The latest economy news from The Texas Tribune.
The state's unemployment rate fell for the fourth month in a row in December, capping off a drop of more than 1 percentage point in the rate since December 2011, the Texas Workforce Commission announced Friday. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/Unemployment-JobHunt.jpg)
The budget proposals released by lawmakers this week show an interest in revamping school testing and the state's economic incentive programs. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/MoneyRoll-Texas.jpg)
The two-year-old revenue forecast used to justify massive cuts in the current state budget was wrong — and not by a little bit. But the conservative Legislature elected in 2010 wasn't complaining. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/39489f187f474be36ae6ebf65deae166/BD%20INC%20Combs%20Budget%2002%202013)
A day before the start of the 2013 legislative session, Texas Comptroller Susan Combs delivered much-improved budget news compared with two years ago. Lawmakers will have $101.4 billion for their next two-year budget. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/f9e0f9e797595e1595bd7961da483541/BD%20INC%20Combs%2001%202013)
A final decision in the school finance trial against the state involving more than two-thirds of its districts and charter schools likely won’t happen until after the lights go out in the 83rd Legislature. But that doesn’t mean what’s happening inside of the courtroom now won’t have an impact on policy under the pink dome. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/SchoolFinanceLawSuits.jpg)
Some state lawmakers don't trust themselves not to spend more money than they really think they should spend. They want a law that would tie their own hands. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/BudgetTexas.jpg)
The courts aren't expected to finish their work on school finance until after the regular legislative session, giving lawmakers an excuse for leaving some expensive work incomplete for now. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/MoneyPavedRoad_1.jpg)
Does Texas need a constitutional cap on spending growth to protect it from the whims of future lawmakers or save it from the current ones? Supporters of the proposal are at odds. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/TexasSpendingChart.jpg)
Republican leaders like to say government should just get out of the way and let the private sector do work its unfettered magic. But during the session, they may have a hard time squaring their stated philosophy with their support for tax giveaways to private industry. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/PerryHoldsTEF_1.jpg)
Imagine a government as accountable to voters for its performance as football coaches are to the ire of fans and boosters. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/MackBrown-CapitolFootball.jpg)
At this morning's TribLive conversation, state Sen. Kel Seliger, R-Amarillo, the chairman of the Senate Higher Education Committee, discussed the prospect of tuition reregulation and whether the state is adequately funding higher ed. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/videos/image_4.jpeg)
After the Legislature cut billions of dollars from the state budget in 2011, some hoped to see at least some of the funding restored in 2013. But with the next legislative session quickly approaching, others are pushing to limit that spending. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/Cap_sized.jpg)
State leaders including Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and House Speaker Joe Straus on Thursday voted to cap the state’s spending growth rate at 10.71 percent for the next-two year budget. Full Story
The state of Texas used to cover half of the costs of higher education at state colleges and universities. Now it's around 13 percent at the University of Texas at Austin and 22 percent at Texas A&M University in College Station. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/TexasEducation.jpg)
Austin will be the epicenter of the auto racing world this month when its new, $400 million track — the Circuit of the Americas — hosts the first Formula One race in the United States since 2007. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/a0c9d54bc7f612f3e01d9d52dbf465b0/BD%20INC%20Formula%20One%20019%202012)
Economic and immigration issues remain top concerns in the state, according to the University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/UT-TT-Polls.213.png)
A free trade agreement between the U.S. and Panama takes effect Wednesday, bringing with it the controversy over jobs and taxes that is associated with all tariff-reducing agreements. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/PanamaCanal-1.jpg)
Most Texans believe that the country is on the wrong track but that the state is headed in the right direction, according to the University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll conducted this month. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/UT-TxTrib-PollOct2012-stateofeconomy.001.png)
For this week's nonscientific survey of politics and government insiders, we asked about the direction of the state and the country, the state of the economy and the most important problems facing Texas and the U.S. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/inside_intelligence-logo-Hahn-sponsorship.jpg){kind=logo}
Texas added 21,000 nonfarm jobs in September, according to numbers released Friday by the Texas Workforce Commission. The gains brought the state's unemployment rate to 6.8 percent, down from August's 7.1 percent. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/JOBS.jpg)