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Senate Finance committee adopts substitute to Senate Bill 1, reports it favorably 13-0
Summary
The Senate Committee on Finance adopted a committee substitute to Senate Bill 1 that layers significant tax relief and budget provisions and voted 13–0 to report the substitute favorably to the full Senate.
The Senate Committee on Finance adopted a committee substitute to Senate Bill 1 and voted 13 ayes, no nays, to report the substitute favorably to the full Senate.
The committee substitute, explained by Chairwoman Huffman, would provide a package of property tax relief and appropriations. It proposes $3,000,000,000 in additional maintenance-and-operations (M&O) rate compression, raises the residential homestead exemption to $140,000, and includes a $500,000,000 placeholder for business tax relief. The substitute also sets total funding for the Foundation School Program at $70,900,000,000 in all funds and funds full district entitlements, including roughly $1,700,000,000 to reflect student population changes and $5,100,000,000 for teacher compensation.
Beyond K–12, the substitute directs hundreds of millions for public safety and workforce needs: $850,000,000 to an endowment for career and technical colleges and Texas State Technical College programs; funding to maintain Operation Lone Star and to add new Department of Public Safety commissioned officers; funding to support recruitment and retention at Texas Department of Criminal Justice and the Texas Juvenile Justice Department; roughly $10,000,000,000 for behavioral health services across state agencies; $5,000,000,000 for the state energy fund in a second tranche; and $3,580,000,000 for highway project development, construction and maintenance. The substitute also includes a $1,900,000,000 all‑funds increase to raise the base wage for community attendants to $12.44 per hour.
Chairwoman Huffman thanked agency staff and the Legislative Budget Board for their work. After the explanation, the committee adopted the substitute on unanimous voice consent and then approved the motion to report the bill with the recommendation that the committee substitute do pass, 13 ayes, no nays.
The committee’s roll call and the formal motion to report the bill were recorded by the clerk during the session.
