Major items topping legislative agenda

Today

begins another odd-numbered year, which in Texas means state legislators will gather in Austin this month — one week from today, Jan. 8 — to wrestle with, and wrestle over, a long list of issues fiscal and social, important and trivial.

The 83rd Texas Legislature will be one of the most inexperienced in state history. The 150-member Texas House includes more than 40 first-time legislators and 23 who are coming for only their second session. Six freshmen join the 31-member Texas Senate (though four of the new senators served in the House). The 140 days of biennial lawmaking that start next week are seldom pretty; with so many new faces, things might be even more chaotic than usual.

A quick preview of the major items topping the Legislature’s agenda, as we see them:

Budget. Setting state spending for the next two fiscal years — 2014 and 2015, in the case of the 83rd Legislature — is the primary task of every session.

Legislators will convene with more than $8 billion in the rainy day fund and tax revenues far exceeding projections — we find out Monday from Comptroller Susan Combs how much lawmakers have available to spend. Any potential surplus must first be used to cover $4.7 billion in Medicaid bills and other obligations left underfunded two years ago — part of several budgeting gimmicks used by the 2011 Legislature to “balance” the 2012-13 budgets.

Gov. Rick Perry’s Texas Budget Compact could frame this session’s budget debates. We generally support Perry’s demand to end budgeting tricks, but are leery of his compact’s call for an amendment to the Texas Constitution to further limit spending and blanket opposition to new taxes or tax increases.

Water. Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and other legislators have suggested withdrawing $1 billion from the rainy day fund to help jump-start new water projects. The idea has merit. The state’s latest water plan recommends spending $53 billion over the next 50 years on reservoirs, pipelines, wells and desalination plants to cover the water needs of a population expected to grow 82 percent by 2060.

For decades, lawmakers have talked about how important water is to Texas and its economic health, but they have done very little to implement or pay for new projects. The state can’t afford more talk; the time for action is now.

Transportation. Some legislators also have suggested using $1 billion from the rainy day fund to help build new roads. Transportation projects have been underfunded for years thanks to an insufficient fuel tax and the increased fuel efficiency of today’s cars and trucks. Further, lawmakers have lost their appetite for borrowing money to pay for new roads.

As with water, population growth, combined with a road system that has failed to keep pace, has made it urgent that legislators deal with the realities of paying for new roads. Legislators have proposed using fees collected for roads on roads, rather than diverting them elsewhere; using the state’s 6.25 percent sales tax on vehicle purchases for roads; increasing the state’s car registration fee; and building more toll roads. A combination is likely. Alone, each proposal has its problems, and none seems to be a satisfying solution.

Public education. legislative issue for many if not most Texans. The 5 million students currently in Texas’ public schools represent tomorrow’s workforce. Education is key to the state’s economic health.

While we support reversing the cuts to public education made by the 2011 Legislature, we realize such a reversal is remote given the makeup of the 83rd Legislature. State District Judge John Dietz is presiding over a school finance trial in Travis County and is expected to rule in early spring. His ruling almost certainly will be appealed. The case ultimately will set the Legislature’s course.

Meanwhile, lawmakers will occupy their time debating standardized testing and other education proposals. Republican state Sen. Dan Patrick of Houston chairs the Senate Education Committee and supports giving tax credits to businesses that donate “scholarships” for students who want to move from public schools to private ones. We await more details: Patrick’s proposal may be an ingenious way to pay for school choice, or a devious voucher program by another name that diverts money away from public schools.

A well-deserved backlash from parents, teachers and school administrators has greeted Texas’ newest standardized test, the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness. Changes are coming to the STAAR test, with its end-of-course exams set to count toward 15 percent of a student’s final course grade. Returning some flexibility to the state’s high-stakes testing system would be welcome.

Higher education. Perry wants universities to freeze tuition rates for four years for incoming freshmen, give students and parents more information regarding tuition pricing, and create four-year bachelor’s degrees that cost no more than $10,000. He also wants legislators to link 10 percent of a university’s state funding to graduation rates.

Reinstating some restrictions on tuition is not part of the cost-of-college discussion. Neither, unfortunately, is increased funding of state universities. Lawmakers cut almost $1 billion from higher education in 2011.

Scores of other issues will be considered during the session, from criminal justice to health care, from abortion to gun rights, from texting while driving to drug testing welfare recipients. We will have ample opportunities over the next few months to express our view about how things are going.