Senate Finance Committee advances Senate Bill 1, adopts multi-article funding decisions; rider passes 10-3

The Senate Committee on Finance met to mark up Senate Bill 1 and adopted work‑group recommendations that set funding levels and riders across multiple articles of the general appropriations bill.

The committee opened by outlining its process for the day and said there would be no public testimony; Legislative Budget Board (LBB) staff then presented the work‑group recommendations article by article. "Good morning. I'm Conklin with the Legislative Budget Board. I'll be starting with the Commission on the Arts," LBB presenter Pete Conklin said as the committee began its review of Article 1.

Why it matters: The committee’s adoptions allocate or authorize funding for many state agencies and programs that affect education, public safety, corrections, judiciary operations, natural resources and more. Several large contingency riders and agency pay‑ and staffing‑related items were included; one higher‑education rider was severed from the article package and later adopted into Article 11 after a roll‑call vote.

What the committee adopted (high‑level): - Article 1 (state administration, trustee programs, agencies): LBB reported multiple adopted items including arts organization grants ($3,000,000), cultural district grants ($1,000,000), technical and salary adjustments across agencies and trustee program allocations for university research initiatives and workforce pilot programs. Senator Schwartner highlighted additional funding "for the Attorney General's fight for victims of crime," and expanded funding for local law enforcement grants in trustee programs.

- Article 4 (judiciary): The committee adopted salary and staffing increases for courts and judicial support, including 6% nonjudicial staff salary increases in multiple court systems and funding for juvenile justice and specialty court expansions. LBB presenters outlined adopted FTE increases, travel funding for oral arguments, court facility upgrades and targeted funding for indigent defense and public defender office expansion.

- Article 5 (public safety, corrections): Major adopted items reported by LBB included technical and programmatic adjustments for the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (data governance and IT staffing), and large corrections investments at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) and Board of Pardons and Paroles: targeted salary adjustments, conversion of the Bell unit subcomponent to a mental health facility ($4,400,000 adopted for that subcomponent), funding to build out additional infirmary beds (a work‑group adoption of $19,300,000 to build out 192 on‑unit infirmary beds), facility operation authority for the Dolby Correctional Facility ($82,500,000 rider appropriation), expanded IT and public‑safety staffing, and other recruitment/retention initiatives. The Department of Public Safety items included driver license service improvements (LBB reported $47,100,000 for remote issuance FTEs) and multi‑year IT modernization funding.

- Article 3 (public education and higher education): For public education the committee adopted a contingency rider that LBB described as an increase of $515,200,000 to support priorities including teacher compensation increases, teacher preparation and early literacy and numeracy investments; a separate contingency for school safety was increased by $100,000,000. The committee also adopted a number of riders for targeted programs (mobile STEM labs, blended learning grants, FAST program amendments, and others). In higher education the committee adopted formula and research fund amounts reported by LBB (for example, Texas Research University Fund and National Research Support Fund allocations were included in the decision document) and approved several institution‑specific riders and unexpended balance authorities. One higher‑education rider ("Special Provisions Related Only to State Agencies of Higher Education," page 52 in the packet) was severed from the article package and later adopted into Article 11 by roll call.

- Article 6 (natural resources, agriculture, parks): The work group adopted technical adjustments, method‑of‑finance corrections and a variety of agency requests reported by LBB. Notable items included water and wastewater program funding adjustments, an increase in Water Development Board appropriations for water infrastructure, Parks and Wildlife funding for park operations and additional state park FTEs (LBB reported an adoption of 106 state park FTEs and adopted options to provide game wardens a 50‑hour work week funded in the packet), and multiple staffing, IT, permitting and modernization additions for natural‑resource agencies.

Votes and procedure: Committee members repeatedly adopted the presented decisions by unanimous consent or without objection during the markup. One contested vote occurred on a higher‑education rider that had been severed; the committee approved that rider by roll call 10–3 and recorded three members voting no. The committee recessed for floor session and indicated it would reconvene afterward to complete remaining business.

Quotes from the meeting: - "Good morning. I'm Conklin with the Legislative Budget Board. I'll be starting with the Commission on the Arts," LBB presenter Pete Conklin said while introducing Article 1 material. - "There were a number of items in particular in Article 1, additional tools for the Attorney General's fight for victims of crime," Senator Schwartner said in describing work‑group priorities.

Ending: After completing the presented decision documents for multiple articles, the committee recessed for floor session and said it would announce a return time from the floor when appropriate.