In his Jan. 24 State of the State address, Gov. Rick Perry in fact spent little time describing the state of the state. Citizens interested in the details of the subject would do well to consult “The State of the Lone Star State,” a handy compendium compiled last fall by Paul Robbins and Andrew Wheat of Texans for Public Justice, and available directly (472-9770) or at their Web site (www.tpj.org). Using public information sources, the report analyzes how Texas stacks up among the 50 states in 150 “quality-of-life” indicators in six categories: environment, education, human services, economy, public safety, and democracy.
Here are a few of the lowlights, focusing only on some of those among the many more indicators for which Texas ranks among the 10 worst states. Bold items indicate food for particular legislative thought.
1. Environment
(Indicator, followed by Texas’ National Rank)
Toxic manufacturing emissions, 1
Cancerous manufacturing emissions, 1
Hazardous waste incineration, 1
Environmental civil rights complaints, 1
Toxic air emissions, 1
Cancerous air emissions, 1
Toxic water emissions, 1
Per capita spending on water quality, 49
Park spending, 49
2. Education
Teacher/private sector pay ratio, 50
High school graduates, 45
Spending on public libraries, 46
3. Human Services
Prenatal care, 46
Child immunizations, 47-48
Poor kids lacking health insurance, 2
Teen birth rate, 2
People without health insurance, 1
Malnourishment, 3
Hunger, 2
State public health spending, 44-45
State mental health spending, 41-42
4. Economy
Income distribution disparity, 7
People in poverty, 10
Women in poverty, 9
Kids in poverty, 5-7
Unionized work force, 48
Per capita state general revenue, 50
Per capita state spending, 50
Tax progressivity, 43
% of state taxes from sales taxes, 2
5. Public Safety
Total executions, 1
Execution rate, 3
Total adults in criminal justice system, 1
Rate of adults in criminal justice system, 1
Total number of prisoners, 2
Incarceration rate, 2
Average prison time served, 7
Recidivism rate, 9
6. Democracy
Voter registration, 46
Voter turnout, 47
This article appears in February 2 • 2001.
