Conservatives propose budget options

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Conservative lawmakers have proposed their own set of budget priorities ahead of the base budget being unveiled by the House Appropriations chair Tuesday afternoon.

As if the inaugural celebration wasn't enough today, lawmakers and outside groups also will get a first look at a baseline state budget Tuesday afternoon, one with a $15 billion budget hole.

Rep. Warren Chisum (R-Pampa) and Sen. Tommy Williams (R-The Woodlands), co-chairs of the Texas Conservative Coalition Research Institute, called the document presented Tuesday morning less of a budget and more of a blueprint for the priorities that should lay ahead.

Chisum blamed the Texas budget hole on Medicaid issues, general economic downturn and out-of-control growth of the state's workforce. In the area of health and human services alone, the state has added 12,000 employees since 2006, a 10 percent increase in the state's workforce.

"It is too big," Chisum said of the state's workforce during a news conference Tuesday morning. "It costs too much, and it’s unconscionable in this state of the Internet and all of the technology that we have, is that our only answer is to increase our Texas workforce. We need to do a better job of that.”

The conservative group outlined a list of budget priorities for the session:

• No increase in taxes or shift in dedicated revenue to general revenue purposes;
• Policy changes and choices that can create longer-term savings;
• Use of the rainy day fund only for one-time expenditures;
• Cutting education bureaucracy rather than classroom teachers;
• Creating situations where the private sector will create jobs; and
• Committing to not cut public safety, civil justice or criminal justice.