Waxahachie Lawmaker Proposes Spending Rainy Day Fund
AUSTIN (AP) - The chairman of the Texas House budget committee filed a bill late Monday proposing to spend $4.3 billion from the state's Rainy Day Fund to make up for the current budget deficit, a move many conservatives oppose.
State Rep. Jim Pitts, R-Waxahachie, introduced the legislation to pay for the current deficit in the 2010-2011 budget. That would free up $4.3 billion he could then spend in the next two-year budget. By law, Texas legislators must balance the budget.
Pitts, who heads the House Appropriations Committee, drafted the 2012-2013 budget that calls for $27 billion in cuts to government services. After weeks of hearings, Pitts and many other lawmakers have begun to publicly discuss tapping the state's $9.4 billion contingency fund to avoid painful cuts to education and health care.
Conservative activists have been pressuring lawmakers not to raise taxes or tap the Rainy Day Fund. Texans for Fiscal Responsibility, a non-profit group that wants to minimize government spending, has sponsored robo-calls to 350,000 homes asking the public to pressure lawmakers to oppose tapping the fund.
Health and education advocates have called on lawmakers to spend the entire fund, often showing up to hearings in rain coats.
To spend the fund to make up the current deficit, the bill will require support from three-fifths of the lawmakers present during the vote. Gov. Rick Perry would also need to sign the bill.
In his State of the State speech, Perry said he wants to protect the Rainy Day Fund, but did not rule out spending some of it.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
