August 19, 2014 3:38 PM

Rep. Darby: Continued Transparency Improvements with Speaker's Strategic Fiscal Review

Applauding Straus' initiative, Darby drills down on some of the budgetary questions subject to review

When the 84^th Legislature convenes in January 2015, budget writers will be faced with prioritizing border security, transportation, education and many other concerns. What many legislators and maybe fewer Texans realize is that budget writers have discretion over less than 17% of all funds in that budget. The rest is federally mandated, constitutionally dedicated or statutorily required spending that saddles every legislature with fewer choices on how your tax dollars are spent or returned in tax relief.

I support House Speaker Joe Straus' call for a Strategic Fiscal Review to utilize a new budget writing process to ask fundamental questions more closely resembling the state's well-established Sunset process: What does the Texas Constitution and state law require of this agency? Does the mission of this agency align with its delivery model? Are there alternative agencies better-suited for the work? Does the funding for this agency align with its original intent and purpose? And can the mission be satisfied with fewer dollars, employees or resources?

This special review will be incredibly complex and rely heavily on the Legislative Budget Board, legislators and their staff working closely with the identified agencies to answer these questions before the House adopts the next state budget. The agencies the Speaker has identified in this initial review constitute $29.5 billion in budgeted funds, plus a review of approximately $31 billion in the Available University and Texas Emissions Reduction Plan funds. The House needs to answer how these agencies will meet their core functions before moving forward with a budget.

By Rep. Drew Darby