Monthly Archives: August 2023

Let’s thank reddit for legislative game plans to reign in home owner associations (HOAs). A reddit thread discusses how to change the law so that HOAs cannot prevent a landowner from adopting an environmentally friendly landscaping style. Other legislative propositions included limiting HOA reach to only the lands owned by the HOA. Hummm… so a […]

How did Environment Texas successfully pass legislation to add $1 billion to state parks? (1) Data. Texas is 35th in per capita state park acreage. That’s less than Florida. (2) personalized the data with anecdotes from Texans (3) bipartisan support (4) Harris County delegation support (5) bringing legislative experts into the team (6) press and […]

Citing wildfires, construction costs, and other matters, some say home insurance carriers are leaving the California market. Most recently, AmGUARD Insurance, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway GUARD Insurance Companies and Falls Lake have ceased offering home insurance policies in California. The San Francisco Standard | Over 50,000 To Lose Homeowners Insurance as Two More Insurers […]

Boston is offering incentives to convert office buildings into residences. The incentives include waiving up to 75% of property taxes for up to 29 years. Philadelphia has had property tax incentives for converting buildings into residences for decades and the incentives are credited for revitalizing parts of City Center. Governing | Cities Explore Ways to […]

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the 5th largest landowner in the U.S. the Catholic Diocese owns land in almost every county in the country. This sparked a law in Minnesota that preempts local zoning laws and allows faith-based organizations to build shelters for homeless individuals on their property. Atlanta did the […]

 Louisiana is working to rebuild its coast line with  its $50 billion Master Coast Plan. This plan includes a “$2.92 billion project to divert sediment from the Mississippi River into the basin, mimicking the natural processes of the river’s flow in an attempt to save the state’s disappearing coast.” The plan includes working with fisheries, […]

Last week California  Building Standards Commission officially adopted amendments to the “California Green Building Standards Code (CALGreen), Part 11, Title 24, that will limit embodied carbon emissions in the “construction, remodel, or adaptive reuse of commercial buildings larger than 100,000 square feet and school projects over 50,000 square feet.” Architectural Record | California Adopts First-in-Nation Building Code Revision to […]

How could pharmaceuticals be more affordable with eminent domain? The government would use eminent domain to obtain the patent, that was developed in part with public funds, and then set a reasonable price for the pharmaceutical. It’s called march in rights. The American Prospect | Eminent Domain for Overpriced Drugs

Italy has a proposal before the E.U. to prohibit “using food or feed derived from cell cultures or tissues of vertebrate animals. If enacted, this would bar food and feed business operators from producing, selling, importing, or distributing cell-based products for consumption.” Italy also wants to restrict the labeling of products containing exclusively vegetable proteins. […]

The Mayor of the City of Eagle Pass converted a public park to private land. They say the park is part of the Texas Governor’s border security initiative. Shortly after converting the public park to private land, the City of Eagle Pass city council returned the park to a public park. The Messenger | Texas […]