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The Legislative Budget Board met on September 7, 2018 to hear from the Comptroller of Public Accounts concerning the agency’s Legislative Appropriation Request for the 86th Session and key exceptional items. The agency also heard details about the Comptroller’s Fiscal Programs and from the agency’s Judiciary Section

This report is intended to give you an overview and highlight of the discussions on the various topics the committee took up. It is not a verbatim transcript of the hearing, but is based upon what was audible or understandable to the observer and the desire to get details out as quickly as possible with few errors or omissions.

 

Agency Presentation

Mike Reissig, Deputy Comptroller of Public Accounts

  • Concerning Agency 304 – Comptroller of Public Accounts
  • Baseline funding request of around $635 million
  • Provided an overview of Comptroller’s Office functions
  • The 10% general revenue reduction schedule will severely impact agency operations
  • We are frequently asked why we cut audit and enforcement officers when our budget it cut
    • We have five core functions at the agency and cannot dispense with any of them
    • If we cut elsewhere, our required duties would not be met
  • There are no exceptional items at this time
  • Concerning Agency 902 – Comptroller Fiscal Programs, 1 exceptional item
  • Exceptional item 1
    • Around $47 million, based on estimates for mixed beverage tax reimbursements to counties
    • There are going to be more collections of mixed beverage taxes than in the last biennium
    • 10% reduction would further impede the states ability to pay its obligation by around $113

 

Questions from Joint Legislative/LBB Panel

  • Question – Concerning Agency 304, do you have any ideas as to what projects would be delayed by the 10% reduction?
    • All of them
    • Mainframe maintenance would also be impacted

 

Judiciary Section – Comptroller’s Department

Mike Reissig, Deputy Comptroller of Public Accounts

  • Resource witnesses are here to address their respective requests

 

Chief Justice Nathan Hecht

  • The Judicial Compensation Commission is charged with studying judicial compensation every biennium and presenting that to the Legislature
  • The Commission recommended a 21% increase in 2013, the Legislature funded half of that
  • The pay gap between lawyers and district judges has widened over the years
  • Judicial pay raises have come less frequently than before
  • The current pay for judiciary, adjusted for inflation, is at the same level it was in 1991
  • The Texas Workforce Commission keeps data on the average salary for lawyers in the state
    • The avg salary is 31% larger than what judges make
    • This contributes to the lack of morale in the judiciary
  • If this does not change, the quality of work is bound to slip
  • We are grateful to the Comptroller for placing this issue in the LAR
  • Question – Do you know the number of judges being drawn to the private sector by higher salaries?
    • I can get you the numbers
    • My predecessor has been open about saying the reason he left is because he couldn’t support his family on the current salary
  • Question – Will the JCC recommendations include a statutory linkage to a district judge’s salary?

 

David Slayton, Office of Court Administration

  • We are required statutorily to capture the voluntary turnover rate of judges
  • That voluntary rate is 10.8% for the previous biennium
  • Regarding associate judge’s salary, it is in statute that it should not exceed 90% of the district judge’s salary
  • Currently, the salary is being paid at 80%
  • We recommend meeting the 90%

 

Jack Choate, Special Prosecution Unit

  • The baseline is around $5 million for 2020
  • We are funded through GR and a grant of around $1.5 million
  • We are asking for an increase in insurance and benefits based on last year’s baseline
  • Our senior prosecutors need to be experienced and competent to handle the special work we are tasked with
  • Our avg salary for prosecutors needs to be raised so we can recruit more senior prosecutors
  • We are asking for a juvenile sexual assault prosecutor who could solely focus on that area
  • We are requesting a 3% increase in cost of living for state employees
  • Question – Could you update us on the civil commitment changes to your office?
    • We are working with every county that has received a referral on civil commitment
    • They are very niche cases and require expert prosecution
  • Question – What does turnover look like at your unit?
    • I have been on board for two years now and we have had 2 criminal prosecutors leave
    • We have also lost a prosecutor from our civil side
      • In her exit interview, the bottom line was salary

 

Sid Harle, Regional Administrative Judge 4th District

  • The Regional Administrative Judge coordinates fill-in judges to keep dockets up-to-date
  • We are requesting an increase of around $500,000 to the Visiting Judge Appropriation
  • The last increase to the Visiting Judge Fund was in 2009, but was then reduced in statewide budget cuts
  • The cut from 2011 has never been restored
  • The creation of additional courts has required additional visiting judge assignments

 

Robert Kaplan, District and Counties Attorneys Association

  • Assistant Prosecutor Longevity Pay was established in 2001
  • The state has grown in prosecutors on avg of 42 a year
  • Surety bonds have come into disfavor in the state
  • We have an anticipated shortfall of $500,000 in FY19
  • We are asking to supplement that with GR
  • We are asking for the method of finance to change for the next biennium
  • The longevity pay program is important and we want a new long-term plan to fund it

 

Margaret Moore, Travis County District Attorney

  • I have 5 prosecutors who have maxed out on Longevity Pay in my office
  • Each of them brings skills that benefit the state
  • Losing them would be harmful to the state

 

Jarvis Parsons, District Attorney Brazos County

  • I have seen prosecutors who are forced to leave doing what they love because they cannot afford to stay there
  • In the past two years, our office received around $70,000 in longevity funds
  • Our prosecutors could go elsewhere with their skills to earn more
  • People come to Texas because they feel safe here, part of that is due to our prosecutors
  • Question – Is the request for the $1 million shortfall to be covered with GR until an alternative source of finance is found?
    • Kaplan – Yes

 

Bill Strahan, Judicial Compensation Commission

  • We want to attract high quality people to the judiciary
  • Creating the Commission did not fix the problem
  • Only one raise has been granted since the founding of the JCC, in 2013
  • We recommend a 15% salary raise for judges
  • We recommend the salary recommendations from the Comptroller’s LAR be met
  • We are asking for a reduction in number of years to be eligible for longevity pay from 16 years to 4
  • We recommend a salary increase for the Children’s Court Associate Judges to 90% of what district judges make
  • Texas is the lowest state in judicial compensation
  • Regular systematic increases make judicial compensation more predictable
  • Increases recommended by the JCC are around $57 million
  • If the increase were to take place, would counties provide the maximum local compensation?
    • Slayton – Counties are permitted to raise compensation if they choose to do so