December 1, 2016      6:32 PM

Budget numbers tighten as Texas heads into session

Spending limit is adopted as Comptroller’s office indicates revenue is lagging; retiring chairman Keffer says dealing with budget cuts should be “a surgical thing, not a slaughterhouse thing”

The Legislative Budget Board on Thursday set the constitutional spending limit just a shade under $100 billion for the upcoming session, an uptick based on an 8 percent growth in the Texas economy.

Lawmakers will not be allowed to spend more than $99.8 billion in general revenue in all the categories constrained by the Texas Constitution. And of course, the state’s available revenue won’t be clear until the Comptroller’s biennial revenue estimate in January.

For now, the message that Chief Revenue Estimator Tom Currah gave lawmakers is that revenue is lagging.

By Kimberly Reeves

Copyright December 01, 2016, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved