The latest budget news from The Texas Tribune.
Lawmakers looking to realign the state's public school finances while also cutting local property taxes can't do both without a lot of money. They don't want to raise taxes, but they have nearly $60 billion in annual tax exemptions that might provide a solution. Full Story
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House Speaker Joe Straus said the unusual decision was meant to ensure lawmakers didn't rush to a decision they might "regret." Full Story
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In separate interviews, Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar, a Republican who's running for re-election, and Joi Chevalier, his Democratic opponent, talked about the state's looming pension crisis, whether lawmakers should cut taxes and what's in store for the Rainy Day Fund. Full Story
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A fresh update of a single budget chart shows who's paying for public education in Texas: More than half of the money comes from local property taxpayers, just over a third comes from the state, and the federal government spends about a dime of every dollar schools cost. Full Story
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Early discussions about the next state budget include an old and politically hazardous debate: Property values are rising, meaning the local share of education spending will rise while the state share drops. Full Story
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Gov. Greg Abbott, continuing a quiet project started by his predecessor, is making his office more powerful — at the Texas Legislature's expense. Full Story
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Editor's note: If you'd like an email notice whenever we publish Ross Ramsey's column, click here. The political debates of this election year will foreshadow some of the issues you'll see when the Texas Legislature meets next year, but some of the best clues — sports gambling is one example — come from the financial advisers to public sector investors. Full Story
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Glenn Hegar, the state's comptroller of public accounts, is warning lawmakers that Texas' bond ratings are at risk because of a couple of pending expensive problems. That's just the tip of the iceberg. Full Story
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Without an infusion of new money to cover mounting liabilities, Hegar warned, credit agencies are likely to downgrade Texas’ credit rating, which would make it more expensive for the state to borrow money — and perhaps damage the state's business climate. Full Story
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Though unemployment is low and tax revenue is on the rise, big bills coming due for the state’s highways and health care programs are giving Texas lawmakers some heartburn. Full Story
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You wouldn’t be out of line wondering why Texas school finance didn’t get fixed in 2017. Or 2015. Or 2013. But it’s because this is a hard policy problem and a harder political one. The prompt now is that property taxes have gotten so far out of hand that lawmakers have no choice but to act. Full Story
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The Texas Department of Public Safety is feeling the heat over a budget-related decision to lay off 117 officers serving in a retire/rehire program. Full Story
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The infestation of Norwegian rats in a state building where health regulators work is not only a big, embarrassing mess — it's a metaphor for a persistent problem in Texas government. Full Story
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Though poverty rates have remained consistent, Texas has significantly reduced the traditional welfare it provides to poor Texans through cash assistance over the last two decades. Full Story
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The Texas Health and Human Services Commission has a $60,000 vermin problem, and is hiring private exterminators to deal with an estimated "several hundred" sewer rats in the building. Full Story
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The Texas Legislature's list of things to do in 2019 is already piling up, and it was an expensive set of chores before anyone ever heard of Hurricane Harvey. Full Story
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Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar on Tuesday delivered some welcome news to weary state lawmakers: Their coffers should be richer than he previously anticipated. Full Story
A new report says the deferrals and other fiscal tricks lawmakers used this year — and are considering in the current special session — are digging a hole legislators will have to fill when they return to write a new budget in January 2019. Full Story
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Gov. Greg Abbott signed the state's next two-year budget Monday, but vetoed tens of millions of dollars in funding for various programs, including measures meant to improve the region's air quality and assist impoverished border communities. Full Story
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Did the Texas Legislature boost funding for border security? What about public education? Did they dip into the Rainy Day Fund? Here’s a wide-angle look at what's in the $217 billion budget the two chambers ultimately settled on. Full Story
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