The House Appropriations Committee and Senate Finance Committee are hard at work finalizing their versions of the state budget for the next two years. Despite the fact that Congress has passed a third relief bill that should send billions of dollars to Texas, and despite an improving Texas economy, very few changes have been made to the bills that were filed in January. Texas leaders are waiting for more information on how the relief bill can be used and when the funds will begin to flow. Until they have that information, they are reluctant to put any new spending into the state budget.
All eyes are on State Comptroller Hegar who will release his updated revenue estimate any day now. If the estimate is higher than the revenue amount he released several months ago, the state will have some wiggle room to spend.
