Pre-filed amendments to budget bills set the stage for culture wars on spending
The next several days of Texas House budget debate may be as much about the culture wars as state spending.
Pre-filed amendments to the three budget-related bills before the House contain limitations on private school vouchers, funding for Planned Parenthood and directives to higher education to fund centers for traditional family values if they provide funding for support centers for gay students. Debate is set to begin Thursday on House Bill 4 to erase a deficit in the current budget and on House Bill 275 to take $3.2 billion out of the state’s so-called rainy day fund. Debate is set for Friday and into the weekend on House Bill 1, a bare bones spending plan for the next two years.
Some of the pre-filed amendments may never be debated because there is a possibility that they are not procedurally proper for an appropriations bill. But they do show state spending is about more than just spending – or in this case cutting.
Tagged: abortion, conservative coalition, craig eiland, gay, joaquin castro, Ken Paxton, Planned Parenthood, scott hochberg, state budget, state employees
