The Texas Senate’s chief budget writer said state agencies and higher education institutions have requested nearly $25 billion in funding as the legislative session gets underway. State Sen. Joan Huffman, R-Houston, told The Dallas Morning News that the requests for new money reflect the growing functions and purposes of state agencies that serve the public.

“As the state continues to grow and inflation remains an issue, one can expect that agencies may request additional funding to maintain operations,” Huffman said in an email. The requests are predominantly for pay raises and new hires as state agencies deal with high turnover and pay that is not competitive with the private 

“I’m not surprised, overall, to see agencies continue to ask for more money to provide pay raises to stay competitive,” said Rahul Sreenivasan, director of government performance and fiscal policy at Texas 2036, an Austin think tank.

Some examples:

• The Texas Department of Public Safety is asking for an additional $1.58 billion to create more than 2,000 new positions, mainly for driver’s license offices. 

• The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services wants to hire more than 600 new employees as it battles one of the highest turnover rates among state agencies.

• Texas Health and Human Services hopes to hire 1,772 new employees to check residents’ eligibility for social services, such as food benefits.

The Legislature begins the session with more than $20 billion in unspent tax money.

Inflation gap widens for per-student spending

Advocates for public schools are urging the state to significantly increase funding to public education this session, as inflation continues to whittle away at the per-student funding level last increased in 2019. The Austin American-Statesman reported that new inflation-adjusted figures indicate the base level per-student – now set at $6,160 – should be increased by $1,400.

Inflation has eaten into the buying power of schools, especially after public education funding was not increased during the 2023 session. Bob Popinski of Raise Your Hand Texas said the public-school shortfall annually is approaching $10 billion.t

Public education funding became collateral damage during the last session because of the battle over school vouchers, which are once again under consideration. Gov. Greg Abbott has again indicated vouchers are a top priority during this session. 

Water supply infrastructure also high on agenda

The Statesman reported that more than 8 million Texans live in areas affected by drought, and the infrastructure that supports the state’s water supply is likely to see its funding shored up during this legislative session.

“We will leave this session with a significant sum to jump-start water supply development and have a constitutional vote in November for perpetual funding going forward,” said state Sen. Charles Perry, R-Lubbock. 

Perry said that Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and numerous legislators have committed to supporting a new funding plan for water supplies. Water shortages have affected citrus growers in the Rio Grande Valley, and several fast-growing cities, such as Dripping Springs, Conroe and Magnolia, have had to put the brakes on further development. 

The state is “about 25 years behind” on developing water supply, according to Perry.

Grid keeps humming during first wintry blast

The state’s power grid withstood its first wintry blast last week with no major outages as snow blanketed much of West and North Texas, and heavy rains hit Central and South Texas. The Texas Tribune reported that energy supply comfortably exceeded demand during the latest cold snap.

Limited outages unrelated to grid capacity were reported, particularly in far Northeast Texas. Temperatures have since returned this to normal for this time of year across most of the state.

Most of the snow fell in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex and surrounding counties.

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