Texas State Comptroller Glenn Hegar provided his estimate that Texas lawmakers will have $188.2 billion in revenue available for general-purpose spending during the 2023-24 biennium. This is an increase from the 87th Session session when lawmakers were given an estimate of $115.65 billion for general-purpose spending during the 2022-23 biennium.
For more information see the Comptroller’s website here.
Economic Stabilization Fund
$10.2 billion in oil & gas tax collections will be transferred to the the Economic Stabilization Fund (ESF), also known as the state’s Rainy Day Fund, and the State Highway Fund (SHF). Comptroller Hegar noted that in 2025 these transfers will hit the constitutional limit on the total ESF balance, the first time since the ESF’s creation in 1988.
Per the Texas Constitution, appropriations from the ESF must be approved by a three-fifths vote of the legislature if the preceding legislature appropriated for the same purpose, or by two-thirds vote at any time for any purpose.
Comptroller Fiscal Brief on the ESF (Nov 2022, PDF)