By Paul Emerson
TAC State Financial Analyst
The Texas House voted out the proposed state budget of $164.5 billion by a mostly party-line vote of 98 to 49 on Sunday, April 3. As it stands now, the House is committed to reducing state government spending by operating within its available revenues.
For instance, floor amendments that increased CSHB 1, the budget bill, were not allowed. Of the 317 floor amendments up for debate, only 174 amendments were actually adopted. About half of those adopted amendments were placed in Article 11, which is also known as the "wish list."
The House version of CSHB 1 will probably go before the Senate Finance Committee within the next several weeks. More than likely, Senate Finance will substitute its version of the state budget for CSHB 1.
At this point in the budget process, a little more than $8 billion has been added to CSHB 1 compared to the introduced version of HB 1, as illustrated in the chart above. The Senate Finance Committee has adopted a recommendation to add up to $10 billion to its budget plans in order to mitigate the initial cuts to public education and Medicaid, assuming additional revenue is available.
The TAC County Information Project is currently reviewing each amendment to CSHB 1 to identify any potential impact to counties.
For more information, contact Paul Emerson, TAC state financial analyst, at (800) 456-5974 or via email at Paule@county.org.
By Aurora Flores
Legislative Liaison
On Monday, April 4, the Senate Finance Committee heard CSSB 1505 by Sen. Carlos Uresti (D-San Antonio) — the bill written to address the oil and gas undervaluation problem — and no opposition was voiced.
Uresti and Rep. Tryon Lewis (R-Odessa) both introduced legislation to correct the inherent undervaluation and utilize market-based methodology. Lewis’ HB 889 is currently waiting to be heard in the House Ways & Means Committee.
After weeks of stakeholder meetings to work out the best possible language in the legislation, testimony was heard on the bill’s merits. Providing the counties’ perspective in support of the bill were San Patricio County Judge Terry Simpson; Jim Allison, general counsel for County Judges & Commissioners Association of Texas (CJCAT); and Texas Association of Counties President and Roberts County Judge Vernon Cook’s letter to the committee. Representatives from the Permian Basin Petroleum Association and the Texas Alliance of Energy Producers also testified in favor of CSSB 1505. No opposing testimony was heard or presented to the committee.
The Comptroller of Public Accounts and the revenue estimating methodology have been removed from the proposed bill language. The legislation would use the price estimated for the coming year in the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) Annual Energy Outlook at the full value to determine the price adjustment for the first year.
This “price adjustment” will be calculated by the chief appraiser, using the forecasted price for current calendar year and dividing by the estimated price for oil for the previous calendar year. The escalation rate for future years is based on the Producer Price Index (PPI) rate and would be capped at an additional five years.
While CSSB 1505 does not meet all of the counties’ concerns, it is a definite improvement over the present statute. In a few years, proposed legislation should produce higher oil and gas appraisals than with the current methodology, producing better results for counties over time.
Senate Finance will meet weekly to vote out pending business, including CSSB 1505. The next step will be to have the legislation set on the Senate calendar and heard on the Senate floor.
TAC staff will continue to monitor the movement of this and other bills important to counties.
For more information, please contact Aurora Flores at aurorafo@county.org or (800) 456-5974.
By Elna Christopher
Director of Media Relations
Rep. Burt Solomons (R-Carrollton) picked up several new co-authors for his HJR 56, the proposed constitutional amendment to prohibit most future unfunded mandates, since we last reported.
As of 11 a.m. April 8, there are 95 authors and co-authors in the House, representing a bi-partisan group of legislators. This is only five short of the 100 members needed for passage of a constitutional amendment.
Please thank your representative if he or she is on the list of authors and co-authors. These lawmakers are standing tall for a very important aspect of local control — that being: the state should not send down mandates to local governments without funding.
There are still 55 House members who have not signed on. If your representative is on this list and you have not approached him or her to ask about being a co-author, please do so.
As of 11 a.m. April 8, the Texas Association of Counties (TAC) had received resolutions supporting HJR 56 from 232 counties, with several more placing it on their commissioners court agendas the week of April 11 — which, by the way, is County Government Week. If your county has a blank beside it instead of a date or “on agenda,” please pass a supportive resolution so that all 254 counties show solidarity for HJR 56. TAC has prepared a sample that includes both HJR 56 and its Senate companion, SJR 17, by Sen. John Carona (R-Dallas).
The House State Affairs Committee recently passed HJR 56 out of committee. SJR 17 has been assigned to Senate State Affairs, but no hearing has been set yet.
By Nanette Forbes
Legislative Liaison
SB 100 by Sen. Leticia Van De Putte (D-San Antonio) and the companion bill HB 111 by Rep. Van Taylor (R-Plano), both of which propose changes to the present election calendar, were heard in committee this week. The bills would change election dates for the state to accommodate the requirement of the federal Military Overseas Voting Empowerment Act, which allows 45 days for processing of military overseas ballots.
Senate State Affairs voted SB 100 out of committee with the following election dates:
The House Committee on Defense and Veteran’s Affairs laid out HB 111 with substitute language that proposed the following election dates:
SB 100 has been placed on the Senate Intent Calendar. HB 111 has been left pending in committee.