NEWS IN STATE GOVERNMENT
Honoring our Veterans:
Monday, November 11, 2019 is Veteran’s Day.
The theme for this year is “Service”. We encourage you to take a moment to thank a Veteran for their service.
Thank you to all of our Veterans and God bless.
Go to **www.va.gov **to learn more.
Governor:
Governor Abbott Names Hicks Policy and Budget Director: Following the announcement of the departure of former Policy Director John Colyandro on Friday, Nov. 1, Governor Abbott named Sarah Hicks as Director of Policy and Budget for the Office of the Governor. Hicks has served as the Budget Director since she joined the Office of the Governor in 2017. Click here to read more.
Governor Abbott Appoints Adkins and Marino to Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission: Governor Greg Abbott has appointed Michael S. “Scott” Adkins and Deborah “Debbie” Gray Marino to the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission for terms to be determined as set forth by law in House Bill 1545, 86R. Click here to read more.
Governor Abbott Appoints Richardson to Board of the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles: Texas Governor Greg Abbott has appointed Sheriff Joel W. Richardson to the Board of the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles for a term set to expire on February 1, 2021. Click here to read more.
Comptroller:
Comptroller Glenn Hegar Distributes Nearly $850 Million in Monthly Sales Tax Revenue to Local Governments: Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar announced he will send cities, counties, transit systems and special purpose taxing districts $849.6 million in local sales tax allocations for November, 4 percent more than in November 2018. Click here to read more.
Comptroller’s Office Releases State of Texas Annual Cash Report: Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar announced the release of the State of Texas Annual Cash Report for fiscal 2019. The report, a cash-basis representation of the state’s financial condition as of Aug. 31, 2019, shows revenue and expenditure details for all funds in the State Treasury. Click here to read more.
State Sales Tax Revenue Totaled $2.8 Billion in October: Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar said that state sales tax revenue totaled $2.82 billion in October, 7 percent more than in October 2018. Click here to read more.
Railroad Commission:
Texas Oil and Gas Production Statistics for August 2019: Crude oil and natural gas production as reported to the Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) for August 2019 came from 176,054 oil wells and 88,823 gas wells. Click here to read more.
Environmental Quality:
TCEQ approves fines totaling $996,834: The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality today approved penalties totaling $856,858 against 21 regulated entities for violations of state environmental regulations. Click here to read more.
Health and Human Services:
Texas Officials to Host Groundbreaking Ceremony for Rusk State Hospital Construction: Texas Health and Human Services is hosting a groundbreaking event Nov. 12 for the construction of new patient units at Rusk State Hospital. Click here to read more.
OTHER NEWS
State Headlines:
Texas Statewide Election Results: Democrats are hoping to flip Texas House District 28 in the upcoming runoff. Meanwhile, in Dallas’ House District 100 race, five votes separate two candidates trying to make it to the second round. Click here to read the full Texas Tribune analysis. Texas-voters also approved 9 of 10 constitutional amendments. Click here to read more about this.
118 Days Until the 2020 Primary: Click here to keep up with Patrick Svitek’s ongoing list and commentary of 2020 Texas Candidates.
Can the power grid go green in time?: Scientists say mankind needs to cut its greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2050, to avoid the worst consequences of climate change. Click here to read the full Houston Chronicle article.
CBD Shop Owner Seeing Green After USDA Hemp Rules Drop: Texans who want to legally grow hemp are one step closer to making that a reality now that the U.S. Department of Agriculture last week released its framework for hemp production. Click here to read the full Spectrum New article.
Texas Signed Off on the Restoration of this Old Mine. Now a Leaky Landfill is Contaminating Groundwater: Alcoa has put its shuttered Sandow Mine site on the market for $250 million, advertising it as a country paradise. Testing has found that groundwater under a landfill in the middle of the property is contaminated with toxic heavy metals. Click here to read the full Texas Tribune article.
Big Coal Gave a Tiny Texas Town Free Land. There’s a Major Catch: Sulphur Springs leaders say they want Luminant — Texas’ largest electricity generator — to leave in place a 120-foot-tall mound of excavated dirt at the site of a shuttered coal mine so they can build an amphitheater. But the soil contains potentially dangerous materials, according to state regulators. Click here to read the full Texas Tribune article.
More Data Than Oil: Bandwidth Poised to Become Next Bottleneck in the Permian Basin: At first, there were not enough pipelines to move oil and natural gas to market. Then, it was a lack of water for drilling and hydraulic fracturing operations. And then it was an insufficient number of disposal sites to handle all the wastewater from the oil fields. Click here to read the full Houston Chronicle article.
National Headlines:
National Election Results: Click here for a recap of national election results from November 5, 2019.
Kinder Morgan Stock Shoots Up After Co-Founder Buys $6 Million of Shares: Stock prices for Houston pipeline company Kinder Morgan shot up on Friday following news that ones its co-founder bought hundreds of thousands of shares. Subscribers can click here to read the full Houston Chronicle article.
Saudi Aramco Announces Plans to Go Public: Arabia’s giant state-owned oil producer, Saudi Aramco, announced plans on Sunday to go public in what could be the largest initial stock offering ever. Click here to read the full New York Times article as published by the Houston Chronicle.
Farm Bankruptcies Rise in Over Half of States: Across the country, farmers are struggling with particularly difficult financial realities. The past year has seen extreme flooding in the Midwest and drought in the West, a tariff war that resulted in commodity prices plummeting, and falling land value. Click here to read the full Route Fifty article.
