By Shelley Kofler, KERA News
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kera/local-kera-814703.mp3
Dallas, TX – A day before Texas lawmakers begin their 2009 legislative session Texas Comptroller, Susan Combs delivers some grim budget news. KERA's Shelley Kofler reports lawmakers this session will have less state revenue to spend.
Comptroller Combs says lawmakers gathering in Austin will have $9 billion less in general revenue to spend on the next two-year budget. That's a drop of about 10.5 percent.
Combs blamed the national recession, which is now affecting Texas.
Combs: Texans might have sidestepped a slight or moderate downturn in the national economy, but the effects of what may be the worst national recession in decades will be too large to avoid.
Combs says sales tax revenues, the biggest chunk of state funding, are flat. And the once robust Texas job market is expected to lose some 111,000 jobs during the first nine months of this year.
Combs: I would expect the job losses to come from the major sectors of the economy, which is of course the service sector, oil and gas and construction.
What this will mean for lawmakers is little money to expand current programs or add new ones. Though lawmakers can dip into the Rainy Day reserve fund. The comptroller says it will have almost $7 billion by the end of August.