Gov. Rick Perry, muting his usual criticism, generally praised lawmakers and signed into law a two-year, $182.3 billion budget late Friday after making barely a change. The Republican governor took credit for slashing nearly $290 million of spending, but virtually...
Comptroller Susan Combs today certified the two year, $182.3 billion state budget. In a letter to Gov. Rick Perry, Combs said she thinks there will be sufficient state revenue through August 2011 to cover the budget, a $2.36 billion emergency...
The Senate this afternoon unanimously accepted a House-Senate compromise on the budget --- with less than 10 minutes of explanation by its chief sponsor and not a single question from fellow senators. The $182.3 billion, two year spending plan will...
Lobbyists for discount brands of smokeless tobacco are livid about a "favorable tag" that Bryan Republican Sen. Steve Ogden, the Senate's chief tax bill writer, today put on a House-passed bill now in his committee. The bill is in a...
UPDATE: Lawmakers negotiating the state budget agreed late tonight to give retired teachers and state workers one-time, $500 bonuses, as a gesture of appreciation in tight fiscal times. However, the retired teachers' bonuses could only be paid if the Legislature...
House-Senate negotiators have reached a deal on a budget, after "one of the most harmonious conferences" in recent memory, according to one co-leader of the marathon haggle -- and some concessions to Gov. Rick Perry. While final details are still...
House-Senate budget negotiators are making last minute decisions on several fronts but in a very real sense have this tough choice: Do they give state employees a very modest, across the board pay raise? Or do they exempt some 40,000...
The House's chief budget writer, Jim Pitts, says 10 House-Senate negotiators are almost done on the two year, roughly $180 billion budget. "We'll try to wrap it in pretty wrapping paper this evening and then we'll put the bow on...
There are two big unknowns about who will negotiate the state budget, and both involve lawmakers from Dallas. Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, the tallest guy in the picture at right, supposedly wants to announce tomorrow his picks for the House-Senate...
Senate Democratic Caucus Chairman Leticia Van de Putte of San Antonio (right) just warned the Senate's GOP budget architects that they haven't done enough to make sure doctors and dentists will treat impoverished children. Referring to last session's settlement of...
As Senate debate of the budget finally began in the past hour, several Democrats questioned whether the GOP-controlled Senate has violated the intent of the federal stimulus bill. Sens. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso (right), and Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, asked if...
The Senate decided to punt the embryonic stem cell research controversy to House-Senate budget negotiators, according to Sen. Kip Averitt, R-Waco (right). In their lunchtime huddle behind closed doors, senators decided not to try to rewrite today the embryonic stem...
The Senate has retreated into a caucus of the whole, behind closed doors. Democrats are said to have drafted perhaps seven or eight floor amendments. Also, Sen. Steve Ogden, R-Bryan, the Senate's chief budget writer, supposedly needs to make sure...
As the Senate prepares to "debate" the two year state budget today, it may be useful for those who want to watch on the Internet to know that senators do virtually all of their work in back rooms. The typical...
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Steve Ogden (a/k/a Dr. No) tried to put his foot down today on pesky senators springing last minute "riders" to spend more. "If there's any riders that come up that cost the bill, there's got to...
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