Texas Legislature Research Articles

Recovered History: Chicanx Representation in the Dual Credit Classroom

Abstract Recent legislation in Texas effectively prohibits K-12 educators from addressing issues of racism and explicitly prevents teachers from discussing the place of racism in Chicanx relations across Texas history. University educators, and dual-credit instructors especially, must intercede if future generations of learners are going to encounter the true and complete history of border culture, colonialism, and the complex relationship that Chicanx people have with the Southern region of the United States. I argue that the use of digital archives and recovered history like the internet project Are We Good Neighbors? Mapping Discrimination Against Mexicans in 1940s Texas, which catalogs racial discrimination through individual testimony, the Library of Congress database of Mexican American documents, and Chicano! History of the Mexican American Civil Rights Movement offer educators an opportunity to incorporate key research skills into the classroom while also establishing a linear context for liminality as a feature of identity formation in contemporary Chicanx literature. The combination of research and critical inquiry is vital to instructing students on the realities of Chicano relations and introducing them to the Mexican American Civil Rights Movement, a key element of American history that is not only conspicuously absent from most K-12 curricula but also an inescapable influence on identity formation and contemporary discussions around Mexican American relations. The use of digital archives to recover and center Chicanx history is actionable on a small scale and serves as an important opportunity to resist anti-ethnic legislation in real time, a vital act of subversion that sidesteps prolonged challenges to censorship at the legislative level.

The Relationship Between Course Structure and Intensity, and Student Success in Developmental Education

Texas legislation mandated that colleges offer developmental education using a corequisite model, where students concurrently enroll in introductory college-level courses with supplemental developmental support. Using data from the population of Texas students in developmental education, we estimated regression models to investigate differential relationships between corequisite characteristics and outcomes, both overall and by student characteristics. Our findings suggest there is no single “magic bullet” course structure that is universally more effective, as relationships between the reform and student success vary by subject and student subgroup. Additionally, even a single credit of corequisite developmental support can be beneficial for some students, potentially more so than traditional three-credit courses.

FULL SPEED AHEAD? Reexamining Texas's Approach to Eminent Domain

Property rights are traditionally held sacred in Texas. But through eminent domain, landowners lose their property rights, purportedly in service of the broader public. Sometimes, the legislature confers eminent domain power on for-profit companies. Landowners are then forced to surrender their property while the companies benefit economically. The result is that landowners are stripped of the right to fully use and enjoy their property.
 The recent Texas Supreme Court case, Miles v. Texas Central Railroad & Infrastructure, Inc., demonstrates the tension between property rights and economic development created by eminent domain. Facially, Miles concerns whether a for-profit company’s high-speed rail qualifies as an interurban rail or railroad for purposes of eminent domain authority. But like many cases involving eminent domain, Miles is really about power: who has it, where it comes from, and what happens to those who do not have it. This Article functions as a starting point for reexamining how the Texas Legislature can better balance the scales between a landowner’s property rights and the economic benefits of eminent domain.

Financing Policy Considerations From Texas to Optimize Care for Children With Medical Complexity.

Texas has a tremendous opportunity and momentum to build a more effective system of care for children with medical complexity (CMC) and their families. This is evidenced by growing collaboration among many committed partners since implementation of the Medicaid STAR Kids managed care program in 2016 and Texas' participation in a US Health Resources and Services Administration-funded, 10-state Collaborative Improvement and Innovation Network to Advance Care for CMC from 2017 to 2022. Texas has several comprehensive health homes for CMC that position the state to serve as a national model of integrated, family-centered care for CMC and ensure high-quality care to an exceedingly vulnerable population. Further, Texas' elected leaders demonstrated their interest in system innovation in 2019 and 2021 by enacting state legislation to explore alternative care models and conduct a health home pilot for CMC. Much more must be done to sustain the work underway and bring the promise of care transformation to reality. To this point, we recommend that care planning and coordination be delegated to provider-led, integrated health homes for CMC with alternative payment structures that appropriately reimburse and align incentives with optimal care delivery. To realize the policy aspirations of an effective system of care for CMC, regulatory oversight, payment models, and outcome measures need to be improved to align with the vision articulated in Texas legislation and agency guidance. Although each state's Medicaid program is different, we believe each state can take away policy lessons from those learned by Texas.

Tapping Tomorrow: Houston's Water Prospects for the Next Century

Key TakeawaysAfter long‐term groundwater pumping increased subsidence‐related flood risk in Houston, the Texas legislature created subsidence districts to manage groundwater use.Reducing groundwater pumping requires alternative water supplies (AWSs) to meet current and future water demands.An assessment of AWS options in the Houston area determined that potential supplies should be more than ample to meet anticipated growth and demand.

88th Texas State Legislature: Summaries of Water-Related Legislative Action

Editor-in-Chief ’s Note: September 1 of every odd-numbered year is the date when most new legislation from the most recent session of the Texas Legislature typically goes into effect. With this in mind, the Texas Water Journal invited seven organizations that work closely with the Texas Legislature to provide their take on the changes to Texas water policy and law that were made during the 2023 session. The opinions expressed in these summaries are the opinions of the individual organizations and not the opinions of the Texas Water Journal, the Texas Water Resources Institute, or the Bureau of Economic Geology.

Campus liaisons for students who have experienced foster care: Lessons learned from Texas legislation

Texas has been a leader in creating policies and programs to support students in higher education who have experienced foster care (SEFC). The state has a tuition and fee waiver, extended foster care, and a state-wide collaborative devoted to improving higher education outcomes of SEFC. In 2015 the state passed innovative legislation requiring every college and university to identify a campus liaison for SEFC. The present study is a process evaluation to assess the implementation of the liaison legislation. We conducted in-depth interviews with SEFC, a content analysis of campus websites, and a survey of campus liaisons. Results reveal that students do want a single point of contact and when connected with a liaison, see that relationship as essential to their success. However, half of all campuses (49%) have not complied with the legislative requirement to identify the liaison on their websites, making it difficult for SEFC to know who to contact at these institutions. In addition, liaisons that responded to our survey report that they want to serve SEFC, but lack the training, time, and resources to fulfill their designated role. Conclusions are that legislated policies for SEFC can affect change, but require sufficient investment in order to adequately support the students they are designed to serve.

Hands across the Water: How the 57-Year Dispute over the Edwards Aquifer Began, Persisted, and Was Resolved

The Edwards Aquifer is the primary source of water for a region in South-Central Texas that includes San Antonio and irrigated agriculture to the west. The aquifer also contributes to surface water flow in the Guadalupe River through Comal and San Marcos Springs, which are home to endangered aquatic species. In 1956, during the multiyear Texas drought of record, Comal Springs ceased to flow initiating a multi-decadal transboundary water dispute over the aquifer. This dispute pitted urban, agricultural, and environmental interests and surface water right holders against one another. In 1993, a federal district court ruled that the Endangered Species Act required that adequate flows from the springs be ensured for the endangered species. The Texas Legislature responded to the court by establishing the Edwards Aquifer Authority to regulate groundwater withdrawals. In 2007, with a key deadline looming to create a species protection plan, the Texas Legislature intervened again and mandated that the rival regional water interests engage in a stakeholder process to develop the plan. That process, which was called the Edwards Aquifer Recovery Implementation Program, resulted in a diverse group of parties with opposing interests collaborating to develop, approve, fund, and implement the landmark Edwards Aquifer Habitat Conservation Plan, which is in its 10th year of implementation.

The Lady Makes Boots: Enid Justin & the Nocona Boot Company by Carol A. Lipscomb

Reviewed by: The Lady Makes Boots: Enid Justin & the Nocona Boot Company by Carol A. Lipscomb Tracey Hanshew The Lady Makes Boots: Enid Justin & the Nocona Boot Company. By Carol A. Lipscomb. (Lubbock: Texas Tech University Press, 2021. Pp. 252. Illustrations, notes, bibliography, index.) Boots are among the most recognized icons of Texas—in company with the lone star and the longhorn. Carol A. Lipscomb's biography of Enid Justin places one of the more instrumental leaders in the boot industry into the historical record. Justin was heavily influenced by her father, "Daddy Joe," who began his boot making business in Spanish Fort, Texas, under the name "H. J. Justin, Boot Maker" (4, 9). In 1889, he moved his family to Nocona, Texas, which began a close relationship between the Justin boot business and the town of Nocona; more importantly, it deeply established Enid's roots there in both the town and the business. This relationship would become the bedrock that saw Enid through heartbreak and contributed to her success. In 1925, when she began her own boot company, Nocona, she was an anomaly in a world of companies owned by men. Through her success, however, she "set an example for women entrepreneurs who came after her" (159). Lipscomb explains both Enid Justin's connection and commitment to her childhood community and her important contributions to Texas history, revealing her determination through the hardships of losing a child, divorcing twice, and maintaining dedication to the business in the face of such loss. At a time when women rarely worked around hypermasculine [End Page 602] cowboys and oil field workers, and knowing that some "would not do business with a company run by a woman," Enid did not let this stop her (36). When asked about her participation in the women's liberation movement, she replied "I was a libber before the word and the definition were invented" (159). Enid Justin's contentious relationship with her siblings, who managed the Justin Boot company they had inherited from their father, promoted to some degree both the Justin and the Nocona company through a series of misprints in various newspapers. But it also increased her resolve to succeed with her own company, which she built from the ground up to be competitive with big-name companies like Justin, Lucchese, Tony Lama and others. That the 80th Texas Legislature designated the cowboy boot as the "official State Footwear of Texas" in the early 2000s is due in part to the presence of these nationally known companies, including hers (201). Among the ample use of Enid's own words, like the personal quotations that begin each chapter, the one that most encapsulates Enid is, "I've been blessed to have been in this business with these people right here in Nocona, Texas. What more could I have asked for?" (179) Carol Lipscomb's account of Enid Justin's life reveals how one woman made history and earned her place among the "greats" in Texas. That her name, Justin, is synonymous with Fort Worth, and that Nocona boots maintained the label of the "best boots in the world" for years, speaks not only to her commercial success but also to her leadership and business management. This biography is long overdue and is a significant contributor to the history of the economic and cultural development of Texas. Lipscomb successfully weaves Enid Justin's life through its historical context so that even those unfamiliar with it can appreciate the importance of women's history as much as Texas history. Tracey Hanshew Eastern Oregon University Copyright © 2022 The Texas State Historical Association

U.S. History as Part of a Core Curriculum

U.S. History as Part of a Core Curriculum Megan Birk (bio) It never occurred to me that I would write a Texas-centered piece for The Middle West Review, but desperate times call for additional information. Much of the emphasis on the "civics crisis" in the U.S. over the last ten years focused on K-12 curriculum, and the startling lack of historical and governmental knowledge attained before high school graduation. But the problem runs deeper than K-12, with increasingly fewer institutions of higher education including U.S. history in their core curriculum. Texas is among the states that continues to require U.S. history as part of a public college education. Added in 1955, the relevant section of the Texas Education Code reads in part: "A college or university receiving state support or state aid from public funds may not grant a baccalaureate degree or a lesser degree or academic certificate to any person unless the person has credit for six semester hours or its equivalent in American History."1 In the middle of the Cold War, these six credits joined the six already required in Government/Political Science that were included by the Texas Legislature in 1929. Among the others states with such a mandate are California, which has "American Institutions" graduation options, and Georgia's universities which must include U.S. history with state content. Texas's requirement is not static. Recent adjustments to this law included adding equivalent surveys in Mexican American History, Native American History, African American History, U.S. Women's History, and others. At a time when departments across the country, but particularly in the Midwest, are facing death by a thousand cuts, these six hours help keep departments in Texas open. However, the shrinking campus cores, the diminishing number of degree plans allowing electives and minors, and the limitations on financial aid that cover only what is in the degree plan are affecting us all. Some [End Page 177] of us have the added issue of eyeing each legislative session with no small amount of concern about the future of tenure and the academic freedom to teach accurate U.S. history. Each time the administrative positions on campuses change hands there is worry about the ratio of full-time to contingent faculty. The six hours of required history are stabilizing to a degree. There is, however, a caveat. While history core classes provide a solid foundation of funds to colleges and departments as steady sources of Student Credit Hours (SCHs) and enable faculty to advertise and recruit for other history classes, this is by no means a monopolized system for four-year institutions. Students in Texas have been pushed into dual enrollment classes, which allows qualified students to take "college classes" in high school and earn credit prior to graduation. More and more students are arriving on campuses "core complete" because of this program designed to save the state, and ostensibly some parents, tuition money, but it comes at the cost of diminishing credit hours for departments and serious concern about the quality and content of dual enrollment classes in high school buildings. Texas also has a robust system of community colleges that are often partnered with their local university. The faculty at these institutions teach a wide array of U.S. history offerings that can be transferred to four-year schools, and many of them employ faculty with PhDs. Ironically, this surge of dual enrollment enthusiasm provided short term boosts to graduate programs across the state, as local teachers worked nights to earn the hours needed to teach those classes in high school. According to the accrediting standards of SACS (Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges), eighteen hours of graduate credit are the minimums required to teach core curriculum history courses for college credit. In other words, someone doesn't even need to earn a master's degree to hypothetically qualify. A temporary increase in graduate students with the potential result of fewer undergraduates down the road was a brutal catch-22 for many departments. At my university of thirty-thousand-plus students, our history department is staffed by approximately twenty tenured and tenure-track...

Texas or Territory? Borderlands Separatism and Postwar Politics in the Trans-Nueces, 1848–1850

This article historicizes an effort by South Texas businessmen in the late 1840s to secede from the State of Texas and to create a new federal territory to protect their landholdings between the Nueces River and the Rio Grande. Their pursuit centered on the trans-Nueces region, as the land between the two rivers was called, but it also tapped into broader political hostilities in the antebellum United States. In particular, the South Texans' territorial petition arrived in Congress as slavery's proponents and opponents fought bitterly over the institution's role in national life. Further, calls for a trans-Nueces territory represented a crisis for the United States and Texas in the immediate aftermath of the Mexican-American War. In effect, the South Texas separatists pitted both powers against each other, warning Congress that the Texas Legislature was on the verge of confiscating their lands and pleading with the federal government to step in. By simultaneously introducing the territory issue in Congress and agitating state lawmakers in Austin, the trans-Nueces entrepreneurs forced open a new path toward resolution that provoked the Texas government to act, eventually creating a commission that swiftly endorsed the men's land titles in the region. The territorial campaign was a borderlands response to the post-1848 land tenure arrangement that the businessmen saw as a threat to their economic power. Overall, the episode reveals the dimensions and lasting power of local negotiations in national histories.

Sul Ross at Texas A&M by John A. Adams Jr

Reviewed by: Sul Ross at Texas A&M by John A. Adams Jr Dan R. Frost Sul Ross at Texas A&M. By John A. Adams Jr. Centennial Series of the Association of Former Students, Texas A&M University. (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2021. Pp. xiv, 269. $32.95, ISBN 978-1-62349-938-9.) The title of this book is slightly misleading. Sul Ross at Texas A&M covers more than just Lawrence Sullivan “Sul” Ross’s time as president of the [End Page 166] Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas (Texas A&M) from February 1891 until his death in January 1898. The work also provides solid background information on Ross’s previous roles as a Texas Ranger, Confederate brigadier general, and governor of Texas. John A. Adams Jr. demonstrates that Ross’s popularity in these earlier occupations paved the way for his tenure as the college’s president. The book also more fully develops Ross’s time at Texas A&M than the two other key works on the subject, Henry C. Dethloff’s A Centennial History of Texas A&M University, 1876 to 1976 (College Station, Tex., 1975) and Judith Ann Benner’s Sul Ross: Soldier, Statesman, Educator (College Station, Tex., 1983). Aside from the typical duties of running a college, Ross spent much time mulling requests to return to political office, including a possible third term as governor. Nevertheless, through the copious use of Ross’s personal correspondence, Adams reveals that Ross, although attracted to the intrigues of Texas politics, decided to remain at the college and forgo a resumption of his political career. Politics nonetheless intruded on Ross’s time as president. Like other leaders of agricultural and mechanical colleges during the Gilded Age, Ross annually lobbied sympathetic legislators for appropriations and fought those who doubted the value of the applied scientific, agricultural, and mechanical engineering courses provided by the college and who would have scrapped the institution altogether. His popularity and political connections prevailed in getting the larger budgets necessary to accommodate the growing number of students and faculty during what Adams rightly touts as Ross’s successful administration. This accomplishment is especially remarkable given that it coincided with an economic depression during the 1890s. Still, Adams’s treatment of Ross is adulatory. If Ross made any mistakes, either before or during his time at Texas A&M, one would never know it from reading this work. Ross’s efforts in behalf of his school are portrayed as selfless and in the best interests of all Texans. The author dismisses contemporary critics of Ross and his administration at A&M, who questioned the school’s classical courses or military instruction at the expense of scientific, agricultural, and mechanical engineering education, as ignorantly, politically, selfishly, or even nefariously motivated. Yet academics and legislators throughout the South legitimately debated such issues regarding the proper courses of instruction for agricultural and mechanical colleges. Adams needed not impugn the motives of all of Ross’s critics over their valid concerns to demonstrate what the author believes was the Texas A&M president’s outstanding character. Like his detractors who supported other schools, Ross fought politically to advance his college’s interests. The Texas legislature, Adams notes, struggled to appropriate funds to at least four state-supported institutions of higher learning during the late nineteenth century. The post–Civil War proliferation of schools offering similar curricula occurred throughout the South, and, as in Texas, it left behind more academically and financially weak institutions than strong ones. In this environment, the political and personal interests of collegiate presidents in acquiring larger appropriations than their competitors were inevitable and made Ross no more innocent of political machinations for his school than any other collegiate president. Ross was an influential former governor; it is not surprising that he triumphed over adversaries with less political influence. [End Page 167] Adams credits much of Ross’s fame in Texas to an emerging “celebrity journalism” that “heightened the visibility of business and political icons, lionizing these key personalities and their activities” (p. 204). This ode to Ross includes him among such accomplished figures as Theodore Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and William Jennings...

Commentary: Water Infrastructure and Supply Are the Backbone or Achilles’ Heel of Texas’ Future: The Choice is Ours

Editor-in-Chief's Note: In every odd-numbered year, the Texas Legislature convenes in regular session for 140 days. With this in mind, the Texas Water Journal invited Senator Charles Perry, Chairman of the Senate Water, Agriculture, and Rural Affairs Committee to discuss his priorities and visions for Texas water and the regular session of the 88th Texas Legislature. The opinion expressed in this commentary is the opinion of the individual author and not the opinion of the Texas Water Journal or the Texas Water Resources Institute, or the Bureau of Economic Geology.

Summary of Changes to Estate Planning Law Made by the 2023 Texas Legislature

Summary of Changes to Estate Planning Law Made by the 2023 Texas Legislature

Public Opinions of Black Democrats in Texas: An Empirical Investigation

On August 25, 1979, a group of African-American leaders met at the Holiday Inn in Duncanville, Texas. Robert Malson, Assistant Director of Domestic Policy for the White House, was the speaker. The vision was enthusiastically embraced by those in attendance. As with most coalitions, the Texas coalition of black Democrats, which exists under the auspices of the Texas Democratic Party, benefits from certain advantages: with chapters in most counties in Texas, it certainly enjoys a large base of support, networks and connections and projects the image of strength in numbers among its members. In 2018, Black candidates stepped up across the State to lead. In Texas, Black Democrats running for office included: 18 candidates for US Congress, 9 candidates for statewide office, 34 candidates for Texas Legislature, and hundreds more Black Democrats for county & local offices. In 2020, the Coalition surveyed its members to determine what we were thinking as Black Texan Democrats. Therefore, the survey is an attempt to define an agenda to support our aggressive campaigns to serve as strong advocates for our community. The research concluded that in order to continue to be relevant in Texas politics, the coalition must grow and sustain its membership, continue to develop its agenda around issues that are central to the interests of its members as well as the agenda of the Democratic Party including justice, opportunity, equity and economic prosperity.

Texas Family Code Section 263.401: Improving the Mandatory Dismissal Deadline to Be Truly in the Best Interest of the Child

The Texas Legislature should make further amendments to Chapter 263 to allow an additional extension when parents receive inpatient treatment for substance abuse and implement a deadline for overturned cases remanded on appeal. Part II provides background information helpful in understanding the significance of the mandatory dismissal deadline. Part III reviews the development of the twelvemonth deadline and discusses the original enactment of section 263.401 and the issues surrounding its interpretation. In Part IV, this Comment explains and analyzes the recent amendments affecting section 263.401. In conclusion, this Comment acknowledges the success of the mandatory dismissal date and recommends that more changes be made for the benefit of Texas foster care children, proposing additional provisions to Chapter 263 of the Texas Family Code.

Unsettled Land: From Revolution to Republic, the Struggle for Texas by Sam W. Haynes

Reviewed by: Unsettled Land: From Revolution to Republic, the Struggle for Texas by Sam W. Haynes Gregg Cantrell Unsettled Land: From Revolution to Republic, the Struggle for Texas. By Sam W. Haynes. (New York: Basic Books, 2022. Pp. 447. Illustrations, notes, index.) The Texas Revolutionary era is experiencing something of a moment. In the wake of last year's controversial journalistic treatment of the Revolution, Forget the Alamo: The Rise and Fall of an American Myth (Penguin) by Bryan Burrough, Chris Tomlinson, and Jason Stanford, the Texas legislature passed two laws regulating how public educators can discuss the history of racism. At the same time, the lawmakers launched the 1836 Project to promote "patriotic education," the title clearly intended to serve as a counterweight to the New York Times's 1619 Project, which emphasized the centrality of slavery in American history. Sam Haynes's new scholarly treatment of the era, then, comes at a fortuitous time, and it does not fail to deliver on its promise to give us a new, state-of-the-art history of this contentious period. The book's title foreshadows the main theme of this boldly revisionist book. Texas in the early years of the nineteenth century was truly an "unsettled land," not in the sense that it was unpopulated but rather that it was a crazily complex cultural mosaic. Instead of the armed conflict of 1835–36 as the culmination of the Anglo-versus-Mexican political struggle for Texas, Haynes argues that the true Texas "revolution" took place [End Page 269] over a longer period, and it involved much more than simply the secession of Texas from Mexico and the founding of the Lone Star Republic. As the introduction explains, "Anglo Americans were not the only inhabitants of Texas to experience the upheaval of revolution. For a large segment of the population, independence from Mexico meant the loss of freedom, a fact that only became evident in the years that followed, as the Lone Star Republic moved aggressively to expel Indians, marginalize Mexicans, and tighten its grip on the enslaved. Thus the revolution was far from over in 1836. The work of creating a new society, radically different from anything Texas had known under Mexico, had only just begun" (7). Over the ensuing 366 pages, the author makes a compelling case for this thesis. From the start, the book turns the conventions of Texas Revolutionary historiography on their heads. It begins not with Stephen F. Austin and his colony on the lower Brazos and Colorado but rather in East Texas. Figures such as the Cherokee leaders Richard Fields and Chief Bowls play leading roles rather than the bit parts usually assigned to them. Indeed, this is the first general history of the era, truly, to give Indians their due. The book does the same for free Blacks like William Goyens and Tejanos like Vicente Córdova. Without downplaying the importance of Austin, Houston, Crockett, et al., Haynes offers penetrating analysis of other important Anglos, such as Jared Groce and William Wharton. Perhaps the book's greatest strength is its masterful integration of the events in Texas into the flow of Mexican history. Haynes brings the training and insights of an academically trained Mexicanist to his task, and it shows. Particularly revealing are the central roles played by Lorenzo de Zavala and José Antonio Mexía, two Mexican federalists whose views and interests in Texas clashed with those of Antonio López de Santa Anna. Haynes also vividly portrays the plight of those most caught in the crossfire of the conflict, the Tejanos, revealing the wrenching decisions that men like Juan Seguín and José Antonio Navarro made, or had forced upon them. Likewise, Haynes explains how the memory of the American Revolution led the actions of the Anglo revolutionaries "to take on a weirdly performative character," making the Texan soldiers "for all intents and purposes, historical re-enactors in a struggle against tyranny and military despotism" (144). By extending the story of Texas (and Mexico) up through the Republic years, Haynes does much to historicize and contextualize the events of 1836. The story he tells is a devastating one if considered from the perspective...

Senate Bill 140: How Much Did It Change Texas Family Code Section 153.004?

This Note examines Texas Senate Bill 1408 (SB 140), passed by the Seventy-Seventh Texas Legislature, which amended Texas Family Code (TFC) section 153.004 relating to the history of domestic violence. The bill had two main purposes: (1) to give direction to judges "regarding the appointment of sole custody in family violence cases," and (2) to change the way Texas courts handle visitation when a parent has a history of domestic violence.' After a long Texas summer of well-publicized domestic violence cases, this amendment appeared to be the next logical, and much-needed, step in furtherance of the public policy of this state. However, the statute, as amended, fails to provide the necessary guidance to the courts because it leaves key terms undefined, fails to demonstrate what evidence the legislature presumes should rebut the presumptions it contains, and continues to utilize a standard of review that is too broad. Part II of this Note provides a brief background of the problem of domestic violence and of how the problem should factor into child custody and visitation determinations. Part III details how the Texas courts and legislature have responded to the problem. Part IV discusses the legislative history of SB 140 and the problems the bill addressed. Part V shows the inadequacies of TFC section 153.004 as amended and recommends that the corresponding Louisiana statute be used as a model for change. Part VI concludes that under Texas public policy, such changes are required.

Beyond Senate Bill 3: How to Achieve Environmental Flows in Texas Under Prior Appropriation

In 2007, the 80th Texas Legislature enacted Senate Bill 3 on the 140th and last day of session. This bill was the third far-reaching piece of water legislation after Senate Bill 1 passed in 1997 and Senate Billl 2 passed in 2001. Collectively, these bills changed how Texas plans for future water needs, regulates groundwater, promotes conservation, studies the need for environmental flows balanced with population needs, and establishes environmental flow standards for Texas’ rivers, bays, and estuaries. Senate Bill 3 created a process through which scientists, stakeholders, and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality set environmental flow standards. Over 12 years have passed since Senate Bill 3 became law, allowing us to consider the efficacy of the enabling legislation and the resulting rules. In short, identifying and securing water for the environment has been difficult due to little if any unallocated water in the state’s river basins and limitations in Senate Bill 3 and Texas Water Code. We identified seven options for the stakeholders and the state to consider to increase the protection of environmental flows while respecting private property rights: (1) protecting water-right owners that participate in forbearance agreements from cancellation, (2) pursuing cancellations and affirming abandonments, (3) requiring that cancelled or abandoned water be set-aside to meet environmental flow standards, (4) modernizing how surface-water use and diversions are tracked, (5) requiring water rights holders to demonstrate the pursuit of other water supplies before suspending environmental flows, (6) studying ways how environmental flows can co-exist and be protected within a prior-appropriation system, and (7) studying how dedications of water under existing water rights can be considered for tax credit or deductions so as to further incentivize transactions for environmental benefit. If implemented, these options could allow Texas and Texans to more closely achieve the desired outcomes hoped for from Senate Bill 3.

The Ranger Ideal Volume 3: Texas Rangers in the Hall of Fame, 1898–1987 by Darren L. Ivey

Reviewed by: The Ranger Ideal Volume 3: Texas Rangers in the Hall of Fame, 1898–1987 by Darren L. Ivey Bob Cavendish The Ranger Ideal Volume 3: Texas Rangers in the Hall of Fame, 1898–1987. By Darren L. Ivey. (Denton: University of North Texas Press, 2021. Pp. 843. Illustrations, notes, bibliography, index.) Texas Rangers in the Hall of Fame, 1898–1987 concludes Darren Ivey's trilogy of Texas Ranger Hall of Fame members. Beginning with William Wright, who entered the Rangers in 1899, and closing with Stanley Guffey, whose Ranger service came to a tragic end in 1987, this volume presents the last twelve inductees, whose tenures occurred during Texas's transition from its "old west" past. Rangers' attention to frontier defense was eventually replaced with labor union unrest, counterfeiting, border incursions, prohibition, and gangster violence. In response, Ranger responses became more sophisticated as the Colt dragoon revolver, lever-action Winchester, and horseback transportation evolved into crime laboratory methodology and automobiles. Yet, law enforcement could also mean roundups and expulsions of such undesirables as gamblers, prostitutes, and vagrants, all handled with full endorsement of local and state officials. Rangers experienced political interference, notably from Governor Miriam Ferguson, who dismissed several Rangers deemed hostile to her administration and replaced them with inexpert partisan devotees. The Texas Legislature restricted Ranger investigations unless they were invited by local authorities. Ranger budgets constantly suffered reductions. Finally, in 1935, Governor James Allred modernized Texas law enforcement by creating the new Texas Department of Public Safety and incorporating the established Texas Rangers. Ranger Ideal is an oblique chronicle of Texas's social evolution seen through the prisms of twelve individuals facing contemporary issues. Texas was maturing and experiencing growing pains. Along the way, Ivey reveals, Ranger tactics changed with the era, albeit not without rough edges. These twelve concise biographies appear in chronological sequence but can be read in random order. Few in number, these men often knew each other, occasionally crossing career paths. Rangers Frank Hamer, Thomas Hickman, and Charles Miller, for instance, each receive an entire chapter and also reappear in subsequent chapters as participants in separate Ranger assignments or incidents, thereby creating an informal network of men and talents. Each of these men stands with his own strengths and vulnerabilities. Ranger Captain Hamer (1884–1955) might have followed "a different path, that of the outlaw" (83), but he instead became part of the team [End Page 532] that stopped the notorious gangster duo Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow (dismissed by Ivey as second-rate hoodlums romanticized in a 1967 movie). Hamer, once arrested, found guilty, and fined for assaulting a reporter, nevertheless humbly credited his career survival to God and his own "doing what is right" (107). Manuel Gonzaullas (1891–1977), another captain, had a mysterious past with no clear personal history prior to his Ranger career. His biographers "had to rely on the contradictory information he himself provided about his early life" (285). He became superintendent of the Bureau of Intelligence and later director of the State Crime Detection Laboratory while continuing his fieldwork. Each Ranger had his personality. Captain Thomas Hickman always dressed the part, wearing a wide-brimmed Stetson hat with tailored western clothes. Marvin Burton's gentle demeanor, once confronted by lawbreakers, erupted into "a one man riot squad" (373). Clinton Peoples's reputation for self-promotion made him unpopular with some, but he was an aggressive proponent for the Ranger Museum in Waco even after leaving Ranger service. Ranger Ideal Volume 3 works as a valuable secondary source and as a highly readable survey of Texas in transition told through lives of twelve men charged with keeping order. While sympathetic toward his subjects, Ivey has not written a hagiography. He defines these Rangers as human beings who dedicated their lives to protection and law enforcement but occasionally stumbled along the way. Without silver bullets or white steeds these imperfect men "moved toward the danger in order to protect that which they held most dear" (613). Bob Cavendish Buda, Texas Copyright © 2022 The Texas State Historical Association