Budget

HB 1 includes $118.8 billion in General Revenue and $250.7 billion in All Funds for FY 20-21. When adjusted for tax relief, these totals are within all constitutional spending limits and population times inflation with 4.9 percent growth in General Revenue and 4.2 percent growth in All Funds.

For Article I, General Government, conferees provided:

• $3.5 million to expand the Human Trafficking Section at the Office of the Attorney General to handle additional prosecutions;
• $7.7 million increase in funding for rape crisis centers to expand capacity to every area of the state and handle caseload growth;
• $300 million to maintain the grant pool for Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas grants;
• $14.7 million to replace outdated 9-1-1 equipment;
• $6 million to fund grants for Sexual Assault Forensic Exam ready facilities to help deliver specialty care to victims;

Additionally, for Article II, Health and Human Services, conferees provided:

• Overall $84.4 billion AF, $33.7 billion GR
• Medicaid $66.5 billion AF, $24.7 billion GR; favorable FMAP means higher federal portion
• CHIP Behavioral Health $4.4 billion AF, $3.3 billion GR & GR-D
• $346.9 million for women’s health services, bringing funding to a new all-time high;
• an additional $59 million to increase outpatient community mental health treatment capacity and avoid future waitlists;
• an increase of $26 million for an additional 50 community inpatient psychiatric beds;
• $341.6 million for the Early Childhood Intervention program, an increase of over $50M;
• $20 million in additional resources to children’s advocacy centers to address increasing demand for services;
• an additional $5.5 million to enhance services to victims of family violence;

• $220.7 million to provide long-term care rate increases, including attendant wages;
• an increase of $64.3 million to expand Community Based Care into two new regions and transition three regions into Stage 2;
• $12 million to provide targeted provider rate increases to build additional capacity to serve foster children;
• over 130 additional workers to lower caseloads at Child Protective Services; and
• $7 million to the Department of State Health Services to address maternal mortality and morbidity.

For Article III, Public Education, conferees provided:

• An additional $11.5 billion to reduce school property taxes, increase teacher pay and increase state aid to school districts;
• Approximately $5 billion to reduce the property tax rate in 2020 and add a 2.5 percent compression in 2021;
• $3.6 billion to reduce recapture payments by nearly half;
• $2 billion to enhance compensation for teachers, librarians, counselors and nurses, prioritizing veteran educators with 6 or more years of service;
• $2.4 billion to fund enrollment growth for an additional 65,000 students per year; and
• An increase of $230 million for the Teacher Retirement System to maintain current health care benefits and premiums for retired teachers.

For Article III, Higher Education, conferees provided:

• A $486 million increase in formulas for higher education;
• An increase of $201 million to General Academic Institutions;
• A $151 million increase to Health Related Institutions, and new performance based formulas;
• An increase of $68 million for community college success points, plus a 95 percent hold harmless for enrollment decline;
• $157 million for graduate medical education to maintain a 1.1 to 1 ratio for residency slots; and

For Article IV, the Judiciary, conferees agreed to:

• $10 million in funding to provide basic civil legal services to victims of sexual assault;
• $350,000 to support a statewide protective order registry to better protect victims of assault and violence;
• $3.7 million to create nine new child protection courts, increasing capacity for child protective service cases in high-needs areas;
• $5 million for a pilot project to identify and provide special representation for indigent defendants with mental illness;
• An additional $5 million to in grants to counties to support indigent defense costs incurred by counties;

For Article V, Public Safety, conferees provided:

• $5.3 million for anti-human trafficking related efforts at establishments licensed by the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission;
• $210 million to address wait times and improve driver license operations, including 762 new staff to fill vacant counters and a new, larger Denton facility;
• $1 million to fund a safe gun storage campaign administered by the Department of Public Safety; and
• $27.9 million for anti-child sex and human trafficking efforts and anti-gang squads at the Department of Public Safety.

In Article VI, Natural Resources, conferees provided:

• 100-percent appropriation of the sporting goods sales tax to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department including $12.5 million for the development of Palo Pinto State Park, $6 million for interoperable radios and law enforcement equipment for game wardens and disaster response teams, and $99.3 million for deferred maintenance of facilities and wildlife fish hatcheries;
• $28.1 million to improve technology at the Railroad Commission, including 22 additional oil and gas and pipeline safety inspectors, and $39.1 million for oil and gas well-plugging;
• $1.2B, an increase of $75.3 million in All Funds, for food and nutrition programs at the Texas Department of Agriculture, including: the Surplus Food Program, home-delivered meals for at-risk adults and children, School Lunch Program, School Breakfast Program, and After School Care Program;
• $45 million to maintain the state’s investment in air quality monitoring systems at the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality; and
• $1.5 million and 10 FTEs for a dedicated team full-time disaster response staff at the General Land Office.

In Article VII, Economic Development, conferees adopted:

• More than $31 billion to address the state’s transportation needs, including $3.2 billion under Proposition 1 and the full $5 billion transfer to the State Highway Fund under Proposition 7;
• $1 million and 9 new FTEs at the Department of Motor Vehicles to continue customer service capability improvements; and

In Article VIII, Regulatory, conferees approved:

• $1.5 million and 12 FTEs for a dedicated Anti-Human Trafficking Unit at the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation;
• $1.8 million and 8 FTEs to create a new Skimmer Fraud Unit at the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation for the implementation of a detection, investigation, and enforcement program that will crack down on fuel pump credit card skimmers;
• $690,000 to improve operational, investigative, and customer service capabilities at the Texas Medical Board; and
• $332,000 to increase utility security oversight at the Public Utility Commission.

SB 500  provides supplemental appropriations for Fiscal Year 2019 total $8.7 billion and $1.2 billion for Fiscal Years 2020 and 2021. The Economic Stabilization Fund (ESF) appropriations total $4.9 billion in Fiscal Year 2019 and $1.2 billion fiscal years 2020 and 2021. Appropriations include:

• $4.150 billion, All Funds – Medicaid: Funding includes $2 billion in GR and $2.150 billion in FF to cover a Medicaid shortfall.
• $1.113 billion, All Funds – Teacher Retirement: Funding includes $1.113 billion to the Teacher Retirement System (TRS), including $524.0 million in ESF for a state contribution to be deposited into the TRS Pension Trust Fund No. 960, and $589 million in ESF to provide a onetime additional payment to certain TRS annuitants.
• $806.5 million, ESF – Aid for Harvey-Affected Schools: The bill provides funding from the ESF to the Texas Education Agency for Hurricane Harvey, including: (1) $271.3 million for 2018-19 mandatory Harvey expenses which would have otherwise been paid with GR related to increased student costs, the reduction in school district property values, and facilities remediation; and (2) $535.2 million for 2018–19 biennial nonmandatory Hurricane Harvey-related expenses at TEA, related to facilities remediation and district loss due to decreased property tax collections
• $445.4 million, ESF – State Hospital Improvements: The bill provides the Health and Human Services Commission with $445.4 million in ESF for continuing improvements to state hospital facilities.
• $110.9 million, ESF – School Hardening and Safety: Funding includes $100.0 million in ESF to the Texas Education Agency to provide funding to school districts and charter schools for school hardening and $10.9 million for post-disaster school safety.
• $100.0 million, ESF – Disaster Grants: The bill includes $100.0 million in ESF to Trusteed Programs within the Office of the Governor to provide disaster grants.

HB 3317 (Zerwas/Nelson) amends current law relating to the creation and re-creation of funds and accounts, the dedication of revenue and allocation of accrued interest on dedicated revenue, and the exemption of unappropriated money from use for general governmental purposes. The bill was sent to the Governor on 5/29. Funds continued/created by the 86^th include: HB 1422 (sale of certain history property), SB 7 (Texas infrastructure resiliency fund), HB 3 (TREE/tax reduction and excellence in education fund), HB 1325 (state hemp production account),  HB 3745 (TERP), and the HB 7 (flood infrastructure fund). SB 69 (ESF) Relating to the authority of the comptroller regarding the management of the general revenue fund and the economic stabilization fund was sent to the Governor on 5/25. The bill removes the committee determining the sufficient balance and instead allows the Comptroller to determine and adopt an amount equal to seven percent of the certified general revenue‑related appropriations made for that state fiscal biennium. The bill also revises the provisions governing the investment of certain ESF balances. At least one-quarter of the ESF balance must be invested in a manner that ensures liquidity of that amount.