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 751 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 1384 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 Stanford Education Experiment and how it may change the landscape of learning. (Wired, March 20, 2012)
• Explore how social media affects politics. (Journal of Communication, February 29, 2012)
• See state-by-state equal pay rankings. (American Association of University Women, April 10, 2012)
• Examine the Department of Defense's role in securing the southwest border. (U.S. Government Accountability Office, April 17, 2012)
• Recognize the importance of the Hispanic consumer in today's markets. (Nielsen, Quarter 2, 2012)
• Consider the extreme variance in the cost of an appendectomy. (Washington Post, April 24, 2012)

This entry was posted on April 26, 2012 at 3:15 PM and has received 932 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.

This entry was posted on April 24, 2012 at 8:24 AM and has received 2132 views. Print this entry.

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

• Explore issues related to hydraulic fracturing under the Safe Drinking Water Act. (Congressional Research Service, April 10, 2012)
• Examine current and proposed chemical disclosure laws related to hydraulic fracturing. (Congressional Research Service, April 4, 2012)
• Check out a hydraulic fracturing guide to state legislation and state legislative issues. (National Conference of State Legislatures, April 2012)
• Consider where the natural gas derived from hydraulic fracturing is going. (Slate, April 11, 2012)
• Compare retail gasoline taxes state by state. (U.S. Energy Information Administration, April 11, 2012)
• Read about the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. (Congressional Research Service, April 2, 2012)
• Get the final rules related to air standards for the oil and gas industry, including air standards for natural gas wells that are hydraulically fractured. (Environmental Protection Agency, April 17, 2012)

This entry was posted on April 19, 2012 at 3:15 PM and has received 1412 views. Print this entry.

• Texas Contract Management Guide, Texas Comptroller, 2012
• "Favored Consultants Got $420K in Texas Contracts, Auditors Say," Houston Chronicle, June 8, 2011
• Texas Procurement Manual, Texas Comptroller, 2011
• "DPS Outsourced Border Security to Private Firm Via No-Bid Contracts," Austin American-Statesman, March 15, 2012

• An Audit Report on Energy Savings Performance Contracts at Selected Agencies and Institutions of Higher Education, Texas State Auditor, September 2008
• Advancing Green Building Policy in the States, U.S. Green Building Council, September 2011
• Energy Savings Performance Contracting Guidelines for State Agencies, State Energy Conservation Office, November 2009
• "Contractors Seeing Work from Focus on Energy Savings," Washington Post, February 14, 2012

• "Arizona Seeking Pacts with Other States to Defy Federal Government," The Arizona Republic, March 9, 2011
• Backgrounder: Southwest Border Security Operations, National Immigration Forum, Updated December 2010

• "Groups Allege Proposed Budget Harms Trade, Immigrants," The Texas Tribune, February 15, 2012
• Meeting Land Port of Entry Modernization Needs in Constrained Budgetary Environment, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Joint Working Committee - October 27-28, 2011
• El Paso Regional Ports of Entry Operations Plan, Texas Department of Transportation, June 2011
• Atlas of the Land Entry Ports on the U.S. – Mexico Border, Border Policy Research Institute, 2010
• North American Border Crossing/Entry Data (Port Location), Bureau of Transportation Statistics

• "Smuggling Brings Down Texas Deer Breeders," Los Angeles Times, February 4, 2012
• Deer Breeder Program, Texas Parks & Wildlife Department
• "'Deer Doctor' Works to Preserve Whitetail Population," Wise County Messenger, March 12, 2012
• "Game Wardens Target Deer Smugglers," Houston Chronicle, October 18, 2011

• Boiling Point? The Skills Gap in U.S. Manufacturing, Deloitte Consulting LLP and the Manufacturing Institute, October 17, 2011
• Driving Innovation from the Middle: Middle-Skill Jobs in the American South's Economy, August 2011, and Forgotten Middle-Skill Jobs: State-by-State Snapshots, including Texas, National Skills Coalition (formerly Workforce Alliance)
• Texas Manufacturing Outlook Survey (monthly), Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, latest report March 26, 2012

• The Researcher Guidebook: A Guide for Successful Institutional-Industrial Collaborations, University-Industry Demonstration Partnership, March 12, 2012
• Jumpstarting University Technology Innovation Ecosystems: Private-Sector Partners Can Help Universities Make More of Their Research, Science Progress, March 14, 2012
• "Texas A&M Announces Plans to Strengthen and Enhance Research Initiatives," TAMU Times, September  16, 2011
• "Research Institutions Are Vital to the Success of Texas, Say Leaders in Academia and Industry," Texas Enterprise, July 18, 2011
• "University/Industry Partnerships Work: Don’t Kill the Golden Goose," IP Watchdog, July 15, 2011
• Office of Technology Commercialization, University of Texas at Austin
• Government-University-Industry Research Roundtable, The National Academies

• Aging in Place: A State Survey of Livability Policies and Practices, AARP Public Policy Institute and National Conference of State Legislatures, December 2011 (including transportation choices)
• "Improving the Long-Term Care Workforce Serving Older Adults," Health Affairs, January 2010[Contact Library for full text]
• Keeping Baby Boomers Mobile: Preserving the Mobility and Safety of Older Americans, TRIP, A National Transportation Research Group, and American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), February 2012
• Report of Findings, Nursing Facility Staffing Survey 2010, American Health Care Association, October 2011 (including retention and turnover rates by state)
• "Why Nursing-Home Staffing Is Crucial to Health," U.S. News and World Report, April 13, 2012

• "Demand for Services May Strain County," San Antonio Express-News, May 16, 2011
• County Subdivision Regulation Sourcebook, Texas Association of Counties, 2010
• "Red Tape, Catch 22s Impede Progress in Texas' Colonias" and "Conditions, Health Risks Sicken Colonias Residents," Texas Tribune, July 2011

• County Jail Population Reports, Texas Commission on Jail Standards, last updated March 1, 2012
• Public Safety and Cost Control Solutions for Texas County Jails, Texas Public Policy Foundation, March 2012
• "Minding the Gap," Denton Record-Chronicle, March 1, 2012
• Costly Confinement & Sensible Solutions: Jail Overcrowding in Texas, Texas Criminal Justice Coalition, October 2010
• Crisis Care Services for Counties: Preventing Individuals with Mental Illnesses from Entering Local Correction Systems, National Association of Counties, June 2010

• Texas Healthcare Transformation and Quality Improvement Program Medicaid 1115 Waiver

This entry was posted on April 17, 2012 at 8:32 AM and has received 1203 views. Print this entry.

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

• Explore the educational paths of Texas English language learners. (Migration Policy Institute, March 2012)
• Map health rankings county by county for 2012. (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, April 3, 2012)
• Check out lists from nine physicians' specialty societies that help doctors and patients make wise decisions together about the most appropriate line of health care. (ABIM Foundation, 2012)
• Consider the economic status of the aged. (Social Security Administration, March 2012)
• Examine what factors most affect unemployment. (Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, First Quarter 2012)
• Find employment data from the green sector. (Bureau of Labor Statistics, March 22, 2012)

This entry was posted on April 12, 2012 at 3:15 PM and has received 936 views. Print this entry.

1. TRUE or FALSE: It is illegal to pick bluebonnets in Texas.

 

Answer: FALSE, in most cases. The bluebonnet was first designated the state flower by the Legislature in 1901 as the Lupinus subcarnosus and in 1971 later expanded to include the Lupinus Texensis and any other variety of bluebonnet.

 

It is currently not illegal pick bluebonnets; however, statutes prohibiting criminal mischief or trespass may apply.

 

Under a 1933 law it was unlawful to pick any flowers upon enclosed land or land maintained by the State as a public park or preserve without specific permission. The law specifically mentions bluebonnets, Indian paint brushes, and other wildflowers under prohibitions against transporting, etc. or selling flowers which have had been gathered in violation of the Act. With the codification of the 1973 Penal Code the old statute was repealed.
 

 

2. What year was the first standardized test administered in Texas public schools and what was it called?

 

Answer: The first standardized test, the Texas Assessment of Basic Skills [TABS], was authorized by SB 350, 66th Legislature and administered in Texas schools in 1979. Education Code 39.023, Adoption and administration of instruments. See also Association of Texas Professional Educators [ATPE], "Texas Journey from TABS to TAKS," Fall 2005.

 
 

3. Which former House member from Washington County cast his first presidential vote for Grover Cleveland, was invited to attend the inaugural ball for Governor James S. Hogg, and was a relative of one of the writers of the Texas State Flower Song, "Bluebonnets"? [Hint: this one may require a field trip to Capitol Room 2N.3!]

 

Answer: William David Crockett, Member of the House of Representatives from Chappell Hill, Washington County in the 29th-31st Legislatures (1905-11) and Chair of the Appropriations Committee. In searching the LRL's members database, Texas Legislators: Past & Present, for home county: Washington County, Crockett's record includes a biographical sketch from A History of Texas and Texans (1916) noting his first presidential vote was for Grover Cleveland. The Governor's Inauguration Exhibit at the LRL in Capitol Room 2N.3 includes an 1891 invitation to Governor Hogg's inaugural ball sent to W.D. Crockett, and the state flower song, "Bluebonnets," by Julia D. Booth and Lora C. Crockett [sister-in-law of William David Crockett], was adopted by the Legislature in 1933 (Handbook of Texas Online). Listen to "Bluebonnets" performed by the LRL's own Donald Brower.
 

 

4. There are two busts in the artwork collection on display in the LRL. One is Sam Houston, who is the other? [Hint: this one may require a field trip to Capitol Room 2N.3!]

Answer: The second bust is of Memucan Hunt, minister from the Republic to the U.S. to secure the recognition of the independence of Texas and Secretary of the Texas Navy, who later served in the House of Representatives of the 5th Legislature from Galveston.

 

 

5. When was the last time a Governor's veto was overridden by the Legislature?

 

Answer: May 15 & 17, 1979. In the 66th Legislature, Regular Session, the Legislature overrode Governor Bill Clements' veto of HB 2153, Relating to the approval of the Commissioners Court of Comal County of hunting and fishing regulations. See LRL Vetoes, List of Overridden Vetoes, House Journal Text, Senate Journal Text.

This entry was posted on April 12, 2012 at 3:00 PM and has received 12323 views. Print this entry.

Article III, Section 35 of the Texas Constitution requires bills to have titles, commonly called captions, intended to give the legislators and the public reasonable notice about the bill's subject. 

The Legislative Archive System includes captions for all bills from the 62nd Legislature (1961) through the 82nd Legislature (2011), as well as captions for all enrolled bills back to the 18th Legislature (1883). The Legislative Archive System can be used to search for bills by caption, and the captions can also be used to give some idea about the topics the Legislature was considering each session. 

For National Library Week, we have created a pair of word clouds using captions from enrolled bills for the 82nd Legislature:

Captions from the 82nd Legislature
 

This entry was posted on April 11, 2012 at 8:00 AM and has received 2194 views. Print this entry.

• Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) Crime Victims Fund: Briefing Background 2013, National Association of VOCA Assistance Administrators, April 6, 2012
• "Crime Victims Services Bracing for Big Cuts," Texas Tribune, February 16, 2012
• Appreciation for Dedication: Crime Victim Services Annual Report 2011, Texas Attorney General, January 2012
• "Programs Face Funding Challenges: Tight Budgets and Uncertainties," Crime Victim Compensation Quarterly, 2012
• State by State Compensation Programs Guide, National Association of Crime Victim Compensation Boards

• Debt Affordability Study 2012, Texas Bond Review Board, February 2012
• Comprehensive Annual Financial Report for the State of Texas for the Fiscal Year Ending August 31, 2011, Texas Comptroller, February 2012 (see especially pages 257-261)
• Fiscal Size-Up, 2012-13 Biennium, Texas Legislative Budget Board, February 2012
• 2011 State Debt Review, Standard & Poor's, May 25, 2011

• Design-Build and Alternative Project Delivery Issues in Texas, Texas Council of Engineering Companies, November 2007
• A Guidebook for the Evaluation of Project Delivery Methods, Transit Cooperative Research Program, April 2009

• A Call to Action: Information Exchange Strategies for Effective State Government, National Association of State Chief Information Officers, April 2011
• Protecting Texans' Identities: The Challenges of Securing Privacy in Transparent Government, Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, December 2010
• The State of Texas Improves Information Sharing Through Adoption of National Information Exchange Model Standards, UniSys, 2008

• State Board of Education, Texas Education Agency
• Redistricting Map - State Board of Education Districts Enacted by the 82nd Legislature, PLANE120,Texas Legislative Council - District Viewer
• "Redistricting Committee Could Increase Number of Education Districts," Amarillo Globe-News, January 12, 2012
• "Problems Appear as Lawmakers Redraw State Education Board Districts," Austin American-Statesman, April 10, 2011

• Betting on Justice Series, Center for Public Integrity and New York Times, November 2010 - June 2011
• Informational Paper to the House of Delegates on Alternative Litigation Financing, American Bar Association Commission on Ethics 20/20, February 2012
• "NYC Bar Weighs in on Litigation Financing," American Bar Association, August 29, 2011
• Third-Party Litigation Funding and Claim Transfer: Trends and Implications for the Civil Justice System, UCLA-RAND Center for Law and Public Policy, 2010, Conference Proceedings from June 2, 2009

• "Enter the Watchmen: The Critical Role of an Ombuds Program in Corporate Governance," Risk Management Magazine, September 2004

• "Promoting Urban Agriculture as an Alternative Land Use for Vacant Properties in the City of Detroit: Benefits, Problems and Proposals for a Regulatory Framework for Successful Land Use Integration," Wayne Law Review, Wayne State University, August 2010
• Urban Agriculture: A Sixteen City Survey of Urban Agriculture Practices Across the Country, Turner Environmental Law Clinic, Emory University, Georgia Organics, November 2011
• Urban Agriculture and Community Gardens Policy Toolkit (success factors, challenges, financing, case studies, and resources), PolicyLink

• "By the Numbers: Texas Wildfire Disaster Six Months Later" and "Six Months After Historic Wildfires, Texas Recovery Going Strong With FEMA/State Assistance," Federal Emergency Management Agency, February 29, 2012
• Fiscal Notes: Texans on the Fire Line, Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, September 2011
• Hazard Mitigation Webinar Presentation, Texas Division of Emergency Management, October 2011
• "Texas Was Warned About Risk of Building in Backcountry," Austin American-Statesman, September 12, 2011
• "Texas Forest Service Battles Fires, Budget Cuts," Texas Tribune, April 8, 2011

This entry was posted on April 10, 2012 at 3:10 PM and has received 1602 views. Print this entry.