Lawmakers put property tax cut on fast track
Ed Sterling Texas Press Association

A USTIN - The Texas Senate on Feb. 14 passed a

resolution to

break the state's constitutional spending cap.

This was done in order to move a step closer to delivering school property tax relief required by legislation passed a year ago in the third called session of the 79th Texas Legislature.

Senate Concurrent Resolution 20 by Sen. Steve Ogden, R-College Station, establishes that the existing need for lower school district property taxes constitutes an emergency for the people of Texas.

The resolution also makes it so state tax revenues not dedicated by the Texas Constitution for fiscal years 2008 and 2009 may be in an amount not to exceed $14.2 billion more than authorized.

On a simple majority vote and with none of the usual floor debate that regular legislative bills receive, the resolution quickly moves property tax relief ahead of other items on the agenda.

Once passed by the full Senate, SCR 20 shifted over to the House for consideration.

The House Appropriations Committee approved it too. Next, the resolution is subject to a vote of the full House on Feb. 20. It is predicted to pass on a Republican party line vote, or something close to it. $14 billion surfaces over and over

Fourteen billion dollars keeps popping up here and there in the world of state finance.

As previously mentioned, via SCR 20, the Legislature is close to giving itself permission to spend $14 billion more in the next budget cycle.

In early January, newly installed state Comptroller Susan Combs pegged the state budget surplus at more than $14 billion.

The third reference to $14 billion: Gov. Rick Perry says financial experts put a conservative estimate of the sale price of the Texas Lottery at $14 billion.

If sold for $14 billion, Perry said, the money may generate about $1.3 billion annual interest based on an average return of 9 percent, or $300 million more than the Lottery currently returns, per year.

Perry said he would use the annual interest to create trust funds for cancer research, public education and an assistance program for Texans with no health insurance. Senate to consider

Jessica's Law

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst on Feb. 14 announced the filing of Senate Bill 5, the Texas version of Jessica's Law, part of his Texas Children First plan.

SB 5, sponsored by Sen. Bob Deuell, R-Greenville, who also is a medical doctor, would do the following:

t Require mandatory 25 years to life sentences for a first-time violent sexual offense against a child under age 14;

t Require lifetime GPS monitoring for child sex offenders;

t Allow prosecutors to seek the death penalty for a second sexually violent offense against a child under age 14; and

t Double the statute of limitations on sexual crimes against children from 10 to 20 years.

Jessica's Law is named for 9-year-old Floridian Jessica Lunsford. In March 2005, she was abducted from her Florida home, raped and murdered by a convicted sex offender. Since then, more than two dozen states have enacted toughened sex offender laws in memory of Jessica. Texas Tomorrow Fund update

A new report commissioned by state Comptroller Susan Combs recommends that the Texas Tomorrow Fund remain closed to enrollment.

The prepaid college tuition program begun under then-Comptroller John Sharp in 1996 has been closed to enrollment since 2003.

The size of the fund will be $3 billion short of the demand on it in 20 years, and with today's leaping tuition costs, a much greater shortfall is possible.

Combs said funds contributed by the 158,000 families who are already enrolled are safe. Lawmaker addresses high tuition

In the wake of Comptroller Combs' report, state Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston, called for an end to tuition deregulation.

Coleman said that since tuition deregulation was enacted by the Legislature in 2003, tuition has gone up an average of 37 percent at Texas' 35 public colleges and universities.

He said unless something is done, families that already have invested in the fund cannot be guaranteed the money will be there when their kids need it.

The full report is available online at window.state.tx.us. Ed Sterling is director of member services for the Texas Press Association in Austin.