The Texas House voted out the proposed state budget of $164.5 billion by a mostly party-line vote of 98 to 49 on Sunday, April 3. As it stands now, the House is committed to reducing state government spending by operating within its available revenues.
For instance, floor amendments that increased CSHB 1, the budget bill, were not allowed. Of the 317 floor amendments up for debate, only 174 amendments were actually adopted. About half of those adopted amendments were placed in Article 11, which is also known as the "wish list."
The House version of CSHB 1 will probably go before the Senate Finance Committee within the next several weeks. More than likely, Senate Finance will substitute its version of the state budget for CSHB 1.
At this point in the budget process, a little more than $8 billion has been added to CSHB 1 compared to the introduced version of HB 1, as illustrated in the chart above. The Senate Finance Committee has adopted a recommendation to add up to $10 billion to its budget plans in order to mitigate the initial cuts to public education and Medicaid, assuming additional revenue is available.
The TAC County Information Project is currently reviewing each amendment to CSHB 1 to identify any potential impact to counties.
For more information, contact Paul Emerson, TAC state financial analyst, at (800) 456-5974.