AUSTIN \u2014 A proposed $336.1 billion state budget advanced in a key Texas Senate committee, setting it up for a floor debate as soon as next week as lawmakers figure out how to spend taxpayers\u2019 money for the next two years.<\/p>\n
Passing a balanced spending plan for the 2026-27 cycle, which starts in September, is the only task the Texas Constitution requires lawmakers to do during their regular biennial legislative session.<\/p>\n
The House will put forth its own spending plan in the coming weeks, and then the two chambers will negotiate over key differences. The final budget bill will be sent to Gov. Greg Abbott for his signature, expected in June.<\/p>\n
Here are key takeaways from Senate budget writers\u2019 initial proposal, known as Senate Bill 1.<\/p>\n
Political Points<\/p>\n
The proposed budget includes several key components that aim to address various issues in the state. These components include property tax relief, behavioral health services, public education, border security, adult and juvenile corrections, career training, and transportation and motorists.<\/p>\n
The bill includes $6.5 billion for property tax relief, including $3 billion to increase the homestead exemption to $140,000, up from $100,000.<\/p>\n
Another $3.5 billion would be used for tax compression on the school district level. Abbott made property tax cuts a cornerstone of his agenda for the last two sessions after Texas reported some of the highest rates in the country.<\/p>\n
Budget writers included $10 billion across 29 state agencies for mental health programs and services, including new or expanded inpatient hospitals and new mobile youth crisis outreach teams.<\/p>\n
The largest chunk of the budget focuses on public schools. The bill funds the Foundation School Program, which directs funding to schools, at $70 billion. The funding includes $5.1 billion earmarked for teacher pay and $500 million for school safety and security.<\/p>\n
Abbott has stressed his top priority this session is to pass a voucherlike proposal that would funnel public dollars to private schools.<\/p>\n
Officials estimate an education savings account program would cost the state about $1 billion in its first year, the 2026-27 school year. That money is included in the budget bill.<\/p>\n
Budget writers included $6.5 billion to continue Operation Lone Star, Abbott\u2019s border security mission that has cost the state $11 billion since it was created in 2021.<\/p>\n
Most of the funding would be divided between Abbott\u2019s office, the Texas Military Department, which oversees the Texas National Guard, and the Texas Department of Public Safety, which sends troopers to the border from other parts of the state.<\/p>\n
The funding proposal includes the creation of more than 560 new commissioned officers for DPS to help with staffing problems created in the agency by Lone Star.<\/p>\n
More money would flow to the state\u2019s criminal justice efforts, which would help fund pay raises for corrections officers as well as retention and recruiting efforts to address staff shortages<\/p>\n
SB 1 includes $9.8 billion for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, an increase of 13% over last cycle, and nearly $1 billion to the Texas Juvenile Justice Department.<\/p>\n
The bill adds $850 million to establish a Texas State Technical College endowment fund to support capital projects.<\/p>\n
Abbott has made career and technical training a priority agenda item this session.<\/p>\n
The bill includes $35.8 billion for highway projects, planning, design and construction across the state.<\/p>\n
About $100 million would pay for 550 additional employees at state driver license offices. Lawmakers have spent the last few years trying to solve the long wait times at the offices, where appointments for licenses and renewals can involve wait times up to weeks or months, depending on the location.<\/p>\n
The proposed Texas state budget aims to address various issues in the state, including property tax relief, behavioral health services, public education, border security, adult and juvenile corrections, career training, and transportation and motorists. The budget will now move to the House for consideration, and then the two chambers will negotiate over key differences before sending the final bill to Gov. Greg Abbott for his signature.<\/p>\n
A: The proposed Texas state budget is $336.1 billion.<\/p>\n
A: The main focus of the budget is to address various issues in the state, including property tax relief, behavioral health services, public education, border security, adult and juvenile corrections, career training, and transportation and motorists.<\/p>\n
A: The bill includes $6.5 billion for property tax relief, including $3 billion to increase the homestead exemption to $140,000, up from $100,000.<\/p>\n
A: The bill funds the Foundation School Program, which directs funding to schools, at $70 billion. The funding includes $5.1 billion earmarked for teacher pay and $500 million for school safety and security.<\/p>\n
A: The budget is expected to be finalized in June, after the House and Senate negotiate over key differences and send the final bill to Gov. Greg Abbott for his signature.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Understanding the Proposed Texas State Budget AUSTIN \u2014 A proposed $336.1 billion state budget advanced in a key Texas Senate committee, setting it up for a floor debate as soon as next week as lawmakers figure out how to spend taxpayers\u2019 money for the next two years. Passing a balanced spending plan for the 2026-27 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":2047,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2046","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/dmn-dallas-news-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com\/resizer\/v2\/S57WTNF36BEB5KQMJB2J7KMH7M.jpg?auth=743cc202ce7acaed69c23cc4f205ad7f36b074b875d82589f23233ec1fa4fc65&height=630&width=1200&smart=true&quality=80","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2046"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2046"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2046\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2048,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2046\/revisions\/2048"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2047"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2046"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2046"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2046"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}