Budget clouds Austin festivities
Returning legislators’ daunting task is how to deal with $7 billion less
AUSTIN — Texas state lawmakers formally gathered here Tuesday for their 85th regular legislative session, a five-month sprint of legislating that is expected to include the first major budget cuts in several years as well as heated debates over everything from mental health care to bathrooms.
As they have every other winter for the past 171 years, the lawmakers gaveled in with much glad handing and oratory. The festivities were especially jovial due to Republican hopes about the prospects for President-elect Donald Trump as well as the unusual lack of opposition to Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio, who was unanimously elected to his record-tying fifth term leading the state House.
But before the applause ended, many lawmakers were turning their attention to the budget, which is expected to be about $7 billion smaller than last session.
“We’re going to be looking at everything,” said state Sen. Kelly Hancock, R-North Richland Hills.
“When we start, you’ve got to be open-minded about everything and look at it, and then you start paring back from there being very, very mindful because of the budgetary constraints.”
The nitty gritty was expected to start Wednesday, with lawmakers and advocates set to hold news conferences about border security, gun violence and the hotly anticipated issue of whether transgender residents should be forced to use a restroom that aligns with the gender identify of their birth instead of their chosen identity.
Also expected on Wednesday, according to several senators, is an effort by Democrats to try to reinstate an old rule that required 21 of 31 senators to agree before legislation could be debated.
The long-standing rule was dropped two years ago by a Republican majority that wanted to make it harder for Democrats and dissident GOP members to block votes. But in the face of several controversial bills, including the bathroom legislation, some are quietly pushing for the return of the rule.
Privately, Senate leaders made clear Tuesday that they would not allow the rule’s comeback. Republicans, led by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, control 20 of the chamber’s 31 seats, making it nearly impossible for Democrats to push much of anything.
Straus jabs bathroom bill
In the House, the chances of any rules fight were snuffed out immediately when Straus won the support of all 150 members. It was the first time that there was no opposition to Straus, who is seen by some hard-line conservatives as too moderate.
In a speech thanking his colleagues, Straus defended the House’s cautious style, a contrast to the Senate that is expected to continue this year.
“Compromise is a good word in the House,” Straus said. “We can show that this is still a place of thoughtful, inclusive leadership.”
Straus suggested he would focus on reforming the state’s mental health care and child protective services systems. He also issued a veiled jab at the bathroom bill, a top priority of Patrick, which has enjoyed broad support in public opinion polls but has been criticized by some as so offensive that it could likely force businesses to flee the state.
“If someone wants to invest in Texas, if they want to bring commerce and opportunity to our state, we should welcome them,” Straus said. “This state should invite economic activity, not turn it away.”
The biggest disruption in the pomp and circumstance was the presence of embattled state Rep. Dawnna Dukes, D-Austin, who is under criminal investigation for alleged misuse of state funds and had announced that she would resign her seat before reversing course and showing up after all.
In an impromptu news conference with reporters, Dukes said she was talked into coming back by supporters who valued her expertise in the area of health and human services.
Later in the day, the Travis County District Attorney’s Office said that it would bring its case against Dukes in front of a grand jury next week.
No tapping Rainy Day Fund
The more serious cloud hanging over the proceedings on both sides of the Capitol, however, was the looming budget cuts.
Many lawmakers expressed optimism that they would successfully handle the dim revenue forecast handed down Monday by Comptroller Glenn Hegar. After all, they said, state leaders last summer ordered agencies to submit their budgets to include a 4 percent cut over current operations, a move that could save millions of dollars. In addition, the leaders said that zero-based budgeting — where agencies have to justify each one of their expenditures as if starting anew — will be used, and will help.
“My father lived through the Great Depression, and I was here in 2011 when we cut $3 billion from education, so I’ve seen bad. This is nowhere near that bad,” Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound, said. “We will have a budget. We will pay for the services we need.”
Some lawmakers even framed the cuts as an opportunity. Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr., D-Brownsville, said the situation could spur a discussion of whether Texas should accept billions of dollars in federal health care funding. That money has long been available to the state if it went along with the Obama administration’s push to expand access. Doing so has been a major priority of Democrats and the business community, although it has never been likely and the program might be eliminated altogether under Trump.
One hope for lawmakers of both parties was that they could scale back their spending on border security if Trump fulfills his promise to build a wall on the southern border.
An option that was not on the table, according to lawmakers, was tapping the state’s so-called Rainy Day Fund.
“There’s no sense at this point that anyone wants to do that,” said newly elected Sen. Bryan Hughes, a Mineola Republican who had served in the House since 2003, when the budget took a multibillion-dollar hit that caused layoffs and program cuts. “When the process is over, I think we’ll be OK this biennium.”
While much of Tuesday’s discussion centered on cuts, several lawmakers said they also were looking to improve state operations, especially in the criminal justice realm. Senate leaders met Monday to discuss ideas from exploring successful communitybased justice programs that cost less than state incarceration to even mothballing additional beds in state prisons that are currently empty, according to participants.
“Our prison population is at a longtime low, and we have some opportunities to look at closing some additional units,” said John Whitmire, D-Houston, who chairs the Senate Criminal Justice Committee. “As we see the strains we face with the budget, I certainly think that we will be looking at this — knowing that we will have a bed for you if you commit a crime in Texas.”
‘We’re excited’
In the public education area, Sen. Larry Taylor, R-Friendswood, who last session chaired the upper chamber’s committee on that issue, said he does not expect the Legislature to overhaul the state’s beleaguered school funding formula, which the Texas Supreme Court recently called byzantine. But he said lawmakers will look for improvements and try to set themselves up to tackle the issue in the future.
Among other issues, lawmakers also said they expect to discuss whether to increase school choice and what to do about a recent Houston Chronicle investigation that found that the state has been systematically denying special education services to tens of thousands of children with disabilities. Also up for debate will be legislation to outlaw so-called sanctuary cities and much, more more.
“It’s going to be an interesting year,” state Rep. Cecil Bell, R-Magnolia, said with a smile. “We’re excited.”