Free Republic

SAN ANTONIO — Bexar County leaders will study whether Elon Musk's Boring Co. can drill a 9-mile tunnel where automated Teslas would ferry people between the airport and downtown. Alamo Regional Mobility Authority (RMA) board members voted Wednesday to negotiate a project plan with the billionaire's company. "The board has continually sought innovative ways to finance transportation projects to ensure a bright future for the community in a way that bridges technology and accelerates the delivery of needed projects," chairman Mike Lynd said in a statement. "Today's board action is the first of many discussions," he added. Musk's company already...

A California city voted Tuesday night to require gun owners to carry liability insurance in what’s believed to be the first measure of its kind in the United States. The San Jose City Council overwhelmingly approved the measure despite opposition from gun owners who said it would violate their Second Amendment rights and promised to sue. The Silicon Valley city of about 1 million followed a trend of other Democratic-led cities that have sought to rein in violence through stricter rules. But while similar laws have been proposed, San Jose is the first city to pass one, according to Brady...

The Biden-Harris administration issued a report Friday to increase the price of oil leasing fees on federal lands in the United States by 50 percent—even while accusing oil companies of artificially increasing prices through illegal and anticompetitive actions.Despite record-high gasoline prices impacting American families across the country with winter around the corner, the Biden-Harris administration is recommending Congress hike the cost of oil leases on government lands from 12.50 percent to 18.75 percent.The 6.25 percentage point royalty rate increase on oil companies would contradict the administration’s promise to lower gasoline prices. In recent weeks, the Biden-Harris administration has asked OPEC...

If you watch the news, chances are you’ve heard about the recent spending and tax bills making their way through the U.S. House of Representatives or the Senate. These bills could have a direct impact on your bottom line, so they garner considerable attention. But are you keeping track of the laws Colorado’s General Assembly is passing? If not, you might want to start. Indeed, during the 2021 legislative session, Colorado legislators passed $1.8 billion in new taxes and fees. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. As a result of tax bills and laws passed since 2019, direct...

... Gov. Gavin Newsom claimed Texas ​​middle-class families “pay more taxes than middle-class families in California.” “Look that up,” he said in a virtual meeting with editorial and opinion writers from the McClatchy chain’s California newspapers. “That’s a fact”

Remember that promise of Joe Biden’s that he wasn’t going to raise taxes on people earning less than $400,000 per year?“If you make less than $400,000, you won’t see one single penny in additional federal tax,” Biden told George Stephanopoulos in March 2020.But then Psaki tried to fudge that by saying that they meant “families” earning that amount or suggesting that it referred to couples. Which, of course, has a completely different meaning and leaves individuals at much greater risk.But that is not the only place where the Democrats are trying to sneak something past us in regard to potential...

On Sunday, the Senate released the final text of the so-called bipartisan (but really liberal) infrastructure bill — all 2,702 pages. According to Breitbart, the huge bill was written in secret for months outside the normal legislative process. Buried in the measure is a pilot program for a national motor vehicle per-mile user fee (MBUF) which is basically a long-term plan to make it too expensive to drive a car. One of the “fun” parts of the supposed bipartisan bill (fun for believers of the climate change hypothesis) can be found on page 511 of the measure, which you can...

With the 2021 Colorado regular legislative session concluded, lawmakers have approved tax and fee increases on Coloradans of up to $617 million annually without voter consent. The new revenues are enough to give every schoolteacher in Colorado a $11,343.65 per year raise. The tax and fee increases amount to an average of $430 per year for a family of four. New and Net Revenue.. This session, 83 bills passed by the legislature would increase state revenue. Senate Legislative Council (SLC) included revenue projections for 45 of these in fiscal notes for each. Some fiscal notes provide an estimated range rather...

Let’s see if you can find a common theme of what the Colorado State legislature thinks of you and the will of the voters. Voters soundly rejected Prop 112 which would have created large setbacks for oil and gas operations, enough to chase the industry out of Colorado. The legislature’s and governor’s retort was to pass Senate Bill 181, which was even more brutal to Colorado’s oil and gas industry. And yes, the industry is leaving. It’s one of the reasons Colorado’s unemployment is worse than most all other states. Just last November voters passed Prop 117 to end the...

Democrats in the General Assembly have managed to give every explanation imaginable for why you have to pay more — during an economic crisis — for what should have been a top spending priority for Colorado lawmakers over the last decade. They’ve done a fine job at gaslighting the people of Colorado into believing that not only is there no other solution to funding our roads and bridges than Senate Bill 260, but that the shortage of funds we’re experiencing today is indeed your fault. It’s not the only solution, and it is not your fault that our roads and...

Nowadays, the government needs more than gasoline taxes to fund its vast mission to expand, replace and preserve transportation routes in Washington state. Legislators have drawn up a menu of 33 tax and fee increases under the proposed 16-year Forward Washington plan, updated last week by Senate Transportation Committee Chair Steve Hobbs, D-Lake Stevens. That way, perhaps no single cost will provoke enough public fury to torpedo the plan. “Nobody likes to be taxed, but we also want to make this fair as we spread it across different sectors,” Hobbs said Friday. His approach holds direct gas-tax hikes to 9.8...

...The USSC also found, "A State may not impose a charge for the enjoyment of a right granted by the Federal Constitution." This means the entire Bill of Rights...

At a glance: Gov. Tom Wolf’s budget proposal once again includes a municipal fee that’s expected to raise $168 million for the Pennsylvania State Police. Unlike in previous years, when the proposal failed to pass the Legislature, this fee would be charged to all municipalities based partially on services rather than focusing on a specific group of communities. Across all funds, including a significant one-time infusion of COVID-19 aid via the federal government, the agency’s budget remains relatively flat at $1.38 billion. Over at the Department of Criminal Justice (corrections, probation and parole to us laypeople), total funding decreases slightly...

The city of Durham, North Carolina, plans to reopen public elementary schools this fall, but will charge a hefty fee. The surcharge is on top of the substantial local property taxes that parents pay to bankroll the schools. Corey DeAngelis is the director of school choice at the Reason Foundation, a public-policy think tank. He slammed the Durham Public School District, saying its shameless move to charge fees is unconstitutional. DeAngelis tweeted: “Durham is reopening public elementary schools as ‘learning centers.’ They are charging families up to $140 per child per week. That’s on top of what families already pay...

Aaron Stevens will run the Boston Marathon for the sixth time in April, and his fifth as part of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute team. For each of the past two years, he has raised $16,000 for the cancer center. The effort is personal. Stevens lost a cousin in her 30s to colon cancer, and his father survived grueling treatment for bladder cancer that included a nine-week stay in intensive care. He’s got his two-pronged fundraising strategy down pat—an email list of 500 people get monthly appeals from him, and he can count on at least 100 of those people to...

Gridlock on America’s roadways is increasing, according to the 2019 Urban Mobility Report published by the Texas A&M Transportation Institute – in part due to job growth that is “exacerbating” the nation’s traffic woes. As a result, over that 26-year period from 1982 to 2018: The number of hours per commuter lost to traffic delay has nearly tripled, climbing to 54 hours a year. The annual cost of that delay per commuter has nearly doubled to $1,010. The nationwide cost of gridlock has grown more than tenfold to $166 billion a year. The amount of fuel wasted sitting in stalled...

AT&T recently made the headlines for some misleading business concerning its 5G network — in essence, it added a 5GE indicator on devices that don't actually support 5G. Even a lawsuit from Sprint couldn't stop the company. Now, another complaint is on its way to the carrier, this time from its customers. They are accusing AT&T of charging a monthly $1.99 "bogus Administrative Fee" that it doesn't properly disclose in its rates. According to Ars Technica, the plaintiffs say the company hides the additional fee in customer bills and suggests that it is similar to some tax or other government-related...

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Wednesday said there’s “no question” residents will need to pay more in taxes or fees to plug a looming city budget shortfall estimated at more than $700 million. Lightfoot made the comment, without elaborating on specifics, after her second City Council meeting, when she was asked about a campaign promise to find budget cuts before seeking a property tax increase. ... There’s no question we’re going to have to come to the taxpayers and ask for additional revenue ... Lightfoot took office last month facing a gaping budget hole in the next fiscal year ......

The Indiana legislature has passed, and Governor Eric Holcomb signed  HB 1284. The bill reforms several areas of Indiana gun law. HB 1284 passed the House, 80-13 on 11 February, 2019. It passed the Senate, 47-7 on 8 April, 2019. HB 1284 was signed by Governor Holcolmb on 26 April, 2019.Voter registration forms will now be available with applications for carry permits, by designating the Indiana State Police, Sheriff's offices, and municipal law enforcement agency offices, as voter registration offices. The legislation creates immunity from civil action when justifiable self defense or defense of others is successfully raised. Those...

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. - The toll bills haven't stopped coming for some drivers in Central Florida after SunPass’ software meltdown last summer. In fact, state senators were told more than 4 million outstanding bills are still heading to mailboxes, adding up to an outstanding balance of $100 million. Related Headlines Last June, SunPass took its online payment system offline for a week of scheduled maintenance. At the end of the week, the system wouldn’t come back online. Almost 250 days later, people are still getting bills in the mail for the weeks of tolls that SunPass couldn’t process. Some drivers...