Public Policy and Financing in Texas

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering public policy stages, theories of change, health, education, and taxation structures in Texas based on the provided lecture notes.

Public Policy

Broadly defined as “Whatever government choose to do or not to do”.

Problem Identification and Agenda Setting

The first stage of the policy cycle, which often begins with a constituent complaint and determines which issues will be addressed by government.

Policy Formulation

The second stage of the policy cycle where legislators propose legislation to correct a perceived problem.

Incremental Change

A theory of policy change suggesting that shifts occur in small, gradual steps rather than large transformations.

Punctuated Equilibrium

A theory suggesting that long periods of policy stability are interrupted or "punctuated" by sudden, major shifts.

Multiple Streams Theory

Explains how problems, policies, and politics must align for an issue to successfully reach the government's agenda.

Policy Feedback Theory

A theory that accounts for how existing policies influence and shape future policy-making processes.

Right-to-Work Laws

Part of Texas's pro-business environment that supports anti-union and pro-employer policies.

Tax Abatements

Subsidies used by state and local governments in Texas to actively recruit and attract businesses.

Occupational Licensing

Regulations that have historically been burdensome in Texas, though recent reforms have reduced fees and requirements to improve competition.

Medicare

A federal program providing health insurance for persons aged $65$ and older or those with disabilities.

Medicaid

A federal and state assistance program managed at the state level that pays for health care services for individuals of any age with very low incomes.

The Medicaid Gap

A situation in Texas where individuals earn too much to qualify for Medicaid but not enough for ACA subsidies; currently requires an individual to earn less than $\$24,731$ to qualify as a parent or caretaker.

SBE and TEA

The State Board of Education (SBE) sets guidelines for K–12 education, which are then enforced by the Texas Education Authority (TEA).

Permanent University Fund (PUF)

A fund established in $1876$ to provide financial support to the University of Texas and Texas A&M systems.

Higher Education Assistance Fund (HEAF)

A fund created in $1984$ to support higher education institutions not covered by the PUF.

Roe v. Wade (1973)

The Supreme Court decision holding that state bans on abortion were unconstitutional during the first trimester.

Dobbs (2022)

The Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade, returning the power to regulate abortion to state legislatures.

Surface Water

Water above the land, such as rivers and lakes, which is considered property of the Texas government.

Groundwater

Water held underground, which is treated as private property of the landowner under the rule of capture.

Open Carry

The practice of openly carrying holstered handguns in public, which became legal in Texas in Jan $2021$.

Campus Carry

A policy permitted in $2016$ that allows licensed individuals to carry concealed handguns on college campuses.

Pure Public Goods

Goods defined by nonexclusivity and nonexhaustion, such as clean air and street lights.

Nonexhaustion

A characteristic of public goods where one person’s use of the good does not diminish its availability for others.

Nonexclusivity

A characteristic of public goods where it is difficult or impossible to exclude non-payers from using the good.

Social Goods

Goods that are exclusive and exhaustive, such as education, libraries, and vaccinations.

Toll Goods (Club Goods)

Goods that are exclusive but nonexhaustive, such as toll roads and national parks.

Common-Pool Goods

Nonexclusive but exhaustive finite resources, such as groundwater and fisheries.

Tax Capacity

A state’s potential to raise revenue from citizens' wealth; Texas’s index is $94.8$, just below the national average of $100$.

Tax Effort

The amount of taxes a government actually collects relative to its potential capacity; Texas has a low tax effort.

Tax Base

The sum of all income, property, or goods that are subject to taxation.

Regressive Tax

A tax structure that takes a higher percentage of income from low-income individuals; Texas is the $2^{nd}$ most regressive state system in the U.S.

Progressive Tax

A tax structure that takes an increasing percentage of income from wealthier constituents.

Proportional Tax

A tax structure that takes a flat percentage of income from all levels; not commonly used.

Income-Elastic Taxes

Taxes that rise and fall quickly relative to economic conditions, such as sales and oil/gas taxes, upon which Texas is $85-90\%$ dependent.

Sales Tax

The largest source of state tax revenue in Texas, accounting for $57.7\%$ ($\$135.9$ billion).

Excise Tax

Consumer taxes placed on specific merchandise such as gasoline ($0.20$ tax), tobacco, and liquor.

Property Tax

The largest source of revenue for local governments in Texas, which has no state-level property tax.

Nontax Revenue

Government revenue from service charges, fees, the lottery ($2.8\%$), and federal receipts ($59.2\%$ of nontax revenue).

Budget Fix

Constitutional and statutory provisions that earmark or restrict nearly $80\%$ ($\$99.9$ billion) of the Texas budget for specific purposes.

Discretionary Funding

The limited portion of the general revenue ($20.4\%$ or $\$25.5$ billion) available for legislative discretion.

Prepared Food Logic

The practice of taxing prepared food but not raw produce, which disproportionately burdens the poor.

Affordable Care Act (ACA)

Signed in $2010$, it expanded Medicaid eligibility and required coverage for preexisting conditions.

DACA

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals; a federal policy providing renewable $2$-year work permits for undocumented immigrants who entered the U.S. before age $16$ and before June $2007$.

DREAM Act

A Texas law offering a conditional path to citizenship for high school graduates who came to the U.S. under age $16$ if they attend college or perform military service.

Franchise Fee

A substitute for a corporate income tax in Texas used to tax certain businesses depending on their classification.

Hopwood v. Texas

A court case that effectively made affirmative action illegal in Texas between $1996$ and $2003$.

Tax Shifting

The process by which businesses pass tax costs to consumers through higher prices.

Tax Exporting

The shifting of a state's tax burden to residents of other states, such as taxing oil exported out-of-state.

Eminent Domain

The power of the government to take private property for public use.

Rule of Capture

A legal principle stating that groundwater under a landowner's property is their private property.