A total of 62 House and Senate Committee hearings were held February 21-25, 2011. Last week consisted of organizational hearings, budget hearings and hearings on legislation.
House Appropriations Subcommittee’s are currently holding formal meetings on certain articles of the budget. The Legislative Budget Board (LBB) initial decision documents are being posted online.
The links will become active as soon as the documents are posted. Note these decision documents are issues that will be considered by legislative committees – not the committee’s decisions.
House: http://www.lbb.state.tx.us/House_Appropriations/HAC_LBB_Decision_Documents.htm
Senate: http://www.lbb.state.tx.us/Senate_Finance/SFC_LBB_Decision_Documents.htm
Education – Budget Discussions
The House Public Education Committee, Senate Finance Subcommittee and House Appropriations Subcommittee met last week and continued discussions on school finance and budget options. A possible solution that has been offered is the elimination of target revenue which would create further challenges. Other funding suggestions include delaying the August Payment. In regards to delaying payments, delaying the August payment would impact most districts and the July payment would affect mostly property poor districts according to the testimony of Lisa Dawn‐Fisher with the Texas Education Agency (TEA). She said that delaying both payments could save roughly $4 billion in the current biennium and requires a statutory change.
By the end of this week, it is anticipated the Senators of the Finance Subcommittee will have a funding plan that will be presented to the full Finance Committee.
On Monday, February 28, the House Appropriations Subcommittee anticipates consideration of House budget recommendations on Article III.
Health Care – Budget Discussions
Both the House Appropriations Subcommittee and the Senate Finance Subcommittee met last week to review Article II items. This week the Senate Finance Subcommittee on Medicaid will meet and review over 200 various cost-containment strategies. The House Appropriations Subcommittee began on Friday hearing Article II for mark up. The Formal Hearings will continue this week as the subcommittee marks up Article II for Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) as well as the Department of State Health Services (DSHS).
Posted HHSC presentations to the House and Senate Committees last week: