For the Texas House and Senate, there is not much daylight between each chamber’s priorities in this year’s legislative session. Leaders say the focus will be on property tax relief, border security and employee raises. Preliminary budgets from both chambers were released last week, the Austin American-Statesman reported, with a record $288.7 billion budget for the next two years. The money in the budget is made up of $93.7 billion in federal funds, $130.1 billion in state general revenue funds, and $64.9 billion in other funds.
The tussle likely comes when lawmakers start spending a whopping $32.7 billion budget surplus sitting in the state’s coffers from the previous biennium.
Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick want to provide property tax relief to homeowners, with Patrick proposing raising the homestead exemption to $70,000 from $40,000. Both draft budget bills set aside $15 billion — almost half the surplus — for property tax relief.
