Texas Scorecard by Brandon Waltens April 6, 2021
The bill will now move over to the House, where lawmakers are expected to hold debate on their version of the budget sometime in the coming weeks.A mile-marker moment in the Texas legislative session came and went on Tuesday, as the Texas Senate unanimously approved Senate Bill 1—its version of the state’s budget for 2022-2023.
Passing a balanced budget is one of the only constitutionally mandated tasks of the state Legislature. This session, however, lawmakers have far less leeway than they have in previous years.
Earlier this year, Comptroller Glenn Hegar told lawmakers they would face a $1 billion shortfall, as well as a projected 0.4 percent decrease in general revenue, in light of the economic effects from coronavirus-related shutdowns.
To that end, both chambers were forced to keep their overall spending in check, leading to two similar starting points for the House and Senate.
Through the committee process, led by State Sen. Jane Nelson (R–Flower Mound), the Texas Senate was able to slightly cut $1.8 billion in general revenue spending off of its initial estimate, coming in at $250.7 billion.
This represents a 2.6 percent increase from the previous biennium, under population plus inflation.
More:
https://texasscorecard.com/state/senate-approves-budget-moves-to-house/
