Murr Along With the Texas House Pass Fiscally Conservative Budget
June 08, 2015
With the 84th Texas Legislative Session ending June 1st, I wanted to fill you in on some of the major accomplishments of the 140-day session. Over the course of the next few weeks, I will send updates with some of the highlights. This edition covers many of the details on the budget which passed the House in the final days by a vote of 115-33 to a standing ovation for John Otto, the Chair of the House Appropriations Committee, who worked diligently with many members to finalize and fiscally conservative state budget.
The Budget (House Bill 1):
House Bill 1 Highlights:
The Budget (House Bill 1):
- $209 billion budget represents growth of 3.6 percent in All Funds, or less than 2 percent per year, and it stays beneath the spending limit in the Texas Constitution.
- Prioritizes education, transportation, and border security. It also reflects the House’s considerable efforts to increase transparency and accountability in state spending.
- HB 1 also continues the House priority of spending dedicated funds toward the purpose for which they were collected. Combined with HB 6 and HB 7, we further reduce the use of dedicated revenue accounts by nearly $1 billion, and eliminate more than $300 million in fees.
House Bill 1 Highlights:
- Public Education: Pays for an increase of roughly 80,000 students per year in the state’s overall public school enrollment. In addition it provides an additional $1.5 billion for public education.
- Higher Education: Funds $240 million in capital projects for higher education institutions, and increases all formula funding across the board for community colleges, general academic and health related institutions by 3%.
- Transportation: The budget uses all of the money in the State Highway Fund for transportation instead of using some of those dollars for other programs.
- Border Security: HB 1 provides $840 million in All Funds for border security. That investment will allow for the hiring of 250 new Department of Public Safety troopers and allow a 50-hour work week for all troopers. In addition, it will fund the implementation of House Bill 11.
- Transparency: In addition to using all of the State Highway Fund revenue for transportation, the budget takes a number of other steps to use taxes and fees for their intended purpose.
- Long-Term Obligations: The budget provides funding to address a shortfall in retired teachers’ healthcare and to address the solvency of the state employee pension system.
- Protecting our Children: Funding for Child Protective Services is increased by $332 million to address serious challenges in protecting abused children.
