The Right Idea

TPPF's Brian Phillips, Derek Cohen, and Andrew Brown break down the final stretch of the Texas legislative session on a major deadline day. They discuss Texas’ foster care system, statewide testing, education funding, taxpayer funded lobbying, and more.

1:50 Hot Take: What page of the calendar will the House end on tonight?
5:24 Foster care in Texas
24:40 The Bell Tolls with the first deadline in the Texas House tonight 
35:58 Bye-Bye Texas STAAR Test!
39:56 Senate Bill 2972 reins in college campus protests
41:17 Bail Reform in Texas
43:23 Taxpayer Funded Lobbying
47:22 What’re you watching?

Creators and Guests

Host
Brian Phillips
Brian Phillips is the Chief Communications Officer at the Texas Public Policy Foundation. For over a decade, Brian has helped policymakers and political candidates develop effective messages and communication strategies. Phillips is a veteran of presidential, congressional, and gubernatorial campaigns, and has extensive experience working in the United States Congress and public policy think tanks.
Host
Derek M. Cohen
Derek M. Cohen, Ph.D, is the Texas Public Policy Foundation's Chief Policy & Research Officer and Right on Crime Senior Fellow. Previously the Vice President of Policy and director of Right on Crime, the Foundation’s criminal justice reform initiative, Cohen was instrumental in the passage of the First Step Act, federal legislation that borrowed from successful changes to prisons and sentencing that he had helped pass in conservative states. In addition to leading the Foundation’s work on criminal justice, he is also the lead researcher of firearms policy.
Guest
Andrew Brown
Andrew C. Brown, JD, is the Vice President of Policy at the Texas Public Policy Foundation.

What is The Right Idea?

The Right Idea: The Texas Public Policy Foundation's weekly look at the people, policy, and politics that drive Texas.