Focus Report, Volume 87, Number 1, March 2021 Page: PAGE4
This periodical is part of the collection entitled: Texas State Publications and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.
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Page4 House Research Organization
The rainy day fund may not exceed 10 percent of the
total amount deposited into general revenue (minus certain
types of income and funds) during the previous biennium
(Texas Constitution Art. 3, sec. 49-g(g)). The cap for fiscal
2022-23 is $19.7 billion. Money drawn from the rainy day
fund counts toward the state's constitutional spending limit,
according to the LBB.
Spending money from the rainy day fund requires
legislative approval. At least three-fifths of the members
present in each house of the Legislature must approve
spending from the fund to cover but not exceed an
unanticipated deficit in a current budget or offset a decline
in revenue for a future budget. However, any amount from
the fund may be spent for any purpose if approved by
at least two-thirds of the members present in each house
(Texas Constitution Art. 3, sec. 49-g(k)-(m)). According
to the LBB's FiscalSize-up, in 2019, the 86th Legislature
appropriated from the rainy day fund $4.9 billion for the
2018-19 biennium and $1.2 billion for fiscal 2020-21.
LBB budget submission. Government Code sec.
322.008 requires the LBB to send copies of an estimated state
budget to the governor and the Legislature at the beginning
of each legislative session. These documents are called
Legislative Budget Estimates (See House and Senate versions
of the LBB's Summary ofLegislative Budget Estimates 2022-
23 Biennium, January 2021). The LBB also must submit a
budget in the form of a bill at the beginning of the regular
session. These proposals serve as the starting point for the
Legislature's budget deliberations.
Governor's budget proposal. Governors are required
to submit their own budget proposals (Government Code
sec. 401.0445). Historically, these documents have varied in
detail. The governor must submit a budget before giving the
State of the State address (Government Code sec. 401.046)
and may prepare a general appropriations bill that mustbe submitted by the 30th day of the session (Government
Code sec. 316.009). In February 2021, Gov. Abbott released
a list of budget priorities for fiscal 2022-23. The proposal
highlights certain programs and spending across state
government and includes information on federal funding for
the state's response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
General appropriations bill
The Senate and House general appropriations bills for
fiscal 2022-23, HB 1 by Bonnen and SB 1 by Nelson, arethe starting points for the Legislature to authorize agency
spending and other budgetary provisions.
Budget format. Appropriations bills may deal only with
spending. The Texas Constitution, in Art. 3, sec. 35, limits
bills to one subject, except for general appropriations bills,
which may include various subjects and accounts. House
Rule 8, sec. 4 explicitly prohibits changes in general law in an
appropriations bill.
For fiscal 2022-23, LBB recommendations for the
general appropriations act retain the basic structure of
previous budget acts and include 10 articles for agency
budgets. Articles 1 through 8 include state agency budgets
by functional category. For example, Article 3 covers agencies
of public and higher education. Article 9 contains general
provisions and directions to state agencies, the state salary
classification schedule, and other items. Article 10 contains
appropriations for the Legislature.
Agency budget configuration. Each agency's budget
first lists the mix of revenue sources intended to finance
the agency's appropriation. Sources can include the general
revenue fund, general revenue dedicated accounts, federal
funds, and other funds.
House and Senate budget bills list agency goals and
strategies, with each strategy having its own appropriation.
Goals are general statements of the agency's purposes.
Strategies, sometimes called line items, state how an agency
intends to achieve its goals and are the basis for appropriating
money to an agency. An appropriation for a single strategy
may fund more than one department or program in the
agency. The agency may need more than one strategy to
accomplish a goal.
Goals and strategies are linked to output and efficiency
measures. Output measures gauge the quantity of a serviceprovided or good produced. Efficiency measures gauge cost or
time per unit, such as the average cost for the Department of
Public Safety to complete a DNA case.
The examples on page 5 show the format for two
portions of the fiscal 2022-23 appropriation for the
Commission on the Arts in HB 1 as introduced. Figure 1
expresses one set of goals and strategies in terms of funds
appropriated, and Figure 2 illustrates the performance
measure targets for the same set of goals.
Riders in an appropriations bill can do several things,
including set conditions or limits on use of funds or make an0
Page 4
House Research Organization
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Texas. Legislature. House of Representatives. Research Organization. Focus Report, Volume 87, Number 1, March 2021, periodical, March 8, 2021; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1507622/m1/4/?q=%22~1%22~1: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.