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The latest budget news from The Texas Tribune.

  • Dying on the State's Dime

    By Emily Ramshaw

    Texas’ “geriatric” inmates (55 and older) make up just 7.3 percent of Texas’ 160,000-offender prison population, but they account for nearly a third of the system’s hospital costs. Prison doctors routinely offer up the oldest and sickest of them for medical parole, a way to get those who are too incapacitated to be a public threat and have just months to live out of medical beds that Texas’ quickly aging prison population needs. They’ve recommended parole for 4,000 such inmates within the last decade. But the state parole board has only agreed in a quarter of these cases, leaving the others to die in prison — and on the state’s dime. Full Story 

    An inmate sleeps in his cubicle in the geriatric unit of the Estelle Prison in Huntsville.
    Credit: Caleb Bryant Miller for The Texas Tribune

  • The Ditch: Do It Yourself

    By Ben Philpott, KUT News

    On Friday, state agencies were told to cut another 10 percent from their budgets as a way of closing what could be an $18 billion biennial shortfall. But those cuts will only scratch the surface of what's needed, so what to do next? Full Story 

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  • Drop and Give 'Em 10

    By Ben Philpott, KUT News

    The governor, lieutenant governor and speaker directed all state agencies on Friday to cut their budgets by an additional 10 percent. Last week, those same agencies had their current budgets trimmed by a total of around $1.2 billion in an effort to close a projected $18 billion budget shortfall in the next legislative session. Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports. Full Story 

  • TribBlog: The 10 Percent Solution

    By Ross Ramsey

    Fresh off of asking for five percent cuts from state agencies and actually approving $1.2 billion of what was proposed, the state's top three leaders are asking for ten percent cuts in the amounts the agencies will be seeking next time the Legislature meets. Full Story 

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  • A Lousy Grade

    By Ross Ramsey

    More than two-thirds of Texans say their confidence in the state's public schools ranges from shaky to nonexistent, according to the new University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll. A majority of Texans believe that crime, low academic standards, lack of parental involvement and not enough funding are "major" problems that public schools face — but two-thirds say "too much religion in the schools" is not a problem. Full Story 

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    Credit: Graphic by Jacob Villanueva

  • TribBlog: Gambling 101

    By Ross Ramsey

    Coming soon to a large pink state capitol building in this very state: A day-long seminar on slot machines and casinos and all that, especially as it pertains to the state budget. Full Story 

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  • Nip and Tuck

    By Ben Philpott, KUT News

    In January, the Governor, Lieutenant Governor and Speaker asked state agencies to cut 5 percent from their 2010 budgets. On Tuesday the three state leaders released a list of cuts — and revealed a few exemptions to their earlier order. Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports. Full Story 

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  • How's Tricks?

    By Ben Philpott, KUT News

    Staring down a shortfall of as much as $18 billion, lawmakers could employ a handful of accounting tricks to kick some payments down the road, saving several billion dollars. How exactly would that work? This dramatization demonstrates how similar tricks could be used to lower a restaurant bill. Full Story 

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    Credit: Caleb Bryant Miller

  • TribLive: David Dewhurst, Full Audio

    By Evan Smith

    Full, unedited audio from Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst's appearance at our TribLive breakfast on Wednesday morning. Dewhurst discusses the coming budget crisis, the Arizona immigration law and other current issues in Texas politics. Full Story 

  • A Conversation with David Dewhurst

    By Evan Smith

    For the ninth event in our TribLive series, I interviewed the lieutenant governor about the budget shortfall, state-federal tensions, immigration, why he doesn't release his taxes, and his future plans. We've provided the conversation with the lite guv in three forms: full video, full audio and a transcript. Full Story 

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    Credit: Caleb Bryant Miller

  • The Weekly TribCast: Episode 28

    By Elise Hu

    In this week's TribCast, Ross, Elise, Ben and Emily discuss the state's multi-billion-dollar budget woes, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst's turn in the hot seat at TribLive, and the intersection of new media and old-school lawmaking. Full Story 

  • In Too Deep

    By Ben Philpott, KUT News

    Lawmakers fishing for ideas on how to deal with a coming budget shortfall are going to need a bigger rod and reel: The newest projections show itl could be as much as $18 billion. Full Story 

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  • Benefits and Drawbacks

    By Ross Ramsey

    The insurance plan for state employees will have a $140.4 million shortfall next year — and that's the least of its problems. The projected shortfall for the two years after that is $880 million, and it will take another $476 million to replenish the legally required contingency fund. The Employee Retirement System and state leaders are surprisingly mellow about the red ink, saying growth in the cost of health benefits has actually stabilized at around 9 percent. But steady and large increases in costs threaten to erode the program, leaving policymakers to consider cuts in benefits, to negotiate lower prices or to find vast amounts of new money. Full Story 

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    Credit: Graphic by Employee Retirement System of Texas

  • TribBlog: An Off-Track Bet

    By Ross Ramsey

    The Speaker doesn't have anyone studying gambling in advance of the next legislative session, and a leading Democrat says legislators ought to get together on their own to consider the issue. Full Story 

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