General Appropriations Bills, otherwise known as the state budget, are introduced by the House and Senate at the start of the legislative session following an assessment of the Legislative Appropriation Requests (LARs) submitted by state agencies over the interim and the Comptroller’s Biennial Revenue Estimate (BRE).
The Legislature may change the state budget through a supplemental appropriations bill after the budget has been approved. Because the regular session begins in January, with eight months remaining in the two-year budget period, the Legislature sometimes appropriates funds to supplement an agency for the last fiscal year of a biennium.
The Comptroller anticipates state lawmakers will have $119.1 billion for spending over the FY 2020-2021 budget cycle, which is roughly 8.1 percent more funding available compared to the last biennium.
The House Appropriations Committee has been hard at work preparing House Bill 1, the state budget for the upcoming biennium, while the Senate recently passed and sent over Senate Bill 500, the supplemental budget which will address the obligations and critical needs of the state in the final months of FY 2019.
As substituted, House Bill 1 (HB 1) spends $116.5 billion of general revenue, well under the Comptroller's BRE of $119.1 billion. The bill also includes approximately $2.3 billion of items funded with the Economic Stabilization Fund (ESF).
HB 1 responsibly funds items Texas taxpayers expect and deserve, like public education, mental health, school safety, and sexual assault prevention education and training. HB 1 is fiscally conservative spending taxpayer dollars efficiently and effectively to provide critical government services, while coming in well below all four Constitutional spending limits.
Below is a breakdown of HB 1 by article highlighting certain issues.
Article I - General Government:
Funding the critical services Texans expect efficiently and effectively.
• Standing up for Texas Veterans: The Texas Veterans Commission is provided with an additional $7M GR to meet the increasing demand for veterans assistance in underserved rural areas; to expand the Women Veterans Program; to expand the Veteran Entrepreneur Program; and to provide more funding for Veterans Treatment Court grants.
• Protecting Victims of Sexual Assault: Sexual Assault Crisis Centers under the Office of the Attorney General are provided with an additional $7.5M GR to eliminate waitlists, expand crisis centers into 15 counties, and cover projected caseload.
• $10M GR is appropriated for grants to Sexual Assault Forensic Exam-Ready (SAFE-Ready) Facilities for education and training so that acute care hospitals are fully equipped and trained to care for victims of sexual assault.
• Rebuilding Texas after Harvey: $100M ESF is provided to the Office of the Governor for disaster response and recovery grants.
Article II - Health and Human Services:
Putting the health of Texans first.
• Prioritizing Mental Health for all Texans: HB 1 includes $173.4M GR to address capacity demands for behavioral health services including fully funding additional inpatient psychiatric services and access to residential treatment beds for children. Included in this amount is funding for substance abuse disorder (SUD) treatment, including $23.6M GR to address the waitlist for pregnant women and women with dependent children.
• Assisting Children with Developmental Challenges: The Early Childhood Intervention (ECI) program is provided with an additional $72.6M GR in order to fund caseload growth and develop provider stability.
• Critical Healthcare for Texas Women: $88.1M GR is provided to the three women's health programs at the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) to meet caseload growth and fund providers that serve rural and underserved areas.
• Protecting Vulnerable Texans: Adult Protective Services (APS) at the Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) is provided with $6.5M to fund additional caseworkers. Another $22M GR is provided for salary increases and bonuses for APS frontline caseworkers, investigator caseworkers, supervisors, and support staff.
Article III – Education:
Preparing young Texans to compete in the workforce of the future.
Public Education—Investing in Texas school children to prepare them for college or career.
• The Foundation School Program (FSP) is provided with an additional $9B GR to fund HB 3 as introduced.
• The Texas Education Agency (TEA) is provided with $50M GR for special education grants.
• TEA is also provided with $64.5M (out of $109.4M total allocated for school safety efforts) for increased investment in Communities in Schools and the agency's Safe and Healthy Schools initiative.
Higher Education—Ensuring Texas students have access to a quality higher education so they can compete in the workforce.
• $80M GR is provided for TEXAS Grants to maintain 70% of eligible students in all pathways. This amount funds growth and maintains the percentage of eligible students for these grants.
• $18.5M GR is provided for the small institution supplement to help growing institutions that do not yet generate enough formula funding to operate on their own.
Article IV – Judiciary:
Ensuring all Texans have access to a fair and efficient legal system.
• The Supreme Court's Basic Civil Legal Services program receives an additional $6M GR for veterans and $10M GR for victims of sexual assault.
• The Office of Court Administration is appropriated an additional $3.4M GR to create nine additional child protection courts, as well as $1M GR for the Children's Commission to provide judicial training to Child Support Courts.
• The Texas Indigent Defense Commission is appropriated $10M GR-D to provide grants to counties for indigent defense, as well as $10M GR for grants to public defender offices for the specialized representation of indigent defendants with mental illness.
Article V – Public Safety and Criminal Justice:
Ensuring law enforcement has the resources it needs to keep our families and communities safe.
• The Department of Public Safety (DPS) is appropriated $6M ESF for crime lab equipment replacement and remodel of the Garland Crime Lab; and approximately $2M GR is given to fund crime analyst training and education in drug and toxicology disciplines.
Article VI - Natural Resources:
Using our natural resources responsibly, now and in the future.
• The Water Development Board is appropriated $8.5M GR for strategic mapping, floodplain mapping, hydraulic river and coastal mapping, and flood monitoring.
Article VII - Business and Economic Development:
Expanding economic opportunity to every corner of the state.
• The Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs is appropriated $3M GR to fund a youth homeless initiative.
• $200M GR is provided to the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) for improvements to the Drivers License Program, contingent upon the transfer of the Driver License Program from DPS to DMV.
• The Texas Workforce Commission is appropriated $6M GR for the Jobs and Education Training Program and $1.3M GR for the Apprenticeship Training Program.
Information Technology Needs at State Agencies:
Protecting Texans’ data and ensuring state agencies operate efficiently.
· HB 1 provides approximately $40M ESF for all Centralized Accounting and Payroll/Personnel System (CAPPS) projects.
· The bill also provides for $73M AF for agency requests related to information technology (IT) projects. Projects were designated into three areas; Cybersecurity, Legacy Systems Modernization, or a combination of both.
SB 500 -
The Supplemental Budget
The main focus of SB 500 is to fund FY 2019 obligations, while also funding critical needs such as Hurricane Harvey damage, using General Revenue (GR) and the Economic Stabilization Fund (ESF). Senate Bill 500 spends $2.7 billion of general revenue and approximately $4.3 billion of the Economic Stabilization Fund. Comptroller Hegar previously estimated that the ESF would have nearly $12 billion for budget emergencies. Highlighted below are several key areas SB 500 funds.
- $2.7 billion ESF may be used for expenses related to Hurricane Harvey, including $1.5 billion for reduced property values and increased costs and $873 million to match local public needs
- $1.34 billion in funding for the Teacher Retirement System
- $2.1 billion GR to fund a shortfall in Medicaid
- $100 million GR to fund state children’s hospitals
- $250 million ESF to match local funding for damaged county roads
CSHB 1 was voted out of the House Appropriations Committee on March 18, 2019 and is scheduled to be considered on the House floor on Wednesday, March 27, 2019 and Thursday, March 28, 2019. SB 500 passed the Senate on Wednesday, May 13, 2019 and is scheduled for consideration on the House Floor on Wednesday, March 27, 2019. Once passed by both the House and Senate, both bills will head to a conference committee between the two chambers, where legislative members of both bodies will then finalize the supplemental budget for each chamber’s approval.
