140 Days and $117.4 Billion Later; No Tax Increases!

The state budget passed by this legislature represents the first time in 20 years that government growth has been cut. Considering the budget shortfall, the legislature did a remarkable job. They filled a budget shortfall without introducing new taxes while providing more funding to education and to health and human services (don’t believe those whiners who bemoan the cuts as Cse has taken the position some of the programs cut are beyond the appropriate role of government.)

No new taxes; no tax increases

Thanks to the hard work of citizens, leadership was empowered to keep their pledge not to raise taxes.

Legislators did not put the burden of bridging the budget shortfall on the shoulders of Texas taxpayers. CSE members are committed to limited government and individual responsibility. Therefore, bemoaning of budget cuts by big-government advocates should fall on deaf ears. As Texans have scaled back their family budgets, so has government.

Legislative leadership acted as good stewards of the taxpayer money; however, some fees have been increased and taxpayers may not know the full extent of those increases until the dust has settled.

After 140 days and around 6,000 bills filed, legislators worked many 14 hour days in session and countless other hours in committee hearings.

Whether CSE has agreed with their positions or not, legislators and their staff should be commended for the very long hours and hard work on behalf of the citizens of Texas.

Several legislators deserve specific recognition for their efforts:

· Appropriations Chairman Talmadge Heflin steered the appropriations committee through one of the most difficult sessions in recent memory.

· Civil Practices Joe Nixon did yeoman’s work in crafting the omnibus civil justice reform legislation.

· Rep. Arlene Wohlgemuth championed legislation which increases government efficiency and addresses fraud in health and human resources.

· Speaker Tom Craddick provided leadership in this historic session, representing the first Republican speaker of the Texas House in over 130 years.

· Governor Rick Perry created the backdrop for this challenging session by staking out the position there would be no new taxes. And he held firm on his commitment.

Key legislation passed:

The Governor’s two emergency measures — tort reform and more market-based insurance reforms –were passed. These will be good for Texas citizens. Most of the education reform did not get passed this session as education unions joined with the

AFL-CIO and ACLU to oppose some measures which would have provided for more local control and taxpayer savings.

Friend of the Taxpayer Awards to be announced:

Texas CSE will be coming up with our “Friend of the Taxpayer”

award winners in the next few weeks. CSE members may make

recommendations by emailing: pvenable@cse.org.

This session may well be remembered for several historic mile markers – Republican control of the House; Republican majority in the Senate (2/3 would represent control of the chamber); as well as Republicans holding all state-wide elected positions, and we can’t forget the large yellow chicken parading outside the Capitol when the Democrats took a hike on the redistricting bill.

As Republicans took leadership positions and gave some committee chairmanships to Democrats, Democrats need some practice in being in a minority.

This session was full of firsts and fiscal challenges. In short, it was not a dull session.