Good morning,

While the Thanksgiving leftovers are dwindling in the fridge, so too is the state’s rainy day fund.

Here is today's Texas Minute.

– Brandon Waltens

Monday, November 30, 2020

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It should come as no surprise that, after the economic shutdowns from the Chinese coronavirus this year, the Legislature is slated to face a dire budget shortfall when they reconvene in January.

In July, Comptroller Glenn Hegar revised his biennial revenue estimate to project lawmakers would face a $4.6 billion budget shortfall [[link removed]] when they return to Austin, though he cautioned that prediction comes with “an unprecedented amount of uncertainty.” Passing a balanced budget for the biennium is just about the only constitutionally-mandated activity the Texas Legislature is required to perform (although they will also be required to draw legislative districts when new population data from the census comes in. A topic for different Texas Minute perhaps...)

But although the legislature doesn’t meet again until January 12, 2021 for their 140 day session to address a slew of issues, the work on the budget is already beginning behind the scenes.

Today at 2 p.m. the Legislative Budget Board is scheduled [[link removed]] to meet. As part of their agenda, they will propose a floor to be set on the amount of money required to be left in the state’s economic stabilization fund.

What does this mean?

hmm ​Legislative Budget Board: Created by statute in 1949, the LBB makes recommendations for budget appropriations ahead of each legislativesession; it consists of the lieutenant governor, the speaker of the House, and eight additional members from the House and Senate.

Economic Stabilization Fund: Often referred to as the Rainy Day Fund, the ESF is largely funded through oil and gas taxes and intended to be tapped only for natural disasters and economic shortfalls. Currently, despite lawmakers’ raiding of the fund for ongoing expenses last session, the State of Texas currently has more than $10 billion saved up in its Rainy Day Fund. The exact numbers are expected to come to light during upcoming meetings of the Legislative Budget Board.

We can begin to glean what plan of attack the Legislature is planning to take to address the shortfall by what happens in today’s meeting of the LBB:

Will lawmakers decide to raid the rainy day fund to make up for the projected budget shortfall?Will they instead decide to cut spending?Or, will the Legislature decide to raise taxes?

These are questions the Legislature will ultimately have to contend with when they convene in January. But now is the time to begin asking your lawmakers where they stand. Number of the Day

$250 Billion

The size of the 2020-2021 Texas budget.

[Source: Legislative Budget Board]

Today in History

On November 30, 19193, President Bill Clinton signed into law the Brady Bill. The bill required a five-day waiting period for handgun purchases and background checks of prospective buyers

Quote-Unquote

“Doing a budget means learning an ancient and powerful word: NO.”

– Dave Ramsey​

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PO Box 12862, Odessa TX 79768 Produced by Michael Quinn Sullivan and Brandon Waltens, the Texas Minute is a quick look at the news and info of the day we find interesting, and hope you do as well. It is delivered weekday mornings (though we'll take the occasional break for holidays and whatnot).

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