Opinion

Residents in Central and Northeast Texas are still cleaning up after a winter storm snapped power lines and tree limbs last week, causing widespread power outages, canceled flights and damage to homes and vehicles.

A group of House Democrats is proposing a $ 15,000 raise for the state’s teachers and a 25% raise for other state employees by using some of the state’s record budget surplus. State Rep. James Talarico, D-Austin, announced the bill last week and was joined by Democratic legislators and teachers, the Austin American-Statesman reported.

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.