Category Archives: Budget ballyhoo

The Chron’s David Barron talks to some experts about putting slot machines at horse tracks, which is one of several major proposals to expand gambling in Texas this legislative session. William Eadington, an economics professor at the University of Nevada … Continue reading → Continue reading →

The first batch of funds is arriving. The Department of Housing and Urban Development allocated more than $500 million to Texas cities and counties on Monday, part of a wave of stimulus money expected to flow into the state. Federal … Continue reading → Continue reading →

State Rep. Jim Dunnam, who is the chair of the ad hoc committee that is charged with disbursing federal stimulus funds, gave an update on their proceedings. Among other things, the federal money may free up some state revenues. Normally, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

The regulatory agency that oversees horse and dog tracks in Texas is begging for a handout to make it through the end of the fiscal year. Faced with a 14 percent, nearly $678,000 shortfall, the commission that oversees horse and … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I really don’t understand the objection to using stimulus funds to expand unemployment insurance to help the larger number of people who are now out of work, and especially those who have the extra misfortune of not being eligible because … Continue reading → Continue reading →

There’s a lot of money riding on the answer to that question. The lure of $555 million in federal stimulus money for additional unemployment insurance has Texas legislators mulling whether to expand unemployment benefits to more workers. To get that … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Got a press release in the mail on Monday that claims there is broad support for expanded gambling in Texas – in particular, allowing slot machines at existing race tracks and on Indian reservations. I’ll point you to Texas Insider … Continue reading → Continue reading →

So back in 2005, after the regular legislative session and two ensuing special sessions on school finance, Governor Perry issued an executive order that would require schools to spend at least 65 percent of their tax money in the classroom. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Texas’ public schools are set to get some much needed stimulus money. Texas school districts can expect a jolt of more than $3 billion over two years under the $787 billion package ushered in by President Barack Obama’s administration. Under … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Remember how Governor Perry had argued against states receiving federal stimulus dollars? Well, he still doesn’t want them, though he’s giving himself some waffle room. Gov. Rick Perry said Tuesday he’s not sure the state should accept all of its … Continue reading → Continue reading →

It’s gonna be a bad year. They’re not feeling the economic storm quite yet, but local governments across the Houston region are hunkering down anyway. Some have frozen hiring, others have stopped filling potholes. Planned purchases of police cars, golf … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Elise Hu has the list of committees and members for the State Senate, which came out yesterday. Not much drama here – as she noted, Sen. John Carona, the on Republican vote against changing the rules for voter ID bills, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

It’s hard for me to believe that after all this time, and after all of the candidates who’ve lost elections over it, that the Children’s Health Insurance Program, a/k/a CHIP, still has dedicated opponents. It’s especially hard for me to … Continue reading → Continue reading →

On the surface, hearing that Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst now favors tuition re-regulation sounds like a good thing. A lot of people, Democrats especially, have been screaming about this for months. But as always, the devil is in the details. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

And with it, some idea of how deep the hole is. Maintaining basic state services over the next two years will cost Texas almost $84 billion, $3.7 billion more in general revenue than the state expects to raise during that … Continue reading → Continue reading →

That’s our Governor, for whom the expression “penny-wise and pound-foolish” is a way of life. Nearly a year ago, Gov. Rick Perry trumpeted $90 million in savings to businesses by temporarily suspending some of the burden of paying unemployment insurance … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Good to know they still exist. A day after Gov. Rick Perry touted the chance of more tax relief for Texans, the Senate Finance Committee chairman said he doesn’t see how the state can afford broad tax cuts without a … Continue reading → Continue reading →

There are many possible ways that the Rainy Day Fund could be used to help offset some of the bad budget news we got this week. Some of them will be better than others. Nearly all of them will be … Continue reading → Continue reading →

While we all continue to ponder what the state’s budget situation will mean, we must remember that certain allocations are mandatory. One example of such is Medicaid funding, for which the state of Texas settled a lawsuit in 2007 that … Continue reading → Continue reading →