The clock is ticking on getting bills out of the House and to the Texas Senate, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick warned last week in a story in the Austin American-Statesman. Patrick presides over the Senate and is worried many bills that have made it out of House committees but have not gone before the full chamber will not be considered before the session ends.
The Texas House last Thursday passed two education-related bills, one that allocates $4.5 billion for teacher pay raises and another to increase the annual perstudent base funding from $6,160 to $6,300 – a 2.3% increase.
The Texas House passed a bill promising $17 billion in tax relief, a measure that is at odds with the Senate’s tax break plan, according to the Austin American-Statesman. The House bill would lower by half a home’s cap on appraisal increases. It passed overwhelmingly, 141-9. However, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who presides over the Senate, said that body will not approve it, preferring its plan to raise property exemptions from $40,000 to $70,000.
The Texas House approved a $302 billion budget last week that included an amendment prohibiting the use of state money on private school tuition — a major setback to Gov. Greg Abbott’s plan to establish a school voucher system. The Austin American-Statesman reported that more than 20 Republicans joined nearly all House Democrats to pass the amendment, while 11 lawmakers voted present.
The Lone Star State continues to lead the nation in jobs added with 58,200 new positions in February, bringing the state to nearly 14 million total nonfarm jobs, according to the Texas Workforce Commission. February also marked two full years of uninterrupted job growth in the state.