State legislators face tight budget

State legislators face tight budget

By Patrick Brendel and Amy Stansbury Friday, 09 January 2009

A national recession and a natural disaster set the tone for the next Texas legislative session, which begins Jan. 13, with the decisions having the potential to impact the plans of local entities and the wallets of individuals.

Education, health care still top priorities.

Recurring battles over fundamental issues like education, health care and infrastructure are becoming even more contentious as the state’s obligations grow and space in the budget shrinks. Going into the 2009 session, the effects of the nationwide financial collapse and Hurricane Ike have wiped out any anticipated budget surplus. Democratic victories have practically deadlocked the state House, and another battle for House Speaker rages while a 2010 contest for the governorship looms.

Given the context, lawmakers’ priorities are not radically different from those in past years. Four issues — education, budget, transportation and health care — will play major roles in the upcoming Legislative session.

Health care

One concern is the shortage of healthcare professionals in Texas. Lawmakers are discussing creating one or more medical schools in Austin-Round Rock or the Rio Grande Valley.

State Sen. Steve Ogden, R-Bryan, said he will use his position as Senate Finance chair to try to secure funding for the new Round Rock campus of Texas A&M Health Science Center’s College of Medicine.

Texas A&M HSC vice president for governmental affairs, Jenny Jones, said the HSC is committed to helping address the state’s physician shortage by steadily increasing the College of Medicine’s class size ultimately to 200 students across its three campuses, with 60 of those students anticipated to be at the Round Rock location. Currently, 44 third- and fourth-year HSC medical students are receiving clinical education in Round Rock.

“In order to meet this critical mass of physicians needed for Texas, [Texas A&M HSC] has included in its State Legislative Appropriations Request funding to support continued expansion of the College of Medicine at all three of its campuses in College Station, Temple and Round Rock,” Jones said.

The request includes new funding of $24 million and continuation of existing funding of $29 million for the 2010-2011 school year to support the college’s next planned growth phase.

This year’s tight budget requires targeted spending on programs that will deliver high returns on that investment, said state Rep. Mark Strama, D-Austin. For example, another new medical school in the Austin-Round Rock area could leverage existing infrastructure nearby, like hospitals and universities, that might not exist in other parts of the state. Saying that Texas loses many of its medical school graduates to other states where there are more residency programs, Strama suggested that constructing the needed healthcare facilities in Pflugerville could provide more opportunities for new residency programs.

“I’ll do everything I can to get Central Texas its fair share of the money pot,” he said.

Strama said the nursing shortage is the most critical healthcare issue in Texas. Central Texas has not been hit as hard by the shortage as other areas, he said, because of money spent in previous years to build nursing schools in the area.

The Texas State University St. David’s School of Nursing program is pending approval by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, which is expected in January. The proposal for the school will then go to the Texas Board of Nursing for final approval in the spring.

Texas State will begin accepting applications for the nursing program in the fall of 2009 for enrollment in the fall of 2010. Dr. Ruth Welborn, dean of the College of Health Professions at Texas State, said 100 students will be admitted the first year.

Texas State’s legislative appropriations request to the state includes funding for two more buildings at the Round Rock campus for additional health profession programs, including: communication disorders, physical therapy, respiratory care, health professions research, health administration, health information management and radiation therapy.

Education

Public education commands the largest single portion of the Texas budget, comprising about $50 billion, or nearly 30 percent of the total, for 2008-2009.

“It is a must. Every session must be a session on education,” said state Sen. Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, who chairs the Senate Education Committee.

Ogden said Texas needs to put additional money into its public school fund or risk being taken to court over Constitutional mandates. To make up for shortfalls in state money, school districts often turn to bond packages or local tax increases.

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At the university level, lawmakers have already filed many bills that would address skyrocketing tuition costs in a variety of ways. Some propose temporary tuition freezes. Others say 2003 tuition deregulation has failed, and the Legislature should control rates once more.

Ogden said there needs to be a link between how much the state gives a college and how much it charges students.

“I’d reregulate them if I could, but I don’t think the votes are there,” he said.

Lawmakers are not just discussing older students. A Texas Education Agency proposal to alter preschool funding has drawn opposition from some educators.

Budget

When asked what the most important issue in the 2009 session will be for state lawmakers, state Rep. Jerry Madden, R-Plano, was blunt.

“It’s always the budget and money. Money,” he said.

The budget, which was about $170 billion for the 2008-2009 biennium, acts as a master plan for the state’s activities, determining how much money agencies and programs receive.

“How we prioritize the budget will determine how we prioritize a lot of other issues,” said state Rep. Sylvester Turner, D-Houston.

In addition to the usual contentions — lowering taxes, funding necessary programs and securing local projects — there are factors beyond lawmakers’ control, specifically Hurricane Ike and the nation’s financial crisis. The total impact of the natural and man-made phenomena might range into the billions of dollars.

Ogden and other members of the Legislative Budget Board, which drafts the budget before the session begins, gave one indicator of how much Texans might be affected by the nation’s woes. The LBB fixed a limit on certain areas of state spending, estimating the Texas economy will grow by only 9.1 percent during 2010 and 2011. That is down from 13.1 percent during 2008 and 2009. Ogden, as Senate Finance chair, is the chief budget writer. He said restoring the University of Texas’ premier medical school and teaching hospital in Galveston, which was devastated by Hurricane Ike, will be the costliest item associated with the storm. Ogden has heard that losses due to the hurricane could total $700 million.

“We are beginning to get some indications that Hurricane Ike is going to be pretty expensive,” he said.

State Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, mentioned even larger numbers. Factoring in the replenishment of the state’s now-depleted windstorm insurance pool, some are saying that costs associated with the hurricane could rise to $2 billion, he said.

Another strain on the budget is a new state business tax, created in 2007, that looks like it will raise $1 billion less than expected. Offsetting that loss, Ogden said, are sales taxes that have brought in about $1 billion more than expected. The good news is that the state has about $9 billion in its Rainy Day Fund and from past budget surpluses, Ogden said, plus $3 billion set aside for property tax relief. That will help lawmakers keep pace with the inflationary costs of health care, public education, college tuition and highway construction, he said. Saying their districts contain the greatest number of state employees in Texas, Ogden and Watson are making it a priority to secure raises for state workers.

“We should be able to write a decent budget, although I don’t think it’s going to be flush,” Ogden said.

Transportation

Stressing the importance of efficient transportation to commerce, lawmakers say it is critical to put more money into the state’s transportation network, despite a general reluctance to increase spending amid the nation’s financial woes. Watson said he would like to index the state gas tax — currently at 20 cents per gallon — to inflation. He also wants to ensure that gas tax revenue goes to its intended purpose, highway construction, instead of being diverted to other agencies, such as the Department of Public Safety.

“People, when they’re stuck in traffic, they’re now starting to understand that they’re paying money that they thought was going to go for transportation improvements,” he said. “But it’s not.”

As local entities take more responsibility for major projects that the Texas Department of Transportation used to pay for, those local entities should have more flexibility to manage and fund those projects, Watson said.

Voters approved $5 billion in bonds in 2007 for road construction. That extra money to TxDOT should come with extra oversight, Ogden said.

“So the legislative issue is, ‘OK, how do we make sure, if we put all this additional funding in TxDOT, that it gets spent on what we really need them to spend it on?’” he said.

In December, the Sunset Commission recommended abolishing the five-member Texas Transportation Commission, which oversees TxDOT.

Texas House of Representatives district map

Your local representatives

House District 52, Rep. Diana Maldonado, D, 637-7268, www.dianamaldonado.com

House District 50, Rep. Mark Strama, D, 463-0821, www.house.state.tx.us/members/dist50/strama.php

House District 46, Rep. Dawnna Dukes, D, 463-0506, www.house.state.tx.us/members/dist46/dukes.php

House District 20*, Rep. Dan Gattis, R, 463-0309, www.house.state.tx.us/members/dist20/gattis.htm

Texas Senate

Senate District 5, Sen. Steve Ogden, R, 828-5224, www.senate.state.tx.us/75r/senate/members/dist5/dist5.htm

Senate District 14, Sen. Kirk Watson, D, 463-0114, www.senate.state.tx.us/75r/Senate/members/dist14/dist14.htm

*District 20 extends outside of Williamson County

Who represents me?

To find your representative by your street address, visit www.fyi.legis.state.tx.us.