| Vote Recommendation | Economic Freedom | Property Rights | Personal Responsibility | Limited Government | Individual Liberty |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Neutral | Neutral | Neutral | Neutral | Neutral | Neutral |
No significant fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.
HB 2627 would establish The Task Force to Study Population
Growth in Texas. The primary duties of this temporary task force would be to
assess the effects of population growth in Texas on the housing market,
businesses, available land resources, the economy, healthcare services, and
county jails.
The governor, lieutenant governor, and speaker of the house
would each appoint three members, for nine total members on the task force. It
would be required to submit a final report to certain members of the legislature
as well as the governor; the report must contain a summary and analysis of:
Lastly, this task force would be abolished in August of
2017.
HB 2627 would create a task force that is nearly redundant to the
work produced by the Office of the State Demographer (OSD). According to the
author’s office, unlike the OSD, this task force would specifically focus on
assessing the populations at the county level; however, we still do not agree
this justifies implementing the task force.
Additionally, if the OSD currently does not study the effects of population growth at the county level, as the author’s office contends, then the simpler solution would be to create a bill that would require the OSD to conduct such a study. This would be much easier because the OSD already has the necessary resources in place. Instead, this legislation creates a separate task force that would be composed of political appointees, which would be staffed by staff members of the politicians who appointed those political appointees.
While this study may be somewhat redundant it does not affirm or infringe on our liberty principles, therefore we are neutral.