Four Days And Counting…84th Texas Legislature To Convene On Jan. 13

New faces, old issues highlight 140-day session

Posted by Staff

For 140 days beginning next Tuesday, Texas lawmakers will face a legislative agenda that looks pretty much like agendas for the last several sessions of the Texas Legislature – transportation, education, taxes, trimming state government. If that alone is not a daunting enough task, the 84th session of the Texas Legislature will feature a new governor, lieutenant governor and more freshman members of the Texas House and Senate than you can shake a stick at.

Newly elected Gov. Greg Abbott (left) and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (right) have already hinted at their priorities for the upcoming session.

Throw into the mix the elephant in the room – the state budget – and it could be a wild 140 days!

The budget debate already has begun following the announcement by new Texas State Comptroller Glenn Hegar this week regarding state sales tax receipts. These funds have shown such positive numbers in Texas over the last year, including double-digit increases for the two previous months (12.9 percent in October and 10.7 percent in November), that the pronouncement that the most recent tax collections increased by ONLY a modest 4.3 percent was unexpected – and not good news as lawmakers prepare for budget talks. It represented the lowest jump since last June.

Hegar’s next announcement will be Monday when he reveals his first revenue estimate that will predict how much money lawmakers will have to spend for the 2016-2017 biennium.

While motorists have enjoyed lower prices at the gas pump, the decline in prices could have an adverse effect on the state budget. The gas tax-related revenues have a significant impact on budget revenue and particularly on the state’s rainy day fund, some of which has already been approved for conditional allocation for much-needed water and transportation projects.

In a “better safe than sorry” scenario, State Rep. Charles Perry has pre-filed legislation that would require a minimum balance in the rainy day fund.

An undetermined amount of tax revenue could be up in the air if Abbott gets his way. Both he and Patrick have pledged to lower taxes. “There will be tax cuts,” Patrick said recently, even saying no budget will come out of the Senate that does not include tax cuts.

On the table are tax reform that includes increasing homestead exemptions for school property taxes, making adjustments to or even repealing the business franchise tax and reductions in the sales tax rate.

Other issues such as tuition revenue bonds for state-supported institutions of higher education, spending related to public education, border security, health and human services – are familiar agenda items that also will be on the plates of members of the 84th Texas Legislature.

And, expect controversy. Abbott wants to change the makeup of the Sunset Advisory Commission and to put a halt to the “Californiaization” of the state because of local bans on everything from fracking to plastic bags. Patrick wants to end funding for the state’s public integrity office and in-state tuition rates for students whose parents entered the United States illegally.

Expect to hear the words “conservative” and “ultra-conservative” a lot over the course of the 140-day session.

The earthquakes in Dallas are about to become “old news.”

This article originally published on Government Insider, a publication of Strategic Partnerships Inc and is reprinted here with full permission.