The latest budget news from The Texas Tribune.
If history is any guide, the Legislature will turn to accounting illusions to mask large portions of a budget shortfall of at least $11 billion. Trouble is, such trickery is a bet on the economy roaring back to life — and that's no sure thing. Full Story
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Republican lawmakers in Texas may despise the federal health care overhaul, but it's politically opportunitistic: They get to blame the staggering budget shortfall to come on the anticipated state share of the cost of reform. Full Story
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For the seventh event in our TribLive series, I interviewed the chair of the Texas Transportation Commission on the size of the road funding hole, the toll-versus-tax debate and whether the governor she once served as chief of staff is really not running for president. Full Story
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E. Smith interviews Gov. Rick Perry for the Trib and Newsweek, Philpott dissects the state's budget mess in a weeklong series, Hamilton looks at whether Bill White is or was a trial lawyer, M. Smith finds experts all over the state anxiously watching a court case over who owns the water under our feet, Aguilar reports on the battle between Fort Stockton and Clayton Williams Jr. over water in West Texas, Ramshaw finds a population too disabled to get on by itself but not disabled enough to get state help and Miller spends a day with a young man and his mother coping with that situation, Ramsey peeks in on software that lets the government know whether its e-mail messages are getting read and who's reading what, a highway commissioner reveals just how big a hole Texas has in its road budget, Grissom does the math on the state's border cameras and learns they cost Texans about $153,800 per arrest, and E. Smith interviews Karen Hughes on the difference between corporate and political P.R. — and whether there's such a thing as "Obama Derangement Syndrome." The best of our best from April 19 to April 23, 2010. Full Story
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The last time there was such a huge shortfall was in 2003, and lawmakers back then did a little bit of everything to patch up the hole — but mainly they slashed state spending. In the final part of his series on our budgetary woes, Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune looks at what cuts could be in store this time. Full Story
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Legislative leaders are not expected to push new taxes as a remedy to the coming shortfall, and yet social service advocates say the safety net can't afford any more cuts. So where might new money come from? In part four of his series on the state budget, Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune looks at one option that could succeed or fail with a roll of the dice. Full Story
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In this week's TribCast, Evan, Ross, Elise and Reeve take on the latest topics in the Texas governor's race, big budget problems ahead and everyone's favorite political punching bag, the federal government. Full Story
It's no secret the Texas Department of Transportation is broke. Texas Transportation Commission Chair Deirdre Delisi tells the Tribune's CEO/Editor-in-Chief Evan Smith just how broke the agency is. Full Story
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When the recession hit and people stopped shopping, sales tax dollars dried up quickly, contributing to the multibillion-dollar shortfall that lawmakers will soon face. What to do? Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune contemplates a hugely unpopular alternative. Full Story
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Lt. Governor David Dewhurst says the state will have to "dramatically increase taxes" or undergo major cut backs in programs like public safety or education as a result of federal health care reform. Full Story
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State lawmakers are looking at several options to cover a $10 billion-plus biennial shortfall. One way is to raise more money — but that's never simple in tax-averse Texas. Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune filed this second part of his week-long series on the budget. Full Story
Even though we fared better than other states, lawmakers face a budget shortfall of $10 billion or more when they return to Austin in 2011. Ben Philpott — who covers politics and public policy for KUT News and the Tribune — looks at the shortfall and proposed solutions. Full Story
Grissom on the fall of Norma Chávez; M. Smith and Ramsey on the runoffs, the results, and the aftermath; Hu on the Tea Party's birthday party; Thevenot and Stiles on the path between schools and prisons; Ramshaw on prosecutors' reaction to helping hands from Austin; Hamilton on self-appointed lawyers; Galbraith on property rights and power lines; Aguilar and Grissom sit down with the mayor of Juárez to talk about his crime-ridden city; Kraft on telling the stories of Texans and other Americans who died in Vietnam; Ramsey on slots and horses and casinos; and Hamilton goes on a field trip with Jim Hightower to hear the history of populism. The best of our best from April 5 to 9, 2010. Full Story
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Start with a shortfall and a Legislature that doesn't want to raise taxes, then dangle budget-balancing money from "volunteers" — a.k.a., gamblers. With that strategy, promoters think they've got their best shot in years to legalize slot machines while adding $1 billion a year to state revenues. Full Story
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Grissom on her two hours in Juárez, Grissom, Ramshaw and Ramsey on four of the runoffs on Tuesday's ballot, Ramshaw on the religious experience that is voting for Dallas County's DA and an energy regulator's play for a job at the entity he regulates, Mulvaney on the Texas Senate's biggest spenders, Aguilar on whether — as U.S. officials claim — 90 percent of guns used in Mexican crimes really flow south from Texas, M. Smith on the continuing Texas Forensic Science Commission follies, Stiles on how inmates spend their money behind bars and how counties are responding at Census time, Hamilton on the creative accounting and semantic trickery that allows lawmakers to raise revenue without hiking taxes when there's a budget shortfall, and Hu on Austin's first-in-the-nation car-sharing program. The best of our best from April 5 to 9, 2010. Full Story
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Leaders in Austin are hoping the next big thing in transportation comes in a tiny Smart car. Watch as an Austin Car2Go user demonstrates how the program works. Full Story
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Every candidate vying for a legislative seat knows what lies ahead in 2011: a budget shortfall of at least $11 billion, probably higher, and state agency cuts to save as much of that amount as possible. But new revenue is a possibility as well, even if lawmakers are expert at the old sleight of hand, employing creative accounting and semantic trickery to avoid stepping on that political third rail, the tax hike. Full Story
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The sound of clanging and banging construction equipment may interrupt the tranquil noises of nature for Texas campers this spring and summer. Full Story
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The 31-member body spent nearly $16 million last fiscal year on travel, staff and office expenses, according to records from the office of the Secretary of the Senate. Overall spending by individual senators ranged from $206,000, by Sen. Joan Huffman, R-Houston, to $637,000, by Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston. Full Story
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Lobbyists and lawmakers are fighting to preserve the terms of the contracts signed by parents who enrolled in the Texas Tomorrow Fund prepaid college tuition plan. Full Story
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