House votes to ban school vouchers, cap attorney general spending as part of its proposed $246 billion state budget

The Texas House voted overwhelmingly around 5 p.m. Thursday in favor of an amendment to the state budget that would bar state dollars from being used on school voucher programs, which let parents use public money for private school education. The vote was 115-29.

State Rep. Abel Herrero, D-Robstown, who proposed the amendment, said it would not prohibit funds from going to public charter schools.

“This ensures that the funds we appropriate stay with our public schools,” he said.

Republicans also spoke in favor of the amendment.

"The reality is we have plenty of options and choice within our public schools,” said state Rep. Dan Huberty, R-Houston.

The vote again signaled that the House does not approve of school voucher programs. Like other amendments adopted Thursday, though, it’s unclear whether it will be included in the Legislature’s final spending plan after the two chambers hash out differences in a conference committee. On the Senate side, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who heads the chamber, has been a vocal supporter of subsidizing private school tuition with vouchers in past legislative sessions.

One of the most anticipated amendments in the budget debate — an expansion of state and federal health care coverage for uninsured Texans — was defeated Thursday afternoon on a vote of 80-68.

The proposal would have directed the governor and state health officials to use billions in federal dollars to expand health care coverage for uninsured Texans, including those who earn too much to qualify for Medicaid yet too little to afford private health insurance. Its proponents were hopeful, since a majority of House members had signed on as co-sponsors to a separate bill that would expand Medicaid in Texas. But it was doomed after only one Republican, state Rep. Lyle Larson, voted in favor of the amendment.

Republican state Rep. Giovanni Capriglione, the only House member to speak against the bill during Thursday’s debate, said that creating a new health care program — Medicaid or otherwise — is far too complicated an endeavor to tackle in a two-page amendment and cautioned that it in fact looked like a way to expand Medicaid without a public hearing or extended floor debate.

“This topic is incredibly important, it’s complex, and frankly, it’s not appropriately handled in this amendment,” Capriglione said.

Read more about the vote here.

House members adopted an amendment to the budget by state Rep. Bryan Slaton, R-Royse City, that would defund the Texas Enterprise Fund and shift those $100 million dollars to the property tax relief fund. The enterprise fund, a controversial economic development program, is often referred to as a “deal-closing fund” that allows the governor’s office to offer financial incentives for companies considering expanding or relocating in Texas.

Slaton acknowledged that the $100 million is not a significant figure but said Texas taxpayers need any property tax relief they can get.

After the amendment was adopted, state Rep. Senfronia Thompson, a Houston Democrat and longest-serving woman in the history of the Texas Legislature, asked from the back mic whether the House had just OK’d a Slaton tweak. Slaton, a freshman member, had already proposed several amendments by midday Thursday, most of which had either been withdrawn or defeated on a point of order.

“God bless America,” Thompson said as members laughed in the chamber.

Amendments adopted to the budget are not guaranteed to remain in the final spending plan lawmakers send to the governor’s desk for a signature. Once the House gives the final OK on its proposed budget, lawmakers from both chambers will meet in a conference committee to hash out differences.

House members this afternoon adopted an amendment by state Rep. Jessica González, D-Dallas, that would cap what the Texas attorney general’s office can spend on outside legal counsel to $500 per hour.

González said the amendment, which passed 73-64, was filed in response to the state’s major — and costly — lawsuit against Google, which the attorney general’s office has hired outside lawyers to handle. The most senior attorneys could net as much as $3,780 per hour.

Other Democrats also filed amendments taking aim at embattled Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is facing bribery and abuse of office allegations from former agency employees. Paxton has also been under indictment for felony securities fraud charges since 2015.

State Rep. Michelle Beckley of Carrollton offered an amendment that would require the attorney general’s office to submit a quarterly report to the Senate Finance and House Appropriations committees detailing the amount of money the agency spent on election- and voting-related litigation. That amendment was adopted.

One amendment by state Rep. Chris Turner of Grand Prairie would have barred the agency from using funds appropriated to it “to pay for or support a lawsuit to contest election results outside of the state of Texas,” but Turner withdrew the proposed tweak. The amendment was filed in response to a failed Texas lawsuit after the November 2020 election that contested Joe Biden’s victory as president.

As the budget debate continued into Thursday night, members unanimously adopted an amendment by state Rep. Geanie Morrison, R-Victoria, to require a special legislative session to appropriate billions in federal coronavirus relief funds that come in after the regular session ends in May.

"It is clear," Morrison said before the vote, "that our founding fathers intended for appropriations to be handled by the Texas Legislature."

Before Morrison's proposal, members also adopted an amendment by state Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin, that would require the Senate Finance and House Appropriations committees to hold hearings and give prior approval to any one-time federal disbursements that are awarded to state agencies and that collectively equal or exceed $1 billion.

As The Tribune’s Ross Ramsey noted this morning, questions remain about how tens of billions of dollars in coronavirus relief aid should be used — and whether it will arrive in time for state lawmakers to use this legislative session.

A proposal by House Appropriations Chair Greg Bonnen, a Friendswood Republican, would create a board that includes the lieutenant governor, House speaker and budget leaders in the two chambers to oversee how that aid is doled out during the legislative interim. That legislation, House Bill 2021, was voted out of committee earlier this week. But it’s unclear whether it will make it to the full House for consideration in the coming weeks.

As Texas House lawmakers prepared for a long day debating the state budget, three Democratic lawmakers on Thursday morning called for support of a proposed budget amendment that would force a vote on Medicaid expansion.

“I'm calling on [lawmakers] today to support this amendment, and really demonstrate to the other Republican leaders in the state that it is the will of the house to see that this happens,” said Rep. Julie Johnson, D-Carollton.

The floor amendment filed by Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston, is a nod to House Bill 3871 filed by Johnson. The amendment directs the governor and the Texas Health and Human Services Commission to create a government-funded health care plan — whether it is expansion of Medicaid or a new program unique to Texas — that includes adults who earn up to 138% of the federal poverty level.

HB 3871 has garnered bipartisan support and would expand Medicaid using increased federal funds. It has 76 lawmakers publicly signed on to the bill — all House Democrats and nine House Republicans.

But, it has not yet had a committee hearing — a necessary step before the bill could come to a vote before the chamber.

Lawmakers often use budget amendments as a way to force votes on issues that have not gotten committee hearings. However, even if the amendment passes the House, it could be stripped off in the conference committee. Any effort to expand Medicaid would likely face an icier reception in the Senate, which typically is considered more ideologically conservative than the House.

If Texas expanded Medicaid, the federal government would bump its reimbursement to the state from 62% of Medicaid expenditures to 67% — and it would pay 90% of the costs for the estimated 1.4 million adults who would become newly eligible for the program.

Texas had twice the national average of people without health insurance, and the COVID-19 pandemic has only exacerbated the problem, causing many to lose their insurance supplied by employers, Coleman said. He pointed to Arkansas, Indiana, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio and Oklahoma as states that have leveraged federal funds to reduce the number of uninsured people in their states.

“In the midst of the pandemic we kept asking communities to be resilient,” Johnson said. “But the reality of it is the state needs to provide the foundational investments that have so long been underfunded, investing in public health and access to health care are essential in keeping Texans back to work, and supporting our recovering economy.” — Reese Oxner