Texas lawmakers are poised to pass a two-year state budget that is $7 billion higher than the current one.
Use this interactive to explore how state spending has grown since 2004. The graph shows every two-year budget since 2004 and the 2014-15 budget plan, based on the conference committee report of Senate Bill 1 recently approved by budget leaders in the House and Senate. Lawmakers are expected to vote on Senate Bill 1 this weekend.
The current 2012-13 budget is estimated in the graphs because it factors in several billion dollars of additional supplemental spending that lawmakers are expected to add to it during the current session. That estimate comes from the Legislative Budget Board. (An earlier version of this interactive was based on the base budget proposal filed by the Senate earlier in the legislative session.)
The graph also includes the Texas budgets adjusted by the growth in the state's population based on figures published by the Texas comptroller's office. We've also adjusted the budget for both population growth and inflation in government spending based on data published by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Inflation data for government spending was not available for after 2011.
View the numbers as a line chart...
...or as a bar chart.
The Texas Tribune is pleased to provide the opportunity for you to share your observations about this story. We encourage lively debate on the issues of the day, but we ask that you refrain from using profanity or other offensive speech, engaging in personal attacks or name-calling, posting advertising, or wandering away from the topic at hand. To comment, you must be a registered user of the Tribune, and your real name will be displayed. Thanks for taking time to offer your thoughts.
Comments (3)
stlevine
Your numbers don't make sense, unless Texas is projected to lose population between 2012-13 and 2014-15. You say total spending will DROP from $189.9 b to $186.8 b, yet population-adjusted spending will INCREASE from $147.2 b to $151.9 b?
Rio 85
stlevine - Your $186.8B amount is off; if you double check the graphic the number is $196.8 B
Stuart Greenfield
You might have looked at the relationship between the S-L deflator and the CPI, SLdeflator = 0.29 + 1.30 Chg CPI to find the projected increase. The Comptroller provides an expected change in CPI for the this and the coming biennium. I assume MQS will soon be using your analysis to promote a more restrictive spending limit. Would you believe that Texas is a most generous spending state?