TAG Texas
Texans for Accountable Government

Projects

Stop Vampire Cops!

“Stop Vampire Cops” is an initiative in response to Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo’s ambition to train his DWI task force to draw blood from motorists suspected of Driving While Intoxicated. Additionally, Chief Acevedo began what have been dubbed ”No Refusal” weekends. “No Refusal” weekends are typically conducted during holidays when a lot of alcohol is expected to be  consumed. “No Refusal” weekends are called as such because if you’re suspected of Driving While Intoxicated and refuse to consent to a breathalyzer and also refuse to consent to a blood test APD officers seek a search warrant to draw your blood.  

Through perseverance and hard work Texans for Accountable Government (TAG) have successfully passed a resolution in the Austin City Council to prevent police administered blood draws. While we were able to successfully have the Austin City Council pass a resolution, it was far cry from our original resolution which would have put an end to “No Refusal” weekends as well. We are not yet satisfied: we’re dedicated to stopping “No Refusal” weekends! [Read More]

Operation: De-Fuse

Texans for Accountable Government want to ensure that the Austin Regional Intelligence Center is the most transparent and accountable Fusion Center in the entire country. We will hold Police Chief Acevedo to his word that; no private data will be collected, the center will only be used to solve crimes and not monitor residents, only predicated information which the agencies already have access to will be contained, and stakeholders will have a seat at the table when creating privacy guidelines. [Read More]

Roads

Road issues – double-tax Toll Roads, and the TTC they were (are) supposed to finance – probably have a bigger fiscal impact on texans than any other. Many TAG folks were active in the corridor fight for years; we are proud to follow the lead of orgs like TURF, premier coalition builders who have led the charge on holding back the toll lobby in TX. [Read More]