By J. Lyn Carl, GalleryWatch.com
Austin, TX –
Amid some pointed questions, the committee substitute for SB 1, the General Appropriations Bill, was passed out of the Texas Senate today.
Senate Finance Chairman Sen. Steve Ogden (R-Bryan) said the bill represents a 10 percent increase in biennial spending, with 40 percent of that amount - some $55.6 billion of all funds - dedicated to education. In general revenue (GR) and GR-dedicated funds, Ogden said that amounts to 55 percent of the total budget.
Health and human services funding makes up one-third of the budget, said Ogden, or some $5 billion. "This budget will balance and will be below the constitutional spending limit," said the Bryan Republican. He said it includes a major state employee pay raise, with the state's goal a "leaner, better-paid workforce." He said it increases funding for Child Protective Services (CPS) and Adult Protective Services (APS) and has an additional $40 million for mental health care. He also outlined the billions being dedicated to public education grades K-12 as well as to higher education.
Ogden also said the funding bill addresses health insurance and retirement for state employees, where benefits are maintained and the state contribution to retirement is increased to 6.12 percent of payroll. He noted general obligation bonds were approved for prisons, mental hospitals and the National Guard armories as part of the budget.
One by one, members of the Senate Finance Committee who led workgroups regarding the different articles of the bill rose to explain the funding for each article - from health and human services spending to state employee benefits.
"We appreciate the hard work that you and the workgroup did on Article II," said Sen. Leticia Van de Putte (D-San Antonio) as Sen. Judith Zaffirini (D-Laredo) discussed Article II funding. Van de Putte said she is hopeful that CHIP funding will "continue to be a priority."
Zaffirini was praised by Sen. Eliot Shapleigh (D-El Paso) for her work last session in "patiently restoring" individuals to health care programs they need. "It is amazing to watch you fight to make sure that every cent in this budget is squeezed out and put into services," he said.
The Laredo Democrat responded that more savings may be found in conference committee. "We still have that work cut out for us," she said. Last session more than $2 billion was found during conference, but that may not be the case this session. "We simply couldn't do that," she said. "The budgets are as lean as they can be." In spite of new revenues and payment deferrals and new fees, there still was not money to put back into the agencies. "We are in much better shape than 2003," she said, noting the problem is in case growth, utilization and inflation. She said it is "an incredibly difficult decision" to determine where funding goes.
Shapleigh pointed out that the current version of SB 1 still leaves caseloads extremely high adding that he is hopeful that will be addressed further and changed. "Conference committee lies ahead," said Zaffirini.
"Not one Texan should have to die because he or she cannot afford to live," said Sen. Eddie Lucio (D-Brownsville) in urging funding for health and human services needs.
Members also questioned education spending in the bill, in particular Sen. Rodney Ellis (D-Houston) questioned the effects on college-bound youngsters if certain grant programs are combined. He said the concept "won't close the gap; it will broaden the gap."
Sen. John Whitmire (D-Houston) said Article V speaks to "the most basic responsibility" of state government - protecting the state's citizens. Regarding enforcement, Whitmire said funding has been increased for law enforcement agencies - that will include a focus on homeland security issues, a continuation of the Selective Traffic Enforcement Program, more funding for the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) Crime Lab, additional employees for the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission and pay raises for state law enforcement officers. Whitmire said $62 million in the budget bill is to lease 3,000 beds to assure the public that if someone is sentenced to incarceration in Texas, the state has a place to hold them.
Questioning use of the System Benefit Fund, Shapleigh asked about how many people are no longer benefiting from the fund intended to help low-income families pay their electric bills, after $185 million of the fund was redirected to other programs. He said the result was that 350,000 were dropped from the list of recipients from the fund. The fund is serving essentially the same people - the same population, the Medicaid population - according to Sen. Tommy Williams (R-The Woodlands). Shapleigh responded that it's important that the state and the people know that the funds were taken and matched and reapplied elsewhere. He said it also raises some questions about geographic redistribution of those funds, which are now proposed to be matched and used for Medicaid funding. Williams said it was not appropriated for Medicaid, but that its redirection freed up other money that could be.
Williams also addressed state employee pay raises, saying "This is where the rubber meets the road," in regard to state workers. "They're the ones who make state government work for all our constituents." Turnover among state employees was more than 16 percent in the last four years, he said, compared to 11 percent in the state's cities. SB 1 provides for a 4.5 percent increase on Jan. 1, 2006, with a $100-per-month minimum with another 4.5 percent increase on Jan. 1, 2007 again with a $100-per-month minimum.
Before the bill was finally passed, Ogden thanked the members of the Finance Committee for an "extraordinarily good job." He said they "know this budget better than we've ever known one before."
Shapleigh said the measure of a budget is if it meets the needs of the people. He said if this budget is passed, the state will continue to be last or next to last in what is spends per-capita among other states in the nation.
"We are dead last in graduation rates and 48th in SATs," he said, and could leave a legacy that leaves future generations "less prosperous" than the current generation.
Sen. Gonzalo Barrientos (D-Austin) said voting for or against a bill "is a struggle," a "judgment call." He said one seeks a balance. "You seek the positive but you don't want to disregard the negative." He said Texas will continue the status of "a non-leader" if the state continues as it has in the past - with patches, band-aids, smoke and mirrors, etc., regarding the budget. "Bad or mediocre policy can be well intended, yet it will continue to remain bad or mediocre. I think we can do better."
"What we're doing in this budget slightly past the mid-point of the decade is essentially putting ourselves back where we were when we walked into this chamber at the beginning of it," said Ellis. "Not only are we voting for the only budget that's on the floor, the people we represent voted for us."
The bill was passed unanimously, 31-0.