The latest budget news from The Texas Tribune.
A dozen protestors from disability rights group ADAPT gathered at Gov. Rick Perry's office this afternoon to block the entrances. Organizers say they wont leave until Perry pledges to oppose cuts to community services. Full Story
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Disability advocates gathered at the Capitol today to call on lawmakers to use the Rainy Day Fund, to raise new revenue and, above all else, to not cut community-based services for the disabled. Over and over again the crowd chanted, "No cuts! No cuts!" Full Story
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The best of our best content from Feb. 21 to 25, 2011. Full Story
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Texas Gov. Rick Perry, the Republican Governors Association chairman, squared off with Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, the Democratic Governors Association chief, this morning. Here's the video, courtesy of Politico. Full Story
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For our latest TribLive event, I talked about federal health care reform and the consequences of the state's budget shortfall on health and human services programs with state Rep. John Zerwas, R-Simonton, Anne Dunkelberg of the Center for Public Policy Priorities and Tom Banning of the Texas Academy of Family Physicians. Full Story
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For our latest TribLive event, I talked about federal health care reform with state Rep. John Zerwas, R-Simonton, Anne Dunkelberg of the Center for Public Policy Priorities and Tom Banning of the Texas Academy of Family Physicians. Full Story
As lawmakers consider cutting community-based mental health care services, the Tribune talks with mentally ill Harris County Jail inmates and with consumers who use community-based services to stay out of jail and off the streets. Full Story
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As lawmakers consider cutting community-based mental health care services by about 20 percent in the 2012-2013 budget, the Texas Tribune talks with mentally ill Harris County Jail inmates and with consumers who use community-based services to stay out of jail and off the streets. Full Story
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Proposed reductions in community-based mental health treatment, experts say, will mean more mentally ill Texans are likely to end up on the streets, in emergency rooms and behind bars, where it will cost local taxpayers even more to care for them. Full Story
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Some state lawmakers are hoping a new state constitutional amendment will bring an end to the so-called Robin Hood school finance system, as Texas Public Radio's David Martin Davies reports. Full Story
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Like the Republican Party of Texas and many of his core voters, Gov. Rick Perry no longer supports expanded gambling here. This year, that might not make any difference. Full Story
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Republican Rep. John Zerwas' suggestion that he'd get a "spanking" in his district if he cut education and health care to the bone but didn't touch the Rainy Day Fund has drawn the ire of one conservative activist group: Michael Quinn Sullivan's Empower Texans. Full Story
At this morning's TribLive conversation about health care, state Rep. John Zerwas, R-Simonton, took a more aggressive position than most of his fellow Republicans on the subject of whether to tap the Rainy Day Fund and how much should be tapped. Full Story
Gov. Scott Walker should come to Texas, where much of what he’s seeking already exists. The right to bargain collectively isn’t allowed among state employees, and no public employee in Texas may legally go on strike. Full Story
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If a set of bills filed by Sens. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, and Royce West, D-Dallas, passes this session, consumers who take out short-term, high-interest loans could be protected from exorbitant interest rate charges. Full Story
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The House and Senate budgets propose a $95.6 million cut in total revenue from the Texas Youth Commission budget in 2012-2013, and lawmakers are eying reductions in parole services, which could lead to fewer staffers and fewer district parole offices. Full Story
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Last Wednesday, I sat down with three first-term members of the Texas House — Stefani Carter, R-Dallas; Cindy Burkett, R-Mesquite; and Rodney Anderson, R-Grand Prairie — to talk about their first weeks in office. Full Story
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At last Wednesday's TribLive conversation, first-term House members Stefani Carter, R-Dallas, Cindy Burkett, R-Mesquite, and Rodney Anderson, R-Grand Prairie, talked about whether the Legislature should dip into the Rainy Day Fund to reduce the size of the projected budget shortfall. Full Story
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At last Wednesday's TribLive conversation, first-term House members Stefani Carter, R-Dallas, Cindy Burkett, R-Mesquite, and Rodney Anderson, R-Grand Prairie, explained why they think deep cuts to public education are possible. Full Story
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Cutting $10 billion public education funding could push more than two-dozen school districts from the group that receives state financing into the group that writes checks to the state to even things out between richer and poorer districts. Full Story
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