As you have likely heard, the Texas Legislature was out of session for less than 12 hours before the Governor called a special session to cover school finance and health care cost containment issues. In the final days of session, a few important bills, which were major components of the Legislature’s approach to meeting the state’s budget restrictions, died. Now, the Legislature is meeting to finish up these necessary pieces of business.
The major component to balancing the budget is the so called “fiscal matters” bill. The fiscal matters bill contained many provisions designed to get Texas through this budget cycle. The most notable of these provisions has to do with school finance and administration. Last session, cuts to the school districts were cushioned due to Texas’ acceptance of stimulus dollars. This session, Texas cannot maintain current levels of funding for public education. Instead, it must restructure school finance formulas and give districts much-needed flexibility to administer smaller budgets in ways that least hurt the classroom.
Health care cost containment and innovation are also necessary to meet the budget’s limitations. The Health Care Compact language, which died in the last hours of session, would allow Texas to join other states in an effort to take control of health care regulation and the Medicaid program through the use of federal block grants. Other provisions would save Texas over $400 Million in health care costs.
For the next several days, Texas legislators will work to pass these important measures so that the comptroller can certify the budget as sound. The budget does make serious cuts to many programs, and this will impact those citizens who benefit from government programs. However, Texas’ budget cuts mirror the reductions Texas businesses and the Texas economy also must face. These cuts are necessary and unavoidable because our budget will not quickly increase to the levels of previous years.
The Legislature is dealing with hard questions at this moment, and debating how to implement the reductions we know are an inevitability. But the bottom line is that government has to adjust its spending in the same way businesses and homes around the state are doing.
I have been grateful to so many of my constituents for their encouragement and their support throughout the session. I hope that through continued discussion, we will be able to get through these tough economic times in the best way possible. My office is now permanently located in Murphy City Hall. I can be contacted by phone at 972.424.6810, and my mailing address is 206 North Murphy Road, Murphy, Texas 75094.