Sunset News
A Texas Sunset Advisory Commission staff report (available here) of the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement (TCOLE) — which regulates and licenses law enforcement officers (including school police and school marshals) — concludes the agency is so fundamentally flawed that the best thing for the Legislature to do next session is to authorize the appointment of a “blue ribbon panel” to recommend to the Legislature in 2023 how best to overhaul the agency.
The report notes that since the school marshal program began in 2013, the TCOLE hasn’t conducted a comprehensive assessment to determine if the training required of school marshals to be initially licensed, and to have their license renewed every two years, needs to be updated to ensure that the holders of the license can best protect Texas students.
It will be up to the full Sunset commission to make final recommendations to the Legislature.
Economic Development Agreements
The state Comptroller’s November Fiscal Notes online publication (press release/article) looks at the so-called “Chapter 313” economic development agreements that allow ISDs to enter into agreements to provide businesses with significant tax incentives in exchange for job creation and/or other promises of economic benefits.
The program (under current law) expires on Dec. 31, 2022, and is likely to be fiercely debated in the upcoming legislative session, state Comptroller Glenn Hegar noted.
The article notes that 222 ISDs — concentrated primarily in rural areas of West Texas, the High Plains and Gulf Coast regions — currently have a total of 509 active Chapter 313 agreements (see map below).
Source: Texas Comptroller (November 2020 Fiscal Notes)