A report released Friday by the Texas Senate’s budget-writing committee laid out past and future costs related to recovery from “the most costly disaster ever to hit the Texas coast.”
budget
Posted in
Texas Legislature 2019
With record $12.5 billion in Texas’ savings account, lawmakers set $7.5 billion minimum balance
The decision means Texas can invest more of its massive rainy day fund — and signals lawmakers’ confidence that the current balance is healthy.
Posted in
Public Education
Analysis: Is ending a tax break easier to swallow than a tax hike?
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.
Posted in
Texas Legislature 2019
Texas lawmakers punt on setting a spending cap for 2019 session
House Speaker Joe Straus said the unusual decision was meant to ensure lawmakers didn’t rush to a decision they might “regret.”
Posted in
Texas Elections 2018
Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar and Democratic challenger Joi Chevalier on why they deserve your vote
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.
Posted inState Government
Analysis: Texas’ school finance problem in one pesky chart
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.
Posted inState Government
Analysis: Property taxes rise, state education spending falls. That’s the design.
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.
Posted inState Government
Analysis: How to turn a weak Texas governor’s office into a strong one
Gov. Greg Abbott, continuing a quiet project started by his predecessor, is making his office more powerful — at the Texas Legislature’s expense.
Posted inState Government
Analysis: For hints to next year’s fights at the Texas Capitol, watch the investment advisers
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.
Posted inState Government
Analysis: Texas is finding a new way to call itself a red state
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.
