From the InBox:

Republican Liberty Caucus of Texas Legislative Agenda

Texas has a unique opportunity to take the lead on key issues of national importance this year, to reduce the level of federal overreach and to make specific progress on issues of importance to the liberty of all Texans.

For the 84th Legislature these include issues of personal and economic liberty, such as reform of marijuana laws, freedom of the internet, reducing taxation, gun rights, civil liberties and education reform.

Our goal is to make the people of Texas more free and less encumbered by they burden of excessive government and unnecessary regulation. Unfortunately to do this it has become necessary to act to reassert certain constitutionality guaranteed rights which have been infringed by local, state and federal government.

We understand that we cannot change the political culture overnight, but we have seen too many of our fundamental liberties taken away without good reason.  It is time to draw a line and start pushing back.

PRIORITY ISSUES

Criminal Justice: End mandatory sentencing and and the incarceration of persons for victimless crimes.  Offer sentencing alternatives to reduce prison populations and restore potentially productive individuals to society.

Privacy Rights: Pass legislation to affirm 4th Amendment Rights and protect them from violation by local, state and federal government.  Protect Texans privacy on the internet and in communications, including against unconstitutional wiretaps and searches.  Prohibit red light cameras and other public surveillance of the general citizenry.  Protect citizens from federal or local infringements of their Second Amendment rights. Eliminate burdensome restrictions on cell phone use.

Economic Liberty: Promote legislation to exempt Texas from internet taxation.  Legalize online gaming, private gaming and establish a gaming commission charged with finding a way to license destination casinos without favoritism. Eliminate any specialized taxes which unfairly target some businesses over others.   Deregulate taxi companies and ride sharing companies statewide. Legalize industrial hemp. Prevent unnecessary regulation of vapor products.

Property Rights: Protect property owners from restrictive rental regulation and unfair restraint of trade.  Prevent abuse of civil asset forfeiture.

Fiscal Responsibility: Eliminate the Texas Enterprise Fund and similar incentive programs.  Put a cap on municipal and educational indebtedness.  Eliminate taxation wherever possible.  Eliminate or privatize state bureaucracies. Reform or replace the Sunset Commission with a greater role for the public.  Eliminate or privatize Occupational Licensing.

Ethics Reform: Hold all elections on a uniform election day.  Pass legislation to restrict conflicts of interest for elected officials.

Education Reform: Pass school choice, including tax credits for home schooling.  Eliminate centralized purchasing of text books, testing or setting of curricula.  Give teachers more autonomy and put them in the classroom not filling out paperwork. Put a cap on the percentage of school district budgets which can be spent on administrative costs. Cap public university tuition and fees and index to inflation.

ALLIED CAMPAIGNS

On some key issues we will be working with partner organizations like RAMP and Open Carry Texas, so that we can concentrate primarily on issues of privacy and property rights.   With RAMP we will be working for decriminalization of marijuana, making medical marijuana available and eventual legalization.  With OCT and other groups we will be supporting Constitutional Carry or at least Open Carry measures.  We will also be working with Log Cabin Republicans and bipartisan organizations, with an ultimate goal of eliminating government control over marriage and other church practices.  Our coordinated activities will include co-sponsoring events, write-in campaigns and providing testimony at hearings as needed.

There is a lot of good stuff in there. I would disagree with them about capping municipal or ISD indebtedness because those should be local decisions, in my opinion. I would also disagree about tax credits for home schooling. And I don’t think that Open Carry makes a whole lot of sense in urban areas.

But overall, it looks like a very good platform to me.