“Texas has always prided itself on its free-market posture. It is the only state that does not require companies to contribute to workers’ compensation coverage. It boasts the largest city in the country, Houston, with no zoning laws. It does not have a state fire code, and it prohibits smaller counties from having such codes. Some Texas counties even cite the lack of local fire codes as a reason for companies to move there.

But Texas has also had the nation’s highest number of workplace fatalities — more than 400 annually — for much of the past decade.”

After Explosion, Texas Remains Wary of Regulation - NYTimes (via brooklynmutt)

Yeah… and no OSHA requirements or a state income tax, either… We’re a ridiculous state, and I can’t rationally think of why I love it, but then I remember Austin and I say, “oh… yeah.”

(via brooklynmutt)

“I’m not surprised by Governor Perry’s order for state agencies to plan for a 10% cut in their budgets. Two years ago, the Governor asked agencies to do the exact same thing—plan. But those hypothetical cuts became a harsh reality. If the course from last interim continues, no one should be shocked when additional cuts for the current budget year occur, making the $15.5 billion cut deeper. It has become standard operation for Governor Perry to ask for cuts in current spending and not just future spending. That’s why he’s given our agencies a heads up that they “may be asked to reduce their fiscal year 2013 budgets should state fiscal conditions warrant it.”
Even though some programs like Medicaid, CHIP, and the Foundation School Program are excepted from this order, so many of our state’s crucial programs and services are still on the chopping block. Public universities and community colleges, abuse and neglect investigations under Child and Adult Protective Services, prison and criminal justice systems, transportation, and mental health are just a handful of essential services at risk of being cut.”

State Representative Garnet Coleman’s Press Release Statement on Governor Perry’s Order for State Agencies to Plan for Cuts To Their Budgets By 10%

“

An attendee at the meeting asked Combs how much had the state “actually” cut from public education.

She said the state didn’t reduce funding, but added $2 billion.

“It was not less, but it was not as much,” she said.

Coulson said College Station will receive $7 million less for the 2012-13 school year than what it received in 2010-11. Wallis said BISD is receiving $9 million less.

“We are already to the cuticle,” Wallis said. “We’re as far down as we can go.”

Combs said the point of her presentation was that the increase in enrollment in Medicaid through the reform bill will change everything. Public education funding will only continue to be squeezed by the pressures of Medicaid, she said.

”

State Comptroller, Susan Combs, says health care bill will reduce education spending, lies about Education CUTS | Bryan/College Station, Texas - The Eagle

I can’t even.  Anyone in Texas have a list of when and where these town halls are expected to take place?