Statesman, April 6, 2011
• Ed School Essentials: Evaluating the Fundamentals of Teacher Training Programs in Texas, National Council on Teacher Quality, May 2010
• Completed Studies on Educator Certification and Standards, Texas Education Agency, last updated January 5, 2012

This entry was posted on May 7, 2012 at 5:01 PM and has received 1449 views. Print this entry.

On May 5, 1862, the Mexican army, led by Texas native General Ignacio Seguin Zaragoza, defeated a much larger expeditionary French force near Puebla at the Mexican forts of Loreto and Guadalupe. The Cinco de Mayo holiday commemorates the victory and is also celebrated in Texas and throughout the Southwest. Zaragoza became a national hero in Mexico, but died of typhoid fever the following September.

The Zaragoza Birthplace State Historic Site was established near Goliad to honor the Texas-born General (Parks & Wildlife Code, Sec. 22.082). In 1961, the 57th Legislature authorized transfer of the Zaragoza birthplace site from Goliad County to the State Parks Board, and in 1971, the 62nd Legislature made the Zaragoza site a part of Goliad State Park. On September 13, 1980, the Governor of Puebla presented a 10-foot, 3,000 pound bronze statue of Zaragoza to Goliad State Park.

Celebrate the 150th anniversary by spending 36 Hours in Puebla, Mexico [New York Times, April 19, 2012] or checking out What's On in Puebla for the 150th Cinco de Mayo [All About Puebla].

Sources:
Ron Stone, The Book of Texas Days, Shearer Pub., 1984
Handbook of Texas Online, Texas native Zaragoza repels French army on Cinco De Mayo, May 5, 1862, Ignacio Seguin Zaragoza, General Zaragoza State Historic Site, and Goliad State Historical Park
Mary Love Bigony, "Two Nations Honor Texas-Born Hero,"Texas Parks and Wildlife, December 1980

General Ignacio Zaragoza, ca. 1850-1862
Courtesy of the Library of Congress

This entry was posted on May 4, 2012 at 8:04 AM and has received 3809 views. Print this entry.

In this weekly post, we feature online articles and policy reports published recently, and other helpful research tools.

• Consider nursing home emergency preparedness. (Office of Inspector General, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, April 13, 2012)
• Examine how migration patterns from Mexico to the United States have changed over the years. (Pew Hispanic Center, April 23, 2012)
• See the federal Homestead Act of the mid-nineteenth century and explore how the act shaped America. (Smithsonian, May 2012)
• Review the federal tax provisions expiring in 2012. (Congressional Research Service, April 17, 2012)

This entry was posted on May 3, 2012 at 3:15 PM and has received 749 views. Print this entry.

Today's Committee Meetings on the LRL website is a calendar of interim committee hearings with links to agendas. The following may be helpful resources for upcoming hearings.

May 7th
House Committee on Appropriations - Subcommittee on Article II
Charge: Medicaid trends, implementation of cost-savings initiatives in health and human services, and changes in hospital reimbursement methodology

• Hospital Payment Advisory Committee Meeting Agenda, Texas Health and Human Services Commission, May 3, 2012
• Medicaid Managed Care: Key Data, Trends, and Issues and A Mid-Year State Medicaid Budget Update for FY 2012 & A Look Forward to FY 2013, Kaiser Family Foundation, February 2012
• Medicare & Medicaid Trends in Health Care Sectors, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, last updated March 26, 2012

May 8th
House Committee on Appropriations - Subcommittee on Article III
Charge: Current practices for funding higher education capital construction projects

This entry was posted on May 1, 2012 at 4:12 PM and has received 1380 views. Print this entry.