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Good morning,

The past is, literally, in the past. To close out the week, I reflect on the importance of running strong into tomorrow.

This is the Texas Minute for Friday, Nov. 15, 2024.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan

Abbott Tells Universities to Freeze Tuition Last year, Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law a tuition freeze that blocked increases for both the 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 academic years. With that set to expire, Will Biagini reports [[link removed]] the governor will not support tuition increases during the upcoming biennium.

To that end, Abbott said this week he had received confirmation from the boards overseeing Texas' colleges and universities that they will not increase tuition in the 2025-2026 and 2026-2027 academic years.

The governor said that as families continue to shoulder the costly effects of inflation, they should not also deal with the undue financial burden of education.

“I will ensure college affordability remains a top priority for the state as we head into the next legislative session.” – Greg Abbott [[link removed]] Agreement Reached With Mexico to Help Ensure Water Reliability The International Boundary and Water Commission has announced that an agreement has been signed to help ensure consistent water deliveries from Mexico to the United States. Addie Hovland has the story [[link removed]].

Last month, Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller issued an executive order allowing farmers and ranchers to begin drawing water directly from the Rio Grande. That proved to be a tipping point for Mexico.

The newly approved resolution will allow Mexico to send water to the U.S. from rivers and tributaries that generally would have been used by Mexico.

According to a 1944 treaty, Mexico is supposed to deliver 350,000 acre-feet of water to the South Rio Grande Valley over five years. However, since 2020, Mexico has started to fall behind in delivering the full amount of water required despite having overflowing reservoirs.

"The newly amended water agreement between the United States and Mexico is a step in the right direction, but Texans know that promises don’t water our fields, sustain our livestock, or supply our cities. While we welcome progress to secure the state’s water supply, we need action—plain and simple." — Sid Miller [[link removed]] Legislation Would Require Schools to Get Parental Consent for Sex Ed Republican State Sen. Bob Hall of Edgewood wants school districts to obtain written consent from parents [[link removed]] before teaching human sexuality courses in public schools.

Hall's proposal would require that school districts contact parents for consent no later than the 14th day before instruction begins. Such requests for consent would have to be in a standalone format—that is, not included with any other notification or consent requests. Harrison Wants Transparency, Accountability for Local Taxing Entities Ahead of the 2025 legislation session, Republican Brian Harrison of Midlothian has filed several measures in the House requiring more transparency and accountability from local government officials who impose property taxes. Erin Anderson has more [[link removed]] on his proposals.

For example, Harrison proposes that voter approval be required for all property tax increases. A separate piece of legislation would require a 60 percent supermajority of voters to approve a tax increase.

He has also authored legislation to abolish property tax levies within five years and establish a special legislative committee that would work out a new revenue mechanism. $1 Billion Astrodome Revitalization Plan Faces Opposition Houston's Astrodome has sat empty since 2005, when it housed Hurricane Katrina evacuees. But now, reports Charles Blain [[link removed]], a billion-dollar plan has been put forward to revitalize the building.

While not formally affiliated with the Astrodome itself, the Astrodome Conservancy wants to turn the structure into a year-round retail village with an expo center and restaurants.

This is just the latest in a slate of proposals to breathe new life into the aging structure. Harris County proposed a $200 million bond in 2013 to redevelop it, but that effort failed. In 2015, then-Harris County Judge Ed Emmett and others traveled to Germany to tour an indoor park as inspiration for the facility. In 2018, the county approved $105 million to renovate the building and build a garage and event space, but that spending was later put on hold.

The Conservancy believes its plan is different because it will be revenue-generating and largely privately funded.

The going won't be easy since the two entities that largely control the future of the Astrodome—that’s the Houston Livestock Show and the Harris County Sports and Convention Corporation—almost immediately rejected the idea. Friday Reflection

Idolizing the Past [[link removed]]

by Michael Quinn Sullivan

My high school track coach was of the opinion that the defining characteristic of a good runner was not physical agility but mental focus. His most severe critique was not of a runner’s time but their form. Get the form right, and the times will follow. I’m way past my running prime, but I’ve found that admonition holds true in a lot more than just athletic competition.

All these years later, I can still hear Coach Hunt admonishing us. “Don’t look at the track, your feet will find it. Don’t look back; there’s nothing there to care about! Keep those eyes forward! That’s where you’re going!”

We all have an almost irresistible desire to look backward.

When running, the urge is to see how close the nearest competitor is. But, as Coach Hunt would tell us, if we were running flat out and to the best of our ability… that knowledge was useless. Worse, your feet tend to follow your gaze, leading to stumbles and falls.

Keep your eyes fixed on the finish line. As the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews noted, Jesus endured the cross because of the joy that was set before Him. This is a good reminder in our own race!

Yet many of us get drawn into looking backward because we fear that where we are—and where we are going—won’t be nearly as good. We romanticize the past even while paying lip service to the joy we are told awaits us in the future.

This is nothing new. Think of the people of God being led out of actual slavery and bondage. God delivered them from their captors, leading them by a miraculous pillar of fire and smoke. Their enemies had been destroyed by crashing waves. And, rather than have them forage for food while on the run, God provided daily for their dietary needs with bread literally from heaven.

The human heart is nothing if not prone to complaint. So, they grumbled about this lack of variety to the point of romanticizing their time in slavery! In Numbers 11, they said, “We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic.”

Yeah… It had cost nothing… except liberty.

The past is never as great as we remember. But even that thought fails to recognize a simple, inescapable truth: the past is the past. What counts today is what we are striving for tomorrow.

In running and life, we look backward at our peril. The past can be useful for reflection and education, but it is not a destination. As a self-governing people, we must set our eyes and our action on the future.

Quote-Unquote

"The future doesn't belong to the fainthearted; it belongs to the brave."

– Ronald Reagan

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