Texas Democratic Party: Moving Texas Forward

Texas lawmakers are expecting to find a hole in the state budget — anywhere from $11 billion to $17 billion, maybe even more — when they return to Austin a year from now. That’s the worst forecast since 2003, when they responded to a $10 billion shortfall with cuts in major programs and hikes in various fees. “[They] had a very tough time, and they managed it,” says Comptroller of Public Accounts Susan Combs, the state’s chief financial officer. [In 2011] I am expecting the Legislature, with 181 smart men and women, to come up with something.”

Combs vows to do her research before telling lawmakers what they need to do. But even if she can’t declare with certainty what they’ll face, the warning signs are not good. Precipitious drops in revenue, including several months of double-digit decreases in sales tax receipts — which represent about 57 percent of the state’s total tax haul — have prompted Gov. Rick Perry, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and House Speaker Joe Straus to ask state agencies for 5 percent cuts.

For some, it’s not too early to fret that lawmakers will balance the budget in 2011 by doing what they did seven years ago, the last time it was this bad. “Well, they cut Medicaid and CHIP (the Children’s Health Insurance Program), and otherwise they pretty much balanced it on the backs of other people,” said Eva DeLuna Castro, a former analyst at the Comptroller’s office and now a budget analyst with the Center for Public Policy Priorities. “The Medicaid and CHIP cuts — I mean, that is hundreds of thousands of children losing healthcare.”

A CPPP analysis of the 2004-2005 budget found that decisions in 2003 rendered approximately 350,000 children and adults ineligible for Medicaid services that they would have qualified for in 2005 had policies remained unchanged. The study also concluded that nearly $4 billion in federal Medicaid dollars destined for Texas was “left on the table” after the state failed to allocate the necessary amount in general revenue funding to qualify for the federal aid.

For more go to the Texas Tribune article.