Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar on Monday added nearly $6 billion to the state’s projected budget surplus, taking it to nearly $33 billion – and likely setting...
AUSTIN — Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar on Monday added nearly $6 billion to the state’s projected budget surplus, taking it to nearly $33 billion – and likely setting off something of a feeding frenzy on the eve of a new legislative session.
Counting federal and other funds, Hegar projected the state will have $342.3 billion of available “all funds” revenue in the next two-year cycle – a staggering 27% increase from the $270.5 billion he guessed in his estimate two years ago. “We expect a mild recession,” he said. “The expected downturn for Texas is relatively shallow and short, but it will not make Texans’ lives easier.”
“Even with constitutional spending limits and an inflation-influenced new normal, the enormous amount of projected revenue gives the state a remarkable or truly ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ opportunity” to advance the state this session, he said. Hegar also urged lawmakers to “consider meaningful tax reduction to ease the burden of Texans who are grappling with inflation, economic uncertainty and rising housing costs.”
The state’s rainy day fund, which Texas voters approved creating after the savings-and-loan crisis and oil bust of the mid-1980s, is for the first time approaching its constitutionally prescribed cap. In 2024-2025, unless lawmakers decide to spend some of it, the cap will be $26.4 billion and under current law, the flow of expected fund transfers will hit that maximum.
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