Legislative Services

On March 24, the House Appropriations Committee finalized its revisions to Senate Bill 1 by Sen. Joan Huffman (R-Houston) by approving the reports of its subcommittees. A day later, the full Senate unanimously passed its formulation of the budget, 31-0.

As soon as final documents are available, TAC Legislative Services will prepare a worksheet comparing funding for items of interest to counties in both House and Senate versions.

Meanwhile, below are selected funding items of interest to counties adopted by House Appropriations:

Fiscal Programs – Comptroller of Public Accounts

• Disabled veteran assistance payments. The committee increased funding by $50.4 million for a total of $69.4 million for payments to local governments disproportionately affected by ad valorem tax relief for disabled veterans. According to the Comptroller, the additional funding provides a pro-rata share to all qualifying entities, considering prior increases in the number of qualifying entities. Notably, SB 1 as engrossed does not include this increase.
• County law enforcement grants. Funding continues at $330.8 million.

Governor’s Trusteed Programs

• Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) funding shortfall. The committee adopted a rider that adds $62 million in general revenue to partially offset a shortfall in federal VOCA funding to avoid a reduction in grants for victims of crime.
• Peace officer mental health program. The committee doubled funding from $3 million to $6 million.
• Forensic science improvement grant program. The committee added $2 million for grants to crime laboratories, medical examiners and coroner’s offices to improve the quality and timeliness of forensic or medical examiners services. Jurisdictions with the largest forensic science backlogs will be given grant priority.
• Contingency for House Bill 3000. The committee placed a $90 million contingency appropriation for HB 3000, which would provide financial assistance to qualified rural counties for emergency medical services, in Article XI – the “wish list article,” where budget-writers place items worthy of funding, if additional funds become available.

Health and Human Services Commission

• Increased mental health bed capacity. The committee allocated $99.7 million as a placeholder to operate mental health facilities with previously funded construction or expansion projects. In comparison, SB 1 as engrossed provides $78 million.
• Base wage increases for personal attendant services. The committee added funding to increase the base wage for personal attendant services from $12 to $14.28 per hour, including a 14% increase for associated payroll costs, taxes and benefits.
• Psychiatric medications for county jail inmates. The committee placed an addition to an existing rider (the Community Mental Health Grant Program), which provides $1.5 billion to purchase psychiatric medications for county jail inmates with severe mental health issues, in Article XI, the wish-list article.
• McLennan County crisis stabilization and inpatient services. Likewise, the committee placed a rider in Article XI adding $10 million to support mental health assessment, crisis services and expanded inpatient bed capacity in McLennan County.

A review of the community-based mental health requests for funding submitted by House members shows that most of these requests were placed in Article XI.

Office of Court Administration

• Texas Indigent Defense Commission (TIDC). The committee added $10 million to address the revenue shortfall in the dedicated Fair Defense Account No. 5073, the primary funding source for county indigent defense grants. Statewide, counties bear about 90% of the cost of indigent defense. The committee increased funding for indigent defense (including administrative as well as grant costs) to a total of $155.1 million in All Funds – up from $145.2 million in HB 1 as filed. This is still short of the $165.4 million in state spending for indigent defense in the current two-year budget. In addition:
  • The committee added $17.5 million to create new public defender offices and provide additional improvement grants to counties. TIDC requested $35 million for this purpose.
  • The committee added $1 million to establish and operate a regional defender office to serve Terrell and Val Verde counties.
  • The committee did not add funding to reimburse counties for providing legal representation for children and indigent parents in Child Protective Services cases. TIDC requested $47.5 million in initial funding for the family representation program. Instead, the committee placed this funding in Article XI, the wish-list article.
  • Likewise, the committee did not fund TIDC’s $8.9 million request for an attorney pipeline program. Instead, the committee placed the program in Article XI.

Texas Department of Criminal Justice

• Community Supervision and Corrections Department (CSCD). The committee added $51.9 million to provide a 10% salary increase for CSCD staff. All other CSCD-related funding requests were placed in Article XI.

Texas Juvenile Justice Department

• Pre/post-adjudication and regionalization placements. The committee added $26 million for pre- and post-adjudication facilities and regional diversion alternatives for local juvenile departments.

Texas Department of Transportation

• The committee placed $250 million for the County Transportation Infrastructure Fund (CTIF) in Article XI. If approved, this would be the third round of funding for the CTIF program.

For more information about this article, please contact Zelma Smith.