The Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF) is an Independent think tank based in Austin, Texas. It is a member of the State Policy Network, a network of free-market leaning think tanks.
The stated mission of TPPF is to [1], "improve Texas government by generating academically sound research and data on state issues, and by recommending the findings to opinion leaders, policy makers, the media and general public." TPPF notes that its guiding principles are "individual liberty, personal responsibility, private property rights, free markets and limited government".
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TPPF was initially founded and funded in 1989 by James R. Leininger. Today, the Foundation's [2] board of directors includes approximately one dozen men and women from around the state. TPPF was originally based in San Antonio, and moved to Austin in 2003.
TPPF is organized into eight issue-area centers, which issue research reports and briefing papers on a periodic basis (usually monthly):
During the year, TPPF hosts monthly policy events ("Policy Primers") covering a range of issues, and an annual conference ("Policy Orientation for the Texas Legislature") that draws in excess of 600 attendees.
Among its projects is TexasBudgetSource.com, the goal of which is to provide a single source for information on state and local budgets and spending in an effort to bring greater transparency to government spending. TexasBudgetSource.com not only provides links to existing publications and data released by state agencies and local governments, but also provides unique analysis that puts government budgets and spending in context. Another notable project of TPPF was Thinking Economically, a series of 10 publications created by Arthur Laffer and issued during 2008 intended to be "a basic economic education for policymakers, the media, and the general public."