By Texas House Speaker Joe Straus
Texas Insider Report: AUSTIN Texas Next week the House of Representatives will take up the state budget first addressing the shortfall in the current biennium & then taking up the 2012-2013 budget. Balancing the budget is our constitutional obligation and we have been working diligently to address our budget shortfall.
- In January 2010 we called on state agencies to reduce their 2010-2011 operating budgets by 5.
- In May 2010 I asked the House Appropriations Committee to address the budget shortfall without raising taxes.
- In December 2010 we required state agencies to cut their budgets by 2.5.
- Collectively the cuts we made last year reduced non-essential state spending by $2.1 billion for the 2010-2011 biennium.
Unfortunately those cuts were not nearly enough to close the deficit for this fiscal year.
Comptroller Combs recently informed the Legislature that we were going to be $4 billion short of meeting our obligations for the 2010-2011 budget cycle. The bills that we take up next week cut an additional $1.8 billion this year/budget cycle and allow the use of a portion of the Economic Stabilization Fund (Rainy Day Fund) to pay for the rest of our bills.
As Governor Perry said last week
We have worked closely with state leaders and lawmakers to balance the current budget which includes using a one-time amount from the Economic Stabilization Fund to help our budget deal with the impact of the national recession.
Indeed the Fund was set up for just such a circumstanceand we are fortunate that we have this funding set aside so that we can be fiscally responsible by paying our bills on time.
We will continue to scrub the 2012-2013 budget making necessary deep cuts so that our government is lean and efficient.
These are difficult decisions but this challenge presents us with a great opportunity to examine our long-term fiscal health so that Texas can continue to be competitive in the global economy.
Working together we will maintain those conservative principles and keep Texas the best state in the nation to live to work and to prosper.
A 5th-generation Texan Joe Straus represents House District 121 and was elected Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives by his peers at the commencement of the 81st Regular Legislative Session January 13 2009. Straus has been a leader on economic issues common sense tax relief & energy efficiency measures and is a San Antonio native.
