Rahul Sreenivasan, Director of Government Performance and Fiscal Policy
During the special sessions of summer 2021, Texas 2036 came out in support of increasing wages for historically underpaid legislative staff. Our accompanying analysis on Article X, the relevant section of the Texas budget covering legislative agencies, illustrated just how far behind the legislative employees’ salaries had lagged in the Austin area. The Legislature ended…
Texas House and Senate budget writers will have up to $114.1 billion to spend in non-dedicated state tax revenue in the next budget cycle, following the Legislative Budget Board’s adoption yesterday of the constitutional tax spending limit. This limit, which must be adopted before lawmakers meet in January, reflects the LBB’s adoption of a forecasted…
This is part of our blog series for Texas 2036’s Strategic Framework, which provides in-depth, cross-cutting data to inform key decisions about the most significant issues facing the state. Since July 2022 when the Texas Comptroller announced a large uptick in state revenue for the current biennium, folks watching the Texas budget have wondered and…
Lawmakers’ ability to access the state’s $27 billion general revenue surplus rides to a large degree on action taken by the elected members of the Legislative Budget Board meeting at 2 p.m. this Wednesday, Nov. 30. At the meeting, the elected LBB members will meet to discuss and approve estimated growth rates for Texas’ tax…
As the 88th Texas Legislative Session approaches, legislators are already discussing how the state may best utilize the record $27 billion balance in general revenue that is anticipated at the end of fiscal year 2023. With at least an estimated $3 billion in unspent American Rescue Plan Act funds as well as an anticipated $13.7…