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Senate Bill 1 |
Senate Author: Nelson |
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Effective: 9-1-17 |
House Sponsor: Zerwas |
Senate Bill 1, the General Appropriations Act, appropriates approximately $216.8 billion for the FY2018-FY2019 state fiscal biennium beginning September 1, 2017. That amount includes all funding sources except interagency contracts. Of the legislatively approved amount, more than $113.1 billion, or 52.2 percent, is derived from general revenue, both dedicated and nondedicated. Another $71.9 billion, or 33.2 percent, represents federal funding, and $31.8 billion, or 14.7 percent, comes from other funds. (Figures and percentages do not add up due to rounding.) The $216.8 billion budgetary total for FY2018-FY2019 represents an increase of approximately 3.5 percent over the FY2016-FY2017 budget.
Legislative appropriations for major governmental functions and services for FY2018‑FY2019 compared with appropriations for the preceding fiscal biennium are as follows: general government receives $6.2 billion, a decrease of 2.3 percent. Total funding for health and human services is $79.5 billion, an increase of 3 percent. The legislature appropriates $80.4 billion for both public and higher education, a 2.7 percent increase. The judiciary receives $823.6 million, a 3.4 percent increase. Public safety and criminal justice receives $12.3 billion, a decrease of approximately 1 percent. Natural resources is funded at $4.5 billion, a 4.4 percent increase. Business and economic development is funded at $31.8 billion, an increase of 14.8 percent. Regulatory functions are funded at $630.6 million, a decrease of 31.5 percent. The legislature is appropriated $387.5 million, an increase of 0.5 percent.
Pursuant to the governor's "line-item" veto authority, the governor objected to a number of items in the General Appropriations Act, Senate Bill 1, related to a total of approximately $120 million in all funding sources. The items to which the governor objected are provisions related to appropriations for colonias initiatives, collaborative dual credit program evaluations for the Texas Education Agency and Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, the continuation of the Legislative Lawyering Clinic in the University of Texas at Austin School of Law, the guardianship compliance project for the Office of Court Administration, safety education by the Department of Public Safety, a certain public safety grant for the Greater Houston Area, certain air quality planning by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, the low income vehicle repair assistance, retrofit, and accelerated vehicle retirement program, the water supply enhancement program, a study of aquifers and brackish groundwater, a bonus for retailers who sell lottery tickets, and certain unexpended balances made to the Legislative Budget Board.