Comptroller: Texas has $194.6 billion available for 2026–27; oil severance taxes will boost general revenue due to ESF cap

Brad Reynolds of the Comptroller of Public Accounts told the House Committee on Ways and Means that the state’s biennial revenue available for appropriation for fiscal 2026–27 is projected at $194,600,000,000.

Reynolds said the decline from the prior biennium’s available revenue is driven largely by a falling beginning balance — the state began the 2024–25 biennium with about $39 billion but now expects a beginning balance for 2026–27 of about $23.76 billion — not by sharply lower underlying tax collections. “This is substantially leftover surplus accumulated back in 22-23 when we had historically high, inflation and historically high infusions to the state budget from federal funds that were authorized by Congress during the pandemic,” Reynolds said.

Why the severance tax change matters: Reynolds told the committee that a constitutional cap on the Economic Stabilization Fund…