Straus on $10b more in spending: Cue the laugh track

House Speaker Joe Straus sat down with Dr. James Henson, director of the UT Texas Politics Project, for about half an hour on Tuesday to talk about myriad subjects in a room full of grad students, interns, and a smattering of reporters.

Brooks: http://dallasne.ws/i4mkXX

Deal breaks impasse on using state’s rainy-day money

 AUSTIN — Three of the state’s top Republican leaders broke an impasse over spending rainy-day money Tuesday, agreeing to spend one-third of the $9.4 billion available — but no more.
Gov. Rick Perry approved using up to $3.2 billion of savings to cover the current year’s deficit, issuing a joint statement with Comptroller Susan Combs and House Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio.

Garrett: http://dallasne.ws/g4l13P

Perry's office said to no-show House budget meeting

House chief budget writer Jim Pitts said late Monday that he's been told by an unnamed aide to Gov. Rick Perry that the Republican governor is willing to convey publicly that he deems it OK to spend rainy-day dollars to erase a current-cycle budget deficit.
Pitts, R-Waxahachie, said he expected a Perry representative to do that at this afternoon's House Appropriations meeting but no one showed. Committee aides weren't able to reach anyone by phone in the governor's budget office, said Pitts, who held open his meeting for at least 15 minutes before finally adjourning until 7 a.m. Tuesday.

Garrett: http://dallasne.ws/fieQHq

Perry and Pitts battle for freshmen hearts and minds

Gov. Rick Perry today reminded House Republicans, especially freshmen, of the Nov. 2 election results. He urged them to postpone a decision on using rainy-day money to patch a hole of between $3 billion and $4 billion in the current two-year budget cycle that ends on Aug. 31, said House GOP Caucus Chairman Larry Taylor, R-Friendswood.

Garrett: http://dallasne.ws/fu0JTG

Combs nudges lawmakers to solve current budget gap

 Comptroller Susan Combs just issued a press release in which she reminded lawmakers that the deficit of some $4 billion in the current-cycle budget is a matter of considerable urgency.

Garrett: http://dallasne.ws/ic76Pc

Combs' press release: http://www.window.state.tx.us/news2011/110307-deficit.html

Pitts tries to tap not just funds but his troops' -- and the House's -- pride

Basically, Pitts is telling Republican House colleagues: Sooner or later, you're probably going to cast a vote to spend nearly half -- who knows, maybe more -- of the $9.4 billion rainy day fund. So why let some SENATORS decide where the late money goes? (For more of what Pitts said, click here.)

Garrett: http://dallasne.ws/gqkvqS

Prisons will cut 555 positions to help ease Texas’ budget plight

 AUSTIN — Texas’ prison system, to meet state leaders’ demand for immediate budget cuts, will eliminate 555 jobs, most of them administrative and support posts. Officials stressed Wednesday that no prison guards or parole officers will be laid off.

Garrett: http://dallasne.ws/gBvCpI

Texas comptroller projects $72.2 billion available for 2012-13 budget years

Combs said in her official revenue estimate that Texas will have $72.2 billion of state funds to spend in the next two years – down about $5 billion from the forecast she issued just before the last legislative session.
Combs doggedly declined to guess how big a revenue shortfall the 82nd Texas Legislature, which convenes tomorrow, will face.

"We don't do estimates of spending," she said. "We do estimates of revenue."
Garrett:  http://dallasne.ws/fs1iBC

How do you cut $25 billion from Texas' budget?

AUSTIN – A new crop of lawmakers, more heavily Republican than at any time in modern Texas history, reports for duty Tuesday, facing a frighteningly huge budget hole. Legislators must navigate around fiscal constraints and political pressures, knowing that this time, big cuts are coming and virtually nothing is safe.  
Garrett reports: http://dallasne.ws/dFy0OP

It's unclear whether slight rise in Texas class size would hurt learning

...But for all the concern about packed classrooms, experts have found little evidence that slightly larger classes deter learning. A commonly used waiver means hundreds of the state's kindergarten through fourth-grade classes already exceed the current, 22-student limit for those grades.

Jessica Meyers reports: http://dallasne.ws/giLWSp

Texas' social services chief expects agonizing budget process

AUSTIN – As lawmakers gear up to hunt for every penny they can use against an unprecedented budget gap, Texas' safety net for the poor and vulnerable figures to get a lot of scrutiny. The Legislature's Republican leadership will confront weighty questions, such as how many children the
state can afford to provide medical care for and what level of care and supervision can be provided for the elderly and disabled.
Garrett reports: http://dallasne.ws/fuqgok

Legislative fight looms on class-size limit in elementary schools

AUSTIN – A quarter-century-old law that has held most elementary school
classes in Texas to no more than 22 students is on the endangered list as the
Legislature looks for solutions to the state's massive budget deficit.

Stutz: http://dallasne.ws/dX85nN

Leaders ask state agencies for 2.5 percent cuts

State agencies will have to cut spending by 2.5 percent in the remaining nine months of the current fiscal year, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst said late today. That's on top of cuts ordered in May. In contrast to last spring, though, agency chiefs get to choose the cuts themselves this time.
http://dallasne.ws/g9cxV3

In budget wars, a counter volley ...

Rep. John Otto, R-Dayton, has responded to criticism that he's ignoring the state's so-called structural deficit. Late today, an Otto spokeswoman said Rep. Mike Villarreal, D-San Antonio, will be alone in not signing a special money panel's final report to the House.
Garrett follows the action: http://dallasne.ws/i8TaRZ

Austin Democrat says GOP leaders use 'trickery' to patch over budget woes

AUSTIN — Texas’ leaders must quit writing budgets in “back rooms” and stop hiding the state’s fiscal troubles, a leading Democratic lawmaker said today. Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, said the state’s GOP leadership has used “accounting trickery” and dispensed tax cuts without equivalent reductions in spending.

Garett: http://dallasne.ws/dDxZiF

Bill White: Rick Perry's no friend of small business

Democrat Bill White says one reason Texas faces a possible $21 billion budget deficit is because Rick Perry hasn't run Texas like a business. Slater reports: http://dallasne.ws/c7CPl9