Texas Public Policy Foundation

The Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF) is a conservative think tank based in Austin, Texas. The organization was founded in 1989 by James R. Leininger, who sought intellectual support for his education reform ideas, including public school vouchers. Projects of the organization include Right on Crime, which is focused on criminal justice reform, and Fueling Freedom, which seeks to "explain the forgotten moral case for fossil fuels" by rejecting the scientific consensus on climate change. History TPPF was initially founded and funded in 1989 by James R. Leininger, a physician, businessman and conservative activist from San Antonio, Texas. Leininger is notable for his school voucher and privatization activism. The organization's board of directors includes 19 individuals. Originally based in San Antonio, it was relocated in 2003 to Austin, Texas to be near the state capitol. In February 2015, TPPF moved into a new $20-million building two blocks from the Texas Capitol. In 2010, TPPF received funding from Koch Industries as well as Geo Prison Group, a GEO Group company. In January 2018, the organization announced that it had opened a new office in Washington, D.C. At the time, TPPF had more than 75 employees based in Texas; it announced plans to increase its D.C.-based staff from 5 to as many as 15 employees in 2018 in order to expand the group's work in the areas of environmental and health care policy and criminal justice reform.