Combs adds $1.2 billion to her two-year revenue forecast

Comptroller Susan Combs just handed a gift to the House and Senate budget negotiators -- $1.2 billion, added to her revenue estimate for the next two years.

Garrett: http://dallasne.ws/mcPsIP

Texas comptroller’s tech office had high turnover, employee complaints before breach

AUSTIN — Comptroller Susan Combs’ information technology departments shrank by 20 percent, saw high employee turnover and faced heavy productivity demands — sometimes at the expense of security — before a massive data breach, state records and interviews show.
It was an environment ripe for the kind of disastrous information exposure Combs revealed last month, affecting 3.5 million peopl
Shannon: http://dallasne.ws/lNx3oO

Double-digit rebound of Texas sales tax receipts continues

It's getting to be a broken record: Comptroller Susan Combs announced Wednesday morning that Texas' sales tax revenue receipts increased by 11.4 percent last month, compared with April 2010.

Garrett: http://dallasne.ws/iDzmgE

Tens of thousands sign up for Combs' offer of state-paid credit monitoring

Some 40,000 people of the 3.5 million whose information was left exposed by Comptroller Susan Combs' office have taken her up on a free credit monitoring offer and at some points overloaded the phone lines of the company providing the service.

Shannon: http://dallasne.ws/kE26Ux

Comptroller Susan Combs apologizes for data breach, offers credit monitoring to millions affected

AUSTIN -- Comptroller Susan Combs offered another apology Thursday for the information breach in her agency, saying she now is offering a year of free credit monitoring to the 3.5 million people at risk of identity theft after their data was exposed on a public computer server.
“I do take full responsibility for this, and that means responsibility to fix the problem,” Combs told The Dallas Morning News in her first interview since the breach.

Combs: http://dallasne.ws/ikSRVs

Comptroller enlists firms with political ties to her after information breach

AUSTIN — Comptroller Susan Combs, seeking private companies to help respond to a massive information breach, enlisted two firms whose principals or political committees gave more than $50,000 to her campaigns.

Shannon: http://dallasne.ws/eHdqck

Texas attorney general says breach of state databases already resulted in a phishing scam

Remember the story last week where Texas Comptroller Susan Combs owned up to her agency's security flub with the personal information of 3.5 million Texans?

Well, now Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott's office reports there's evidence of a telephone phishing scam involving information from the breached database.

Drago: http://dallasne.ws/goVTME

Attorney General's release: https://www.oag.state.tx.us/oagnews/release.php?id=3695

Amazon hasn’t closed its Irving distribution center, as it threatened

After Texas slapped Amazon.com with a $269 million bill for uncollected sales tax in February, the online superstore said it would close its Irving distribution center this week, letting its 119 employees go.
Apparently the Seattle-based company wasn’t ready to carry out its vow to vacate the facility by Tuesday.

Maria Halkias: http://dallasne.ws/hdEPWn

Callers overwhelm comptroller's phone line for data breach

Huge numbers of Texans who believe they may have had their personal information exposed by Comptroller Susan Combs' office are overwhelming the toll-free phone line she established to respond to incident.
Her web site www.txsafeguard.org warned Tuesday that many callers are phoning in and that the hotline can only accept 19,000 calls per day.

Shannon: http://dallasne.ws/dJUn3s

Breach in Texas comptroller’s office exposes 3.5 million Social Security numbers, birth dates

AUSTIN — Social Security numbers and other personal information for 3.5 million people were inadvertently disclosed on a publicly accessible state computer server for a year or longer, Comptroller Susan Combs revealed Monday.
The information breach — believed to be the most extensive ever in Texas and one of the largest of its kind nationally — included names, addresses and Social Security numbers of all those on the list. In some cases, dates of birth and driver’s license numbers were also listed.

Shannon: http://dallasne.ws/eo7xA8

Personal information of 3.5 million Texans made public in comptroller data breach

AUSTIN — Texas Comptroller Susan Combs revealed Monday that the personal information of 3.5 million people has been inadvertently disclosed by her agency, making Social Security numbers, dates of birth and other data accessible to the public.

Shannon: http://dallasne.ws/frr84w

Texas Comptroller computer breach exposes private records of 3.5 million Texans

A security breach at the Texas Comptroller's office has resulted in the inadvertent disclosed of personal information about 3.5 million Texans. The data was mistakenly put on a state computer server available to the public.

Slater: http://dallasne.ws/gNwWMX

Sales tax up for 12th consecutive month, Combs reports

The state collected 9.9 percent more sales tax in March -- or $1.6 billion -- than in the same month a year earlier, Comptroller Susan Combs reported Wednesday.
It was the 12th consecutive month of year over year increases, after 14 wicked months in a row of decreases.

Garrett: http://dallasne.ws/gSHKtW

Sobering up, the morning after

If you look at the three revenue estimates Comptroller Susan Combs has done at the start of the past three legislative sessions, there's a very daunting fact staring you in the face:
Texas' wallet ain't growing any fatter.
In fact, almost eerily, the number that best defines the state's income has been under something like house arrest.
Garrett offers analysis after House passes its budget: http://dallasne.ws/e4Pu7H

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

Rainy-day deal announced: Perry OK with using up to $3.2 billion

A "one-time draw," not to exceed $3.2 billion, from the Texas rainy day fund was just blessed by Gov. Rick Perry, Comptroller Susan Combs and Speaker Joe Straus.

Garrett: http://dallasne.ws/eiz79a

Combs adds $300M to her revenue estimate for this year

Comptroller Susan Combs increased her revenue estimate Monday for the current fiscal year by $300 million. She cited improved sales tax collections.

Garrett: http://dallasne.ws/hUXCkp

Sales tax receipts up 9.7 percent last month

 Starting from a very low, recession-racked base a year ago, Texas' consumer economy continues to plug along. It's not catching fire, just steadily eclipsing last year's consumer spending by about 10 percent, more or less, each month.
 http://dallasne.ws/h1hVji

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

House budget chief Jim Pitts optimistic rainy-day funds will be tapped

 AUSTIN — House budget chief Jim Pitts says he’s optimistic House lawmakers will draw down almost half of the state’s rainy-day fund to close this year’s operating deficit. “We can get the votes,” Pitts, R-Waxahachie, said Thursday. Trying to convince fellow Republicans they have no choice but to use rainy-day money, Pitts and Rep. Jimmie Don Aycock, R-Killeen, closely questioned Comptroller Susan Combs as she appeared before the Appropriations Committee.

Garrett: http://dallasne.ws/i6KjXJ