Editor’s note: Texas has had more than its fair share of stories over the last few years. Some of it has to do with the fact that Texas was a significant source of job creation. Radio talk show host Glenn Beck has said many times on show that “Texas is unique.” With the addition of Rick Perry in the presidential campaign for 2012, even more attention has been given to the Lone Star state. There are reasons why Texas has been a major job creator and other reasons for its unique position among states. The “Texas Difference” can clearly be seen in the recently passed laws by the last Texas Legislature as seen in this article by the Star-Telegraph:
Come Thursday, there will be some new laws in town.
No longer will most Texans have to worry about leaving guns in their cars while at work. Drivers won’t have to worry about slowing down on some highways at sundown. Teens caught “sexting” face misdemeanor charges – and attending state-sponsored classes about the dangers of sending sexually explicit messages and texts with their parents. And most women seeking abortions will first have to undergo a sonogram and learn the results.
Those new laws – along with the new state budget, which includes billions of dollars in cuts – are among the hundreds of new laws that go into effect Thursday. State lawmakers earlier this year passed more than 1,400 new laws, nearly half of which go into effect Sept. 1, the beginning of the new fiscal year.
“These laws are a lot of small things that might add up to be something big,” said Brandon Rottinghaus, assistant political science professor at the University of Houston. “You have a fairly conservative agenda that manifested in the grouping of these laws.
“Collectively, people may feel a trend toward more conservative governing,” he said. “Among the bigger things, the general scope of the budget and the major issue – the need to cut billions of dollars and the way in which it was cut – shows a distinctly conservative stamp on the Legislature.”
A sampling of some of the new laws that go into effect Thursday… (read more)
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