"There is desirable treasure,
And oil in the dwelling of the wise,
But a foolish man squanders it.
Proverbs 21:20
SB 53, by Jane Nelson, was a bill captioned: "relating to strategic fiscal reviews of state agencies and programs."
The purpose of the bill was to collect more information for legislators about state agencies going through the sunset process; among other things, it would require identifying statutory authority for each activity in which the relevant agency engages.
The bill passed the Texas Senate with overwhelming bipartisan support. Notably, every Democrat voted for the measure. Kelly Hancock was the lone dissenting vote.
On May 4th, Joe Straus referred SB 53 to the House Appropriations committee. Under chairman John Otto, the bill stalled. Strategic Fiscal Reviews were dead in committee.
No one denies that the 84th #TXLEGE produced a "reasonably not crappy" two year budget, but the fate of SB 53 illustrates (again) how Team Straus went out of their way to kill any sort of structural fiscal reform.
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Read the full bill below:
"Reasonably not crappy" 2-year budget is FAR from the self-assessment of the legislative leaders. My personal observation is that the "reasonably not crappy" 2-year budget is most accurate for reasons you present. Where are the legislative LEADERS?
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