Gov. Rick Perry, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and House Speaker Joe Straus, who ordered the 5% budget reductions in January, have been reviewing agency plans for budget cuts and are expected to announce their decisions in early May.
A number of agencies and departments have asked for exemptions, while others are have started the cuts and moved the savings into “lock boxes,” accounts being set up in the comptroller’s office. Fifteen had been established by late last week, comptroller’s office spokesman R.J. DeSilva said. Under a directive from the Legislative Budget Board, agencies have until August to establish their lock box accounts for savings from the current 2010 fiscal year.
There is also the possibility of more reduction orders in the summer when the leadership asks agencies to submit their spending strategies for the 2012-13 biennium, which will start Sept. 1, 2011.
Dewhurst, presiding officer of the state Senate, told the Star-Telegram last week that the three leaders and their staff are going through the proposals “very, very carefully.” The overall goal, he said, is to achieve reductions while avoiding “cutting into the muscle” of state government. “We’re determined to protect all essential services,” he said.
