Border security, tax breaks top priorities in Texas House and Senate budget proposals

The Texas House and Senate have closely aligned their priorities on how to spend the $288.7 billion budget over the next two years, focusing on border security, employee pay increases and property tax relief.

House and Senate provisional budgets released Wednesday came as state lawmakers gear up for a tougher battle over how to spend an unprecedented $32.7 billion budget surplus over the previous biennium.

Some lawmakers have proposed spending it on one-off infrastructure investments, while Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick say they want to give it back to homeowners through a property tax break. Complicating the challenge are limits on budget increases under the Texas Constitution and state law, which state officials have set at 12.3% for the 2024-2025 budget.

The budget surplus is included in the $188.2 billion historic total income that State Comptroller Glenn Hegar announced last week would be available for discretionary spending. House and Senate budget bills leave tens of billions of those dollars unallocated and leave the state’s rainy day fund untouched.

The bills were written by Rep. Greg Bonnen, R-Friendswood State, and Senator Joan Huffman, R-Houston State, who are the chief budgeters in their respective houses. Their plans are indicative of the Republican-dominated legislature’s fiscally conservative approach to budgeting.

Texas Legislature: What Austin House Representatives Want to Pass in the 88th Session

Spending proposals are likely to go through many changes before the end of the 140-day session. The biennial budget is the only bill that legislators must pass every session.

The money in the budget consists of $93.7 billion from federal funds, $130.1 billion from state general revenue funds, and $64.9 billion from other funds.

Property tax relief

Both projects provide $15 billion in property tax relief, including $3 billion in a Senate proposal to increase the homestead tax exemption from $40,000 to $70,000, as Patrick touted in his inaugural address Tuesday. The House version also calls for a $2.2 billion cut in chargebacks.

Border Security

The Senate and House proposals jointly provide for a total of $4.6 billion for the state’s border security efforts, which would go primarily to three departments: $2.3 billion for the Texas Military Department, $1.2 billion for the Department of Public Safety and US$1 billion. to the governor’s office. Texas has already spent just under $4.4 billion on Governor Greg Abbott’s border security program, known as Operation Lone Star.

public education

Both the House and Senate in spending bills propose $36.1 billion for the Texas Education Agency, but note that the Legislature also intends to increase funding for public schools. The Senate bill proposes an increase in Teacher Incentives, a new program to reward teachers who improve student achievement. The House of Representatives bill also proposes to increase funding per student, also known as the base allotment, or to invest more money in the allocation of educational materials in line with the proposed budget.

Allowances for state employees

Both chambers’ proposals include a 5% pay increase for civil servants in September and an additional 5% increase in September 2024. The minimum increase is $3,000.

The House bill also provides for a $674 million pay increase for Texas Department of Criminal Justice employees. Of this, $374 million is for correctional officers and has already been approved.

Texas Legislature: What Austin Senators Hope to Pass in 88th Session

Rural Law Enforcement

Patrick says he wants to provide additional resources to rural law enforcement. The Senate budget provides for $350 million in spending, including an increase in sheriffs’ salaries.

Supplemental Appropriations Bill

House and Senate drafts also include additional spending plans, including:

$2.3 billion to build a public hospital and additional inpatient facilities.
$1 billion as a “one-off bequest payment” to the Texas Employee Retirement System.
$600 million for TEA to help school districts with school safety initiatives.
$400 million to the Water Development Board for flood mitigation.
$100 million to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department to purchase the park.
$148.9 million to fund three months of a 5% pay increase, or $250 per month, if more, for classified government employees.

Higher education

Both versions of the budget propose to allocate the same $27.1 billion to higher education over the coming biennium, according to the Legislative Budget Council.

This is a 2.6% decrease from the 2022-2023 biennium, in part because colleges received additional federal funding due to COVID-19 over the previous two years.

Each budget proposes an additional $650 million over two years for public colleges and a $2.5 billion fund to support higher education institutions that currently do not benefit from the Permanent University Fund, but both proposals are subject to the adoption of an additional legislation.

The House budget notes that some colleges and universities may receive additional public funding if they freeze tuition and fees at September 1, 2023 levels for the next two fiscal years, but the specification is missing from the Senate’s proposed budget.