WASHINGTON — State Rep. Brian Harrison, R-Midlothian, said Friday he plans to meet with top University of Texas System officials after they announced a plan to provide free tuition and waived fees to students whose families make $100,000 or less.

While many elected officials have praised the initiative, Harrison criticized it as an “abuse of power” that makes Texas higher education “more socialist than California.”

Harrison said Friday he’s unswayed by statements from the system and supporters who say the move will be funded from university endowments, not taxpayers.

Harrison compared such statements to someone saying they’re removing water from the shallow side of a pool, not the deep end. It’s all the same water.

“Money is fungible, so that doesn’t satisfy me in the slightest,” Harrison said.

The new initiative is an expansion of the Promise Plus Program, a needs-based financial aid initiative, and comes amid widespread concerns about the impact of inflation and college costs on families. Gov. Greg Abbott recently prohibited Texas colleges and universities from raising tuition for the next two years.

UT System Chancellor James B. Milliken hailed the expansion as a “game changer” that will make “enormous, real difference” to improve college access for all Texans.

Not everyone is a fan.

Harrison and like-minded House colleagues have compared it to President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan that drew intense blowback from conservatives and was largely struck down by the courts. They also said such a consequential change in policy should come from the elected lawmakers serving in the Legislature.

“There must be consequences,” Harrison said on X. “UT’s budget must be cut, and bureaucrats should be fired.”

He led 10 Republican lawmakers, most of them incoming freshmen, in a letter to the regents demanding answers to a litany of questions, including the price tag of the expansion and the source of that money.

“What specific statutory authority did the regents rely on to make a decision this consequential, which will have direct financial consequences for our constituents, many of whom are already struggling to put gas in their tanks and food on their tables?” the lawmakers wrote.

UT System spokesman Paul Corliss has said the program is not funded through taxes or any kind of public subsidy.

“Rather it is funded through existing UT System endowments,” Corliss said.

Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin, hammered that point in a response to Harrison on social media.

“There are no tax dollars involved,” Howard said on X. “Higher Ed institutions are already helping families afford college. This expands philanthropic endowments and helps meet affordability goals of [Abbott and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board].”

Harrison and his colleagues will have to contend with many members of the public embracing a plan that already is encouraging young people to adjust their higher education aspirations.

Frank Whitefeather, a high school senior, stayed up until 2:30 a.m. Friday working on his college application essay.

He was freshly motivated after the announcement that students whose families make less than $100,000 annually will get free tuition and waived fees at the University of Texas at Austin and other schools in the UT System.

“I wouldn’t be in debt,” said Whitefeather, 17. “I wouldn’t have to have student loans.”

Whitefeather, who attends Dallas ISD’s Sunset High School, thinks the UT news also could change many of his peers’ lives. It’s already changing his plans. Whitefeather hopes to study engineering and be his own boss one day. Texas A&M and UT Austin were his top two choices, but the free tuition announcement has pushed UT ahead.

Harrison said the university system is being contradictory by simultaneously saying it has enough money to offer tuition-free education, but also that a tuition freeze could leave it cash strapped and require more funding from the Legislature.

“I guarantee you they’re going to be requesting more tax money from the Legislature next session,” he said.

The Public Safety Commission has unanimously approved Freeman Martin to lead the Texas Department of Public Safety, tapping a top lieutenant of outgoing Director Steve McCraw.

Here’s what to know about the incoming head of the state law enforcement agency:

Martin, 56, is senior deputy director of DPS, where he has a “crucial role” in planning, directing, managing and overseeing the agency’s activities and operations, according to his staff biography.

DPS has more than 11,000 employees and a $3.5 billion biennial budget.

His career at DPS began as a Highway Patrol trooper in 1990. He has been a Highway Patrol corporal, narcotics service sergeant and a sergeant, lieutenant, captain and major with the Texas Rangers, the agency’s elite investigative division. He also has been regional commander for the Central Texas Region and deputy director of DPS, a post he was appointed to in 2018.

He has expertise in executive protection, violent crime prevention operations, intelligence, counterterrorism and homeland security, and he led the DPS response to the Sutherland Springs mass shooting, Hurricane Harvey and Operation Lone Star.

Martin established a Texas Anti-Gang Center in San Antonio, helped develop the Texas Rangers Major Crime Scene Response Team and runs a number of initiatives to support local law enforcement agencies.

He has a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and is a graduate of Northwestern University’s School of Police Staff and Command.

The Public Safety Commission, which oversees DPS, conducted a national search after McCraw announced his retirement in August.

The five-member commission is appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Texas Senate. At a Sept. 6 meeting, the commission set minimum requirements for the position, opened a four-week window for resumes and letters of interest through Oct. 4, and created a subcommittee to vet applicants and make recommendations.

The subcommittee selected three finalists for in-person and virtual interviews conducted Oct. 16 and Oct. 24. At its meeting Wednesday, commissioners deliberated privately for nearly 2½ hours before returning to announce Martin as its undisputed choice.

His appointment is effective Dec. 1. He will be sworn in the following day at a ceremony at DPS headquarters.

McCraw, whose retirement takes effect next month, led the department for the past 15 years, calling it “the greatest honor of my life.”

He rose from Highway Patrol trooper in 1977 to narcotics agent in 1983, when he left DPS to join the FBI. McCraw left the federal agency in 2004 to become Texas’ homeland security director until he was named to lead DPS in 2009.

McCraw was heavily scrutinized over the police response to the May 2022 Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, including the inaction of dozens of DPS troopers who responded. Officers from multiple agencies waited more than an hour to enter a classroom to confront and kill the gunman who killed 19 students and two teachers.

McCraw was not in Uvalde at the time. He later called the police response an “abject failure” but resisted calls to step down. McCraw blamed the delayed police response on the local school police chief.

In his retirement note to staff, McCraw didn’t say what’s next for him. Instead, he expressed his “deep pride and heartfelt gratitude” to his employees.

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — It’s no secret that if you’re a renter in Texas, you don’t have the upper hand.

“It’s basically very friendly to landlords to be able to punish tenants, to evict tenants, and so it creates this, what I think is an overly favorable environment to landlords,” Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee said.

When problems go without repair for months, the law says you still cannot withhold rent, and there are hoops you have to jump through to hold your landlord accountable.

Through Action 13’s Renters’ Rights, we hear about these problems often.

So, what can be done?

It’s a long process and rare for a city or county in Texas to step in and hold negligent landlords accountable.

Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee is determined to change that. He says he knows what it’s like.

“Like many other folks in Harris County, I came up in a working-class family, and part of my upbringing was living in an apartment complex. This was a complex that had units that were routinely infested with roaches, that had cars being broken into all the time. My mother’s car was stolen multiple times from this apartment complex,” Menefee explained.

He’s seen it and wants to stop it.

“Here in the state of Texas, there just aren’t laws on the books that allow us the opportunity to go after landlords,” Menefee said.

He says that come January when the legislature reconvenes, he’ll be in Austin, pushing for a fix. “What I’d like to see is a law that allows the government to step in and immediately call these folks to account, whether that’s through an administrative procedure, through fines, through a lawsuit, anything to push them in the direction of doing the right thing,” Menefee explained.

His office found a creative way to sue a local complex earlier this year.

The Palms on Rolling Creek in north Harris County had severe sewage issues for years. Months after the lawsuit was filed, the owners did make progress in fixing it.

Menefee is putting negligent landlords on notice, and you can help.

“My ask to you is if you are living in an apartment complex that is not treating you right, or you know someone who is, have them report that to us and also reach out to your local, state representative or state senator,” Menefee said.

They need to know about the problems to help them make their case for why they believe these laws need to change.

“I understand your experience. I have lived through that myself. My family has lived through that. We hear you, and we are going to keep working on those issues,” Menefee said.

For more news updates, follow Courtney Carpenter on Facebook, X and Instagram.