The Texan Podcast - Daily Rundown - November 18, 2024

Starting point is 00:00:00 Howdy folks, today is Monday, November 18th, and you're listening to the Texans Daily Rundown. I'm the Texans Assistant Editor Rob Lausches, and here is the rundown of today's news in Texas politics. First up, Governor Greg Abbott has issued an executive order in an effort to protect Chinese dissidents in Texas from coercion and harassment by the People's Republic of China and its governing Chinese Communist Party. Abbott wrote in a press release, quote, the Chinese Communist Party has engaged in a worldwide harassment campaign against Chinese dissidents and attempts to forcibly return them to China. He continued, quote, Texas will not tolerate the harassment or coercion of the more than 250,000 individuals of Chinese descent who legally call Texas home by the

Starting point is 00:00:52 Chinese Communist Party or its heinous proxies. Abbott's executive order will direct the Texas Department of Public Safety to identify individuals working on behalf of the quote foreign adversaries end quote and bring criminal charges against people who work on their behalf. The state will work with law enforcement to track and report acts of transnational repression while developing ways to counter such threats. Additionally, a hotline will be launched so that Texans can report any acts of oppression or coercion from foreign adversaries. Next, the State Board of Education is scheduled to vote this week on a state-created curriculum that complies with Texas law regarding the teaching of patriotism and character traits

Starting point is 00:01:36 and includes lessons on the Holocaust and recognition of Jewish contributions to society. The curriculum, dubbed Blue Bonnet Learning, was developed in response to 2021 legislation that tasked the Texas Education Agency with the creation of free, online, high-quality instructional materials that will be state-owned and available for voluntary adoption by public school districts and public charter schools. While the Open Education Resources Project will eventually propose curricula for all grades and subjects, the only completed materials to be considered by the SBOE this year

Starting point is 00:02:11 are for kindergarten through fifth grade reading and language arts, and for kindergarten through eighth grade mathematics. In other news, Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick proposed launching a new taxpayer-funded research program, the Dementia Prevention Research Institute of Texas, or DPRIT, to draw in leading dementia researchers and companies to the state, modeled after the Cancer Prevention Research Institute of Texas, or CPRIT. Patrick announced this new major legislative initiative for Texas legislators

Starting point is 00:02:42 on Monday, saying it'll be, quote, laser-focused on dementia, just as CPRIT is laser-focused on cancer. Like CPRIT, this investment will draw leading researchers and companies to Texas and require them to be based in Texas, leading to their further investment in our state. Senate Committee on Finance Chair Joan Huffman will author the bill for DPRIT as one of her legislative priorities in the Senate, Patrick shared, which Representative Tom Craddock helped to shape so as to have the assurance of both chambers' unanimous support in passing DPRIT. Also, the Texas A&M University System's Board of Regents unanimously voted to remove 52 low-producing academic programs on November 7th,

Starting point is 00:03:26 including its controversial LGBTQ Studies undergraduate major, after failing to pass certain threshold requirements recently established by the provost. The board proposed a resolution on October 29th to eliminate 14 minors and 38 certificate programs found to be low-producing after they, quote, reviewed minors and certificate programs to ensure adequate student interest and demand and to eliminate inefficient and low-producing programs, end quote, according to the new course thresholds designed by the Office of the Provost. Per the new requirements proposed by Texas A&M University Provost Alan Sams, in order to maintain an active proposed by Texas A&M University Provost Alan Sams, in order to maintain an active status as an A&M minor, the program must have graduated a minimum

Starting point is 00:04:12 of 10 students within the past two school years, as well as have at least five students plus five graduates enrolled in the current school year. Thresholds the LGBTQ studies and 13 other A&M minors allegedly failed to meet. Last but not least, a new report from a Public Utility Commission workgroup made seven recommendations to the state to facilitate the growth of Texas's nuclear power industry, including low-interest loans for capital costs. The Texas Advanced Nuclear Reactor Working Group's 78-page report on the stagnation of nuclear power in the state makes multiple recommendations to kickstart expansion within the industry. One recommendation is to establish a low-interest loan program to fund parts of the capital costs of building nuclear power generation to be connected to

Starting point is 00:05:02 the grid by 2035, modeled after the Texas Energy Fund. Governor Greg Abbott commissioned the workgroup in August 2023. Thanks for listening. To support The Texan, please be sure to visit thetexan.news and subscribe to get full access to all of our articles, newsletters and podcasts

The Texan Podcast - Daily Rundown - November 18, 2024

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