The latest budget news from The Texas Tribune.
Allowing gambling in Texas could boost the economy, create thousands of jobs and help lawmakers close the state's looming budget gap, gambling advocates told lawmakers in a House committee meeting today. Full Story
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Texas hospital officials, anticipating a House budget vote later this week, warned this morning that the current proposal could mean funding cuts of up to 37 percent for some hospitals. Full Story
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Jack Pratt, chairman of the Texas Gaming Association, has tried for years to convince Texas lawmakers to let voters decide whether to allow casinos in the state. He's back again, proposing a combination of casinos, "racinos" (racetracks with slot machines), and Indian casinos that he and his economists say would bring more than $1.2 billion into the state treasury every year. We asked Pratt about the new proposal, the political environment, and the odds. Full Story
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An interview with Jack Pratt of the Texas Gaming Association. Full Story
The head of the Texas Gaming Association, who's trying to convince Texas lawmakers to legalize casinos, on what's different this year, what he says to people who just don't like gambing, and how his likes his chances. Full Story
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Behold the mighty freshman Republicans of the Texas House of Representatives. They’re supposed to be quiet, to bow to their tenured colleagues, to stay out of the way. But here they are, quietly and deferentially exercising some clout on the only piece of legislation that absolutely has to pass: the state budget. Full Story
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M. Smith on the continuing controversy over Beaumont's school administrators, Tan on the deepening divide over the consequences of the House budget, Hamilton on the latest in the fight over higher ed accountability, Grissom on young inmates in adult prisons, Aguilar on the voter ID end game, Tan and Hasson's Rainy Day Fund infographic, Ramsey on the coming conflict over school district reserves, M. Smith and Aguilar on Laredo ISD's missing Social Security numbers, Galbraith on environmental regulators bracing for budget cuts and Ramshaw on greater scrutiny of neonatal intensive care units: The best of our best content from March 21 to 25, 2011. Full Story
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This week, we saw signs Senate budget writers may be willing to spend more than their counterparts in the House. Meanwhile, a new analysis of the House budget's possible effects on Texas jobs raised eyebrows. Full Story
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No time to follow every twist and turn of the Texas Legislature? We've made it easier for you with our weekly recaps of the action under the dome. Full Story
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The Texas Senate isn’t allowed to raise money. It’s right there in the state’s Constitution, which says all revenue bills must originate in the House. But there it goes, looking for “non-tax revenues” to put enough meat on the skimpy proposed budget to get senators to vote for it. Full Story
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Beaumont's Carrol A. Thomas, who makes $347,834 annually, is the highest-paid superintendent in Texas, even though his district of about 20,000 students is considerably smaller than those in other Texas cities. Full Story
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Lawmakers offered dueling interpretations Thursday of a Legislative Budget Board analysis predicting that the state could lose hundreds of thousands of jobs if the House's budget bill is passed. Full Story
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Senators tried to improve the funding picture for public education on Thursday when the Senate Finance Committee voted 13-2 to add $5.7 billion to its initial proposal. But that's still about a $4 billion reduction from current levels. Full Story
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This week's episode of the TribCast features Evan, Ross, Reeve and Ben talking mostly about the budget, but also a bit about redistricting and academic research. Full Story
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As the House prepares for a vote on its budget bill, Senate lawmakers are hinting that they're looking to spend more than their counterparts on public education — setting the stage for a budget battle. Full Story
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Republican senators say the state's budget shortfall will mean educations cuts, but they said schools should focus first on eliminating non-classroom expenses and keeping as many teachers as possible. Full Story
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Use our infographic to understand the intent of the Rainy Day Fund, what it takes to draw from that savings account, and the political arguments for and against using it. Full Story
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The national criminal justice expert on how other states have handled controversial prison closings and reduced criminal justice costs and how the Right On Crime Movement might give lawmakers the political freedom to be more than tough when it comes to crime. Full Story
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College students will rally at the Capitol today for higher-education funding. But as Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports, some students think major changes are also needed on campus, where, they say, professors spend too much time researching and not enough time with undergraduates in the classroom. Full Story
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The state’s 1,030 school districts have — in total — $10.2 billion in reserves and another $2.1 billion in unspent federal stimulus money. Can they use that money to avoid draconian cutbacks? It's not that simple. Full Story
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