AUSTIN, Texas (AP) _ Budget woes in Texas caused by a prolonged oil slump would be patched with cuts to higher education, kicking the can down the road on growing Medicaid costs and rebuffing priorities of Republican Gov. Greg Abbott under an austere spending bill passed unanimously Tuesday by the state Senate.
Texas’ finances are not as bleak as other energy states _ Oklahoma is grappling with a roughly $870 million shortfall that could decimate core state services, and Kansas is considering big tax increases to offset serious budget problems.
But booming Texas is still belt-tightening in the wake of sagging energy prices. Budget observers put the state short as much as $6 billion to meet the current level of state services over the next two fiscal years.
That has increased tensions among Republicans over how to cut back at an already divisive time in the GOP-controlled Legislature. Lawmakers are at each other’s throats over thorny social issues, including a North Carolina-style “bathroom bill” targeting transgender people and an immigration crackdown on so-called “sanctuary cities.”
The $106.3 billion package, approved 31-0, doesn’t fully fund future Medicaid caseloads in rapidly growing Texas. It also closes a state prison and doesn’t give Abbott the dollars he wants for pre-kindergarten and bringing elite researchers to state universities.
Classrooms are spared from cuts, but the status quo is unsatisfying to schools and teachers after the Texas Supreme Court last summer ruled that the state’s school finance system is flawed but still barely constitutional.
Texas also wouldn’t let up on an $800 million border security mission, even though the Republican leaders have enthusiastically embraced President Donald Trump’s promises to build a wall along the state’s border with Mexico.
“This is a lean budget. But this is also a smart budget. It responsibly meets the needs of our state,” said Republican state Sen. Jane Nelson, the Senate’s top budget writer.
Democrats raised objections during hours of debate Tuesday, but ultimately backed the bill _ knowing that what ultimately emerges from both chambers will look very different.
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SCHOOL FINANCE PASSES HOUSE COMMITTEE
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) _ A bipartisan bill pumping $1.6 billion extra into classrooms as part of small but important changes to how Texas funds public education is headed to the full state House.
Houston Republican Rep. Dan Huberty’s proposal increases per-student funding about $200 to $5,350. It also adds funding for transportation and educating dyslexic students.
The bill seeks to overhaul the current “Robin Hood” system, decreasing some funding that school districts in wealthy areas share with those in poorer regions statewide.
Huberty called the measure a positive “first step” as his Public Education Committee approved it to the full chamber Tuesday. He has said that sweeping school finance changes will take several legislative sessions.
Lawmakers aren’t required to fix school finance because Texas’ Supreme Court declared it flawed but barely constitutional last summer.
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IMMIGRATION RULE
The House voted 97-46 to require oil and gas firms to step up efforts to refrain from employing people in the country illegally.
The chamber mandated that energy companies use E-verify, a program which lets employers check employees’ legal status. The rule was included in a larger bill regulating the Railroad Commission, which oversees Texas’ oil and gas industry.
The Legislature is expected to pass a separate, sweeping measure punishing so-called “sanctuary cities,” where local authorities don’t help the federal government enforce immigration policy.
Democrats argue that Texas is targeting immigrants while ignoring industries employing them _ and the proposed E-verify rule drew surprisingly strong bipartisan support.
The full Railroad Commission regulation bill cleared the House but still needs Senate approval, meaning the E-verify provision may not survive.
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OPEN RECORDS
The Senate approved two bill that seek to rollback recent state Supreme Court rulings that advocates say weakened open records laws.
The measures would require governments to disclose contracts and other bidding process agreements and mandate that entities that are fully or partially funded by public money disclose their spending.
The bills address Texas Supreme Court rulings in 2015 and 2016 that public records advocates complained had shut off key documents from public review.
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BATHROOM BILL
House Speaker Joe Straus thwarted a tea party-backed effort to tack “bathroom bill” restrictions onto an unrelated measure regulating the agency overseeing oil and gas.
Rep. Matt Schafer of Tyler sought to ban transgender Texans from using public restrooms of their choice as part of a sweeping Railroad Commission bill. Straus determined the rule irrelevant to the agency bill and blocked a vote on the bathroom measure.
The Senate already has approved a separate, full bill requiring transgender people to use public bathrooms based on their birth-certificate gender. That proposal hasn’t yet reached the House floor.
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LAWMAKER INJURED
A Republican lawmaker from suburban Houston remains hospitalized in stable condition after a car crash while traveling to the Texas Capitol.
His office says Rep. Mark Keough of the Woodlands “is alert and in stable condition, having suffered no broken bones or head trauma” following the wreck Tuesday morning.
It provided no further details except to say that Keough was being treated at St. David Hospital in south Austin.
Fellow Republican Rep. Charlie Geren of Fort Worth announced on the House floor that he had spoken with Keough, who said his injuries left him unable to remember anything about the wreck or the rest of his morning.