Weekly Update from Texas Rural Reporter 3/24
Here are this week's stories about rural Texas that you need to read.
Friday, March 24, 2023
TEXAS LEGISLATURE
Texas Rural Reporter: How Do the House and Senate Tax Proposals Impact Rural Texans
The Texas Legislature is now fully underway and the clock is ticking down as State Lawmakers work to take care of their business before the end of the 140-day regular legislative session. The state has a significant budget surplus and leaders in both the Texas House and the Texas Senate agree that relief for taxpayers and additional funding for schools are top priorities that need to happen.
(*Editors note - We will follow key issues playing out in Austin related to education, taxes, economic development, and healthcare during the legislative session and provide you with our best analysis on how it will impact rural Texas.)
Bill Alert: SB 675 The Texas Rural Jobs Act
The Texas Rural Jobs Act (SB 675; Springer/Perry) creates a $300 million public-private rural investment program. 65% of the investment capital would be incented through an annual insurance premium tax credit. The tax credits would be capped annually and redeemed pro rata for four years beginning in the 2026-2027 biennium. The program is designed to pay for itself, with new tax revenues and job creation outpacing the utilization of the tax credits and it is estimated that there are at least 19,000 Texas small businesses in rural Texas that would be eligible for investment under the program. The bill is pending in the Senate Finance committee and expected to get a vote next week.
Texas Tribune: House panel advances new Texas budget with property tax cuts, teacher pay raises
The proposal recommends spending billions on programs including property tax cuts, teacher pay raises, mental health services and border security. It leaves out requests for pay raises for retired state employees and funding for rent relief and childcare programs.
Texas Tribune: Texas Senate passes $16.5 billion package to lower property taxes
The proposals target the taxes homeowners pay and require school districts to lower their tax rates.
BUSINESS
Kyle Irwin, Texas Bankers Assn: What Kind of Banks Do We Need?
The recent failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank have raised important questions. The American public is rightly asking, “What happened to these banks?” “Why are we bailing out these banks’ depositors?” and, “Is my money safe?”
KERA: Without enough workers in the U.S. to fill jobs, ranches, and farms in Texas look abroad
No state has more ranches or farms than Texas, which produces everything from cotton and corn to cattle and watermelons. Last year, the agriculture industry brought in nearly $25 billion in revenue. But farmers continue to face a significant challenge: a labor shortage.
Editorial: Farm Bill must overcome Rural/Urban Split
Several critical themes surfaced when members of the U.S. House Agriculture Committee set up in Waco last week for a “listening session” ahead of cobbling together a massive farm bill, but collectively they made a point that should be raised more often: Food security in America equates to national security, especially when one considers the variety, abundance and quality of food available and how relatively little it consumes our daily incomes compared to other parts of the world.
Lubbock Avalanche Journal: Sen. Perry, committee take first step toward establishing billions for state's water supply, infrastructure
Legislation that could transform Texas’ crumbling water infrastructure and create new sources of water for the state’s growing population took a crucial first step forward Monday.
$5 billion proposed bill could help bring better internet to rural Texas areas
In 2021, Texas lawmakers reviewed broadband surveys and asked for federal funds, but were denied because the state did not have a plan. Now, Deep East Texas representative, Trent Ashby, has introduced House Bill 9 to hopefully solve this problem.
EDUCATION
NBC News: Inside the rural Texas resistance to the GOP’s private school choice plan
Classroom battles over racism and LGBTQ inclusion have supercharged the movement for private school choice. Remote public schools like the one in Robert Lee, Texas, could pay the price, opponents warn.
KETK Tyler: Rural districts fret as Gov. Abbott rallies supporters for ‘school choice’ at Capitol
Gov. Greg Abbott hosted a rally for “parental empowerment” at the Texas Capitol on Tuesday, advocating for his plan to subsidize private education in front of supporters his team bussed to Austin.
HEALTH
NPR: Mobile Clinics Really Got Rolling in the Pandemic. A New Law Will Help Them Cast a Wider Safety Net.
Rural residents face more significant health care provider shortages, including dentists, compared with their counterparts in larger cities. Since the beginning of the pandemic, mobile clinics have increased access to a range of services in hard-to-reach places with sparse populations. A recently passed law, which makes it easier for rural communities to pay for new mobile clinics, could expand this trend. In the past, clinics that serve low-income rural residents couldn’t spend federal grant money, called new access point grants, on mobile services in communities where they didn’t already have facilities.
State of Reform: Texas House Republicans introduce measures to address healthcare access and workforce as bill filing period ends
The Texas Legislature marked its 60th day of the 2023 session on Friday, the last day for lawmakers to file bills. Legislators can now constitutionally move forward with actions on the bills after the filing period, and will have a record budget surplus to work with in doing so.
State of Reform: Texas health leaders provide update on preparations for Medicaid redeterminations, say concerns remain
Presenting on a panel at the 2023 Texas State of Reform Health Policy Conference in Austin on Thursday, senior officials from the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC), Texas Association of Community Health Centers (TACHC), and Every Texan outlined the statewide coordination that was the start of Medicaid redeterminations next month.
Report: Linkages Between Rural Community Capitals and Healthcare Provision: A Survey of Small Rural Towns in Three U.S. Regions
Identifies community-level factors affecting the recruitment and retention of rural healthcare professionals through key informant interviews and a survey of healthcare professionals in 9 states across three regions: the Lower Mississippi Delta, the Southern Great Plains, and the Upper Midwest. Explores how the importance of these factors varies across regions and types of healthcare professionals and whether the importance of these factors differs between recruitment and retention.
Additional links: Report Summary
Sponsoring organization: USDA Economic Research Service