Texas lawmakers passed a two-year state budget on Saturday that cuts $15.2 billion from current spending — most of that in health and human services — but avoids increased taxes and leaves $6.5 billion untouched in the state’s Rainy Day Fund.
Rainy Day Fund
Posted in
Politics
Conservative “Outsiders” Have Inside Track in Legislative Session
His nickname around the Texas Capitol is “mucus.” It’s a play on Michael Quinn Sullivan’s initials — MQS — but the moniker underscores how much of an irritant the conservative activist has become to politicians who dare buck his Tea Party orthodoxy. It also says something about his staying power.
Posted in
Economy
A Businesslike Budget, After a Fashion
When Texas lawmakers said they wanted to run government like a business, they left out the part about using Enron and Countrywide as their models.
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University of Texas/Texas Tribune Polls
No Clear Signals on Budget, UT/TT Poll Finds
Voters still want lawmakers to cut the budget, but they still oppose the major cuts in education and health and human services that cutting the budget requires, according to the latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll.
Posted in
State Government
Video: Perry On The Budget
Gov. Rick Perry, speaking to reporters outside a ballroom at the Four Seasons Hotel, said legislative leaders were moving toward a budget deal that would avoid a special session.
Posted in
Economy
Budget Leaders: It’s Up to the House
If the House doesn’t pass legislation that adds $2.6 billion to state revenue with a mix of delayed payments, increased penalties, government efficiencies and the like, the state budget won’t balance and a special session will probably be required, House and Senate leaders said today.
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Politics
Guest Column: My Lege in a Box
Call it the Justin Timberlake Treatment: The Legislature has found itself boxed in as it searches for a way out of the budget divide.
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Economy
Conference Panel Approves Most of Budget
House and Senate negotiators have reached agreement on everything in the state budget except for public and higher education and a section of general provisions that can be used later to make sure the numbers in the budget balance.
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Economy
Senate Votes $4 Billion From Rainy Day Fund for Deficit
The Texas Senate approved a $3.97 billion draw on the state’s Rainy Day Fund to cover a deficit of the same size in the current budget, but not before rejecting efforts to add on a larger amount to help balance the 2012-13 budget.
Posted in
Demographics
Video: Todd Staples at TribLive
At last Thursday’s TribLive conversation, I interviewed Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples about the impact of drug-fueled violence on border farmers and ranchers, what he thinks about the Senate’s two-thirds rule, his nascent campaign for lieutenant governor in 2014 and more.
