The Texas Senate Committee on Finance (SCF) opened its first hearing of the 2023 legislative session on Monday. The committee heard testimony from various state agencies and commissions on funding requests and recommendations related to Senate Bill 1, the state’s biennial budget.
Many of the SCF members throughout the hearing echoed calls for being fiscally conservative this session, despite the state having a record budget surplus.
“I want to thank the lieutenant governor for [appointing me] to Senate Finance,” said committee member Sen. Lois Kolkhorst (R – Brenham), who also chairs the Senate Health and Human Services Committee. “[SCF] certainly does set the pace for our policy, and it is historic and, I echo what my colleagues have said, is [for] wise investments and [to] make sure, as Senator Campbell says, that the feast can’t turn into a famine very quickly.
So thank you so much. I look forward to working not just with the members here, but with your talented staff as we craft this budget and work with our House colleagues to set a path forward. As Sen. Hancock said, quite a stark difference in [what] we see [for] a state like California with $22 billion of a deficit, and we sit on this historic surplus.”
There is a $32.7 billion budget surplus this cycle and both the House and Senate have proposed base budgets of $289 billion, $130.1 billion of which would come from general funds. Lawmakers have outlined $15 billion for property tax relief.