Good morning, 

This is the Texas Minute for Thursday, February 15, 2024.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Democrats Pushing to Force Texas Onto National Grid

• Democrats in Congress want to force Texas onto the national power grid, a move energy experts say is being driven by unreliable "green" energy producers and would hike prices without improving reliability. Sydnie Henry has the story.
       
• Much of Texas's electric grid has historically been separate from that of the rest of the nation.
      
• Democrat U.S. Reps. Greg Casar (Texas) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY) are pushing the effort with legislation they are styling as the “Connect the Grid Act.”
     
• “Connecting with the U.S. grid will exacerbate rather than solve Texas’ reliability problems. This is because the primary source of our reliability problems is renewable energy, and the federal grid is experiencing the same problems with renewables as Texas is,” explained energy policy expert Bill Peacock.
      
• The Texas Public Policy Foundation's Brent Bennett said the push for federal legislation of this sort typically comes from the wind and solar energy lobby. “It’s kind of absurd, I think. ... They’ll tout the reliability benefits, but that’s really pretty limited.”

Awkward: Thimesch Calls Opponent ‘Liberal,’ But Appointed Him as Successor

• When taking office, Texas lawmakers appoint a group of designated emergency interim successors to take their place in the event they are unable to exercise their duties of office. As Brandon Waltens reports, State Rep. Kronda Thimesch (R-Lewisville) did this when taking office last year.
       
• Now, her named successor—attorney Mitch Little—is challenging her for the seat, so she's resorted to calling him a "liberal" ahead of the GOP primary. Little has been challenging Thimesch from the right.
     
• According to records obtained from the Texas House by Texas Scorecard, Thimesch appointed Little as her number two choice to be her successor. She set her husband as number three on the list.
      
• Little, who had served as her campaign treasurer in 2022, said he was honored by the appointment at the time but came to be disappointed by her record in office.
      
• Thimesch did not respond to inquiries about the 2023 appointment or her more recent name-calling.

Alumni Input Needed

• Texas Scorecard's investigative team is increasing coverage of the state's institutions of higher education—looking at the adoption of woke policies leading to highly politicized indoctrination.
      
• If you are an alumnus of the University of Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, or the University of North Texas—or any of their branches—and would like to offer tips, feedback, or otherwise be involved in the ongoing coverage, please send an email to [email protected].

Texas Schools Still ‘Passing the Trash’

• Despite state laws aimed at preventing predatory teachers from compromising students’ safety by continuing to work as educators, evidence shows that loopholes and lax enforcement still allow Texas schools to “pass the trash.” Erin Anderson has the story.
      
• In 2017, Texas lawmakers enacted stiffer penalties against school administrators who fail to report educators’ sexual misconduct and thereby enable those teachers to get jobs at other schools—a process known as passing the trash.
       
• A recent analysis of the state’s educator misconduct reporting system finds misbehaving educators slipping through the cracks and still working with students. The report from Citizens Defending Freedom found problems with how predatory behavior is handled at all levels, starting at the campus on up to the Texas Education Agency.
     
• One of the latest examples is an athletic trainer charged last year with child grooming who had a past record of “improper communications with students” at a previous district.

Paxton Issues Endorsements for GOP Primary 

• Ahead of the upcoming 2024 primary elections, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton released his full official endorsement list, saying that he wants to "clean house." Will Biagini has the details.
     
• At the top of the ballot, Paxton has endorsed Donald Trump for president and John Devine for the Texas Supreme Court. It also includes David Schenck, Gina Parker, and Lee Finley for the Court of Criminal Appeals.
    
• Notably, the list is dominated by challengers to incumbents in the Texas House where Paxton served before moving to the Senate and now the Office of the Attorney General.
      
• "With your help we will redeem the Texas Courts and The Texas House," wrote Paxton on social media.

TEXAS TOMORROW: What's Making Texas Grow?

• The US Census Bureau recently released its list of fast-growing cities, and Texas cities were at the top. In the latest edition of his podcast, Charles Blain explores how low taxes, sensible regulation, and affordability were the primary drivers of that growth... and what is necessary to keep it going.
       
• Always available at TexasScorecard.com, you can watch Texas Tomorrow on YouTube or listen to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and Spotify.

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Quote-Unquote

"Humbly invoking the blessings of Almighty God, the people of the State of
Texas, do ordain and establish this Constitution."

– Preamble, Texas Constitution​

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