The latest budget news from The Texas Tribune.
Last week's request for additional budget cuts of 10 percent is expected to have a dramatic effect on state services — and local ones, too. Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports on how a new round of slashing will affect school districts in particular. Full Story
Forecasters pegging a looming state budget shortfall at $18 billion don't have Gov. Rick Perry particularly worried. Full Story
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Texas’ “geriatric” inmates (55 and older) make up just 7.3 percent of Texas’ 160,000-offender prison population, but they account for nearly a third of the system’s hospital costs. Prison doctors routinely offer up the oldest and sickest of them for medical parole, a way to get those who are too incapacitated to be a public threat and have just months to live out of medical beds that Texas’ quickly aging prison population needs. They’ve recommended parole for 4,000 such inmates within the last decade. But the state parole board has only agreed in a quarter of these cases, leaving the others to die in prison — and on the state’s dime. Full Story
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The state's tax on corporations could end up half a billion dollars shy of Comptroller Susan Combs' predictions, officials with her office say. Full Story
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On Friday, state agencies were told to cut another 10 percent from their budgets as a way of closing what could be an $18 billion biennial shortfall. But those cuts will only scratch the surface of what's needed, so what to do next? Full Story
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The governor, lieutenant governor and speaker directed all state agencies on Friday to cut their budgets by an additional 10 percent. Last week, those same agencies had their current budgets trimmed by a total of around $1.2 billion in an effort to close a projected $18 billion budget shortfall in the next legislative session. Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports. Full Story
Fresh off of asking for five percent cuts from state agencies and actually approving $1.2 billion of what was proposed, the state's top three leaders are asking for ten percent cuts in the amounts the agencies will be seeking next time the Legislature meets. Full Story
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A new Rasmussen Reports poll finds that 57 percent of Texans favor legalizing casino gambling as a means to draw down the coming budget shortfall, but only 21 percent support higher taxes. Full Story
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More than two-thirds of Texans say their confidence in the state's public schools ranges from shaky to nonexistent, according to the new University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll. A majority of Texans believe that crime, low academic standards, lack of parental involvement and not enough funding are "major" problems that public schools face — but two-thirds say "too much religion in the schools" is not a problem. Full Story
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Coming soon to a large pink state capitol building in this very state: A day-long seminar on slot machines and casinos and all that, especially as it pertains to the state budget. Full Story
Full video of Evan Smith's May 19 TribLive conversation with state Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin. Full Story
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In this week's TribCast, Evan, Ross, Elise and Ben talk about the latest in the 2011 budget crisis, the "nerdiness" of Bill White and Gov. Rick Perry's subscription to Food & Wine magazine. Full Story
In January, the Governor, Lieutenant Governor and Speaker asked state agencies to cut 5 percent from their 2010 budgets. On Tuesday the three state leaders released a list of cuts — and revealed a few exemptions to their earlier order. Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports. Full Story
Staring down a shortfall of as much as $18 billion, lawmakers could employ a handful of accounting tricks to kick some payments down the road, saving several billion dollars. How exactly would that work? This dramatization demonstrates how similar tricks could be used to lower a restaurant bill. Full Story
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Full, unedited audio from Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst's appearance at our TribLive breakfast on Wednesday morning. Dewhurst discusses the coming budget crisis, the Arizona immigration law and other current issues in Texas politics. Full Story
For the ninth event in our TribLive series, I interviewed the lieutenant governor about the budget shortfall, state-federal tensions, immigration, why he doesn't release his taxes, and his future plans. We've provided the conversation with the lite guv in three forms: full video, full audio and a transcript. Full Story
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In this week's TribCast, Ross, Elise, Ben and Emily discuss the state's multi-billion-dollar budget woes, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst's turn in the hot seat at TribLive, and the intersection of new media and old-school lawmaking. Full Story
The state won't need new taxes or expanded legal gambling to cover a budget shortfall next session, but higher fees and more budget cuts are a possibility, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst said at this morning's TribLive interview in Austin. Full Story
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Lawmakers fishing for ideas on how to deal with a coming budget shortfall are going to need a bigger rod and reel: The newest projections show itl could be as much as $18 billion. Full Story
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Texas lawmakers have been fishing for ideas on how to fill a looming budget deficit when they return to Austin in 2011. Based on new projections out today, they’re gonna need a bigger boat. Full Story
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