Texas Budget Shortfall Continues

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) _ The Texas economy is coming back, but the state budget is still in trouble.

The chairman of the Legislative Budget Board John O’Brien told lawmakers Tuesday that they did not appropriate enough to cover state expenses for Medicaid and other programs. The state is short more than $4.1 billion in the current budget.

The chief revenue estimator for the Texas comptroller, John Heleman, said the Texas economy had rebounded faster than the rest of the nation. He also said that the state had recovered more than 440,000 jobs, but that many people had moved to Texas since 2008 and have not found jobs.

Heleman also said that the state’s Rainy Day Fund has $6.1 billion and will have $7.3 billion by the end of the fiscal year.

    
     (Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)

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