Politics & Policy
October 11, 2013
Road to Nowhere
Oil money’s nice, but actually funding our infrastructure needs is even better.
Rainy day fund
Politics & Policy
July 10, 2013
“Cone Fatigue”
Will voters support a constitutional amendment for more spending on roads, after seeing all the construction that is going on?
Politics & Policy
March 7, 2013
TSTA Poll Shows Support for Using the Rainy Day Fund to Restore Education Cuts
The poll of likely voters was conducted jointly by Democratic pollster Keith Frederick and Republican pollster Jan van Lohuizen. A release about the results says, “A strong majority of Texas voters support using some of the $12 billion in the state’s Rainy Day Fund to restore the $5.4
Politics & Policy
January 21, 2013
Did Rick Perry Just Kick Off His 2014 Campaign?
Perry conducted a Kardashian-level of media courtship at the Capitol, where he told reporters he won't rule out another run for governor or president.
Politics & Policy
December 3, 2012
Dewhurst wants to use the Rainy Day fund for water, highways
Well, good for him. The proposal is to use $1 billion from the fund for water projects and for highways. A billion doesn’t buy you what it used to, but it’s a start. Dewhurst also proposed setting up a bank for water and transportation projects. I think he and Craddick
Politics & Policy
February 23, 2012
Perry: We Don’t Need No Education Special Session
The governor rejected calls to revisit school finance issues during his Tuesday media blitz, but his critics say he also overstated current funding levels.
Politics & Policy
October 5, 2011
Ogden: State has $1.8 billion surplus
This is what he told me in a conversation we had earlier today. The reason is higher-than-expected sales tax receipts and a similar bonanza of oil and gas money for the Rainy Day Fund, above the comptroller’s estimate. Due to the increased revenue, Ogden said, there will be fewer layoffs
Politics & Policy
May 24, 2011
R.G.’s Take: The Nanny State of Texas
Once upon a time, not so long ago, in a faraway land called Pennsylvania, a woman named Sarah Palin brought 200 protest cookies to school for children at the Plumstead Christian School - because she had read a report – mistaken as it turns out – that the state was
Politics & Policy
April 21, 2011
Sunny skies ahead
From Bloomberg: Texas’s reserve fund may climb to 28 percent more than officially forecast by 2013 as energy prices rally, a gain that might help the second-most populous state avoid some spending cuts, a key senator said. The fund, fed by energy taxes and forecast by the state comptroller
Politics & Policy
March 17, 2011
RedState.com to Texas Republicans: “Grow a spine”
Melissa Clouthier's Wednesday post on the widely read conservative blog took Rick Perry and Texas Republicans to task for being soft on budget cuts and the use of the Rainy Day Fund: Texas enjoys a super-majority Republican status. As a friend pointed out to me, if Texas Republicans
Politics & Policy
October 21, 2009
Dewhurst Hits Bottom
I have already received a couple of calls from friends who wanted to be sure that I noticed the Dew's op-ed piece in today's Statesman about how Texas balanced its budget. His salient characteristic is on full display here: There is no depth of cravenness so low that
Politics & Policy
April 1, 2009
Ogden defends use of stimulus funds, predicts worsening economy
Opening the floor debate on the budget bill, Finance chair Steve Ogden defended his use of federal stimulus funds and not dipping into the state’s Rainy Day Fund, noting that the $182.25 billion spending plan is seven percent higher than last biennium. “That is attributable to the federal stimulus funding,”
Politics & Policy
March 25, 2009
The Hole Ball Game
As lawmakers try to determine what can and cannot be done with the stimulus money, a crucial question has arisen. The purpose of the stimulus money is to help states fill holes in their budget. The question is: Does Texas have a hole–or, to put it another way, will the
Politics & Policy
January 12, 2009
Rainy Day Fund vote could determine fate of the session
When I saw the revenue estimate today, I had a flashback to 2003, when Carole Keeton Strayhorn greeted returning lawmakers with a $9.9 billion shortfall. Susan Combs had similar bad news, a $77.1 billion revenue estimate that was $9.1 billion less than the $86.2 billion estimate of 2007. But there
Politics & Policy
January 12, 2009
Revenue Estimate Looms. Make that “Glooms.”
This morning comptroller Susan Combs will release her revenue estimate of the money that will be available for the Legislature to spend in the next biennium. Expectations are that the estimate will come in showing little or no revenue growth. The state treasury does have a surplus of more than