Perry Gives State Of The State
AUSTIN (CBSDFW.COM) - Governor Perry hit a lot of topics in his State of the State address Tuesday. The budget, the border, higher education and lawsuit reform all made it into the speech.
On the budget, the Governor wants to suspend funding to some agencies and consolidate others. "If ever there was a time to truly reform our approach to governance and streamline our organization it is now."
On higher education Governor Perry calls for a four year tuition freeze, and for state universities to develop baccalaureate degrees that cost $10,000 total including books.
On lawsuit reform the Governor wants a loser pays system to cut frivolous lawsuits and on the border the governor wants to cut illegal immigration by punishing businesses that hire illegal immigrants.
Democrats were quick to call out Perry after his speech, saying the Governor is out of touch with the reality of the state's budget crisis and what caused it.
San Antonio Democratic State Representative Joaquin Castro said of this year as "2011 is Rick Perry's Madoff moment…The Governor years ago created a system that's really a Ponzi scheme and that scheme is up."
That Ponzi scheme, as Castro calls it, was the swap of new business tax money for cutting school property taxes. The business tax hasn't performed, creating a $10 Billion rolling budget deficit that Democrats say has to be fixed for the state's budget hole to start to close.
