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Hiring Policy Analysts
I run an Austin-based public policy nonprofit called Texas Action and I am hiring policy analysts for the upcoming session of the Texas Legislature.
We provide state legislators with bill analysis and liberty-minded vote recommendations for bills they are required to vote on. The Texas legislature only meets for five months every other year which means when they do convene, thousands of bills are filed with only a narrow window of time to work them through the legislative process.
Our citizen-legislators are generally not professional politicians which means neither they nor their modest staffs have the bandwidth to stay on top of all the bills they are required to vote on. The service we provide helps lawmakers keep up with the policy implications of bills that get scheduled for a floor vote and helps provide a guide for those who share our philosophy of liberty and limited government. We are well respected within the legislature for providing accurate information and giving principled vote recommendations without regard for the partisan affiliation of the bill author.
If you are interested in applying to be a policy analyst you may find more information about our organization, the policy analyst position, and application instructions here. These salaried positions are full-time temporary positions running from January 3 through the end of May 2017. Pay is $2,000 – $2,500 per month.
Published in General
Ah, I wish I was 22 again, and I’d be considering a move to Texas.
How much bandwidth do you get for $2,000 – $2,500 a month? Just guessing, but I suspect that in Texas you spend more of your time preventing bad things from happening than you do trying to get something to happen. Not an unworthy goal, but pushing back the state takes considerably more effort. Good luck.
Actually, we’ve been doing this for several years. My policy team generally tends to be young and of moderate experience based on what I am able to pay, however the salary is competitive with what young policy staffers make working in legislative offices. I have had some really terrific staff in the past and we have done some amazing work to help advance good, liberty enhancing legislation and stop some really bad big-government legislation. In 2013 we were credited by the Houston Chronicle as having had a major role in stopping Medicaid expansion under Obamacare in Texas. As we build our policy team this year we expect to continue doing more of the same and consequently help preserve Texas as one of the best places to live, raise a family, and do business. After all, Texas may be Plan B for many Americans, but for we Texans there is no Plan B – we have to maintain what we’ve got.
How would term limits for legislators affect your business? Would it matter if it limited consecutive terms, and allowed legislators from moving from House to Senate, vs a lifetime cap? Just curious.
Here’s a question – do you allow telecommuting / remote work?
I know a conservatarian guy with a history background and regulatory experience who is looking for a job, but is sadly stuck with me in the People’s Democratic Republic of Madiganstan (aka Illinois). Like anyone sane who works with regulations, (in this case, chemical and pesticide regulations) he’d be excited to help dismantle them and keep the Austin crowd from adding more.
Sadly I’m pretty happy in my current gig, but keep up the good work- somebody’s gotta watch the circus while it’s in town!
I don’t know that term limits would make a significant difference for us. When you have a legislature that meets for five months every other year, legislative seniority only matters to a certain extent. It matters in terms of committee assignments and institutional respect, but it doesn’t matter how long you’ve been in the legislature you’re still not going to be able to read 7,000 bills and have a good grasp on the 2,000 or so that actually get a floor vote. The service we provide helps senior legislators as much as it helps newer ones. They may have an excuse for not reading the bills, but they don’t have an excuse for not reading our bill summaries and at least being informed on what they are foisting on the good people of Texas during the first five months of every odd numbered year.
Unfortunately not. I am not opposed to telecommuting in general but it is not well suited to this work. The Texas legislative session is fast-paced and very intense. I need to be in constant contact with my policy staff as we prepare research and vote recommendations to make sure we are providing a high quality and accurate product that is consistently in accordance with our principles. Too much opportunity for quick conversations and decisions is lost in telecommuting to be a suitable work arrangement for us.
Thanks,
My experience is that term limits results in more vote-trading and the constant return of bad ideas, and generally shallower thinking. In a previous job I used to write/review fiscal notes for maybe 125-150 mostly tax bills a year.
Good luck with the session.