The latest budget news from The Texas Tribune.
A new report says the deferrals and other fiscal tricks lawmakers used this year — and are considering in the current special session — are digging a hole legislators will have to fill when they return to write a new budget in January 2019. Full Story
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Gov. Greg Abbott signed the state's next two-year budget Monday, but vetoed tens of millions of dollars in funding for various programs, including measures meant to improve the region's air quality and assist impoverished border communities. Full Story
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Did the Texas Legislature boost funding for border security? What about public education? Did they dip into the Rainy Day Fund? Here’s a wide-angle look at what's in the $217 billion budget the two chambers ultimately settled on. Full Story
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Amid increased talk of a special session over other issues, both the Texas House and Senate voted Saturday evening to approve a $217 billion, two-year budget, the only bill lawmakers are required to pass. Full Story
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The House grudgingly voted to accept the Senate's supplemental budget proposal, which would not restore funding for disabled children's therapy services. Full Story
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Lawmakers cut a $3 million initiative to help victims of sex trafficking, ending child welfare advocates' hopes that 2017 would be the year they would finally see funds set aside to help children who had been sold for sex. Full Story
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Lawmakers, scrounging for cash in a tight-fisted legislative session, agreed to dip into the state’s savings account and to make use of an accounting trick using funds set aside last session for highway projects. Full Story
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After moving at a glacial pace several times this Legislative session, the Texas House on Saturday kicked into high gear and passed measures that could help them avoid a special session. Full Story
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A proposal to dramatically reshape the state’s savings account to set aside more funds for tough economic times has effectively died in the final days of the legislative session. Full Story
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The Texas Senate Finance Committee has voted to spend about $800 million in state funds to cover a Medicaid shortfall in the current two-year budget. Full Story
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Members of both chambers of the Texas Legislature say they are getting closer to agreeing on a budget. One of the last sticking points? Higher education. Full Story
Rumors of a special session are a normal feature in the last days of a regular session. There's no emergency that would force a special session, but don't discount the Texas Legislature's ability to force one by failing to finish its work. Full Story
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Initiatives to boost small businesses and help poor students get through college could lose their funding amid the Senate's attempt to fix how the state pays for higher education. Full Story
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A measure that would've guaranteed a set amount of funding to state parks was upturned in 2015. Lawmakers and advocates are hoping similar legislation will stick this session. Full Story
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In less than two minutes, learn the ins and outs of the only bill that Texas lawmakers have to pass — the one that will determine how the state government is funded for the next two years. Full Story
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Texas legislators cannot bind future legislators by preventing them or forcing them to do something. But they can certainly make their future decisions uncomfortable. Full Story
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The Senate doesn't like the House's hit on the Rainy Day Fund. The House doesn't like the Senate's delay of a deposit into the state's highway fund. Neither wants to raise taxes. But all is not yet lost — unless they want to fight about it. Full Story
Attorney General Ken Paxton sided with the Texas Senate Friday in a dispute among legislative budget-writers over a $2.5 billion accounting trick using state transportation funds. Full Story
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In a letter sent Tuesday, an attorney for two House leaders urges Attorney General Ken Paxton to side against a $2.5 billion accounting trick proposed in the Texas Senate's version of the state budget. Full Story
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Both chambers have passed state budgets that spend around $218 billion but significant differences remain. With just a few weeks to go before the end of the session, here's a look at the key sticking points. Full Story