State Legislators have given the green light to use the "Rainy Day Fund" for Hurricane Harvey relief aid. State Senator Carol Alvarado tells KTRH, "I also authored a bill that won't increase your property taxes for hurricane related repairs."
The Austin Statesman is reporting:
The Senate proposal, which ultimately will have to be squared with a House counterpart, calls for a supplemental appropriation of $8.4 billion for fiscal 2019 to pay for everything from Harvey-related expenses to a crime lab shortfall at the Department of Public Safety and bolstering the teacher retirement system.
The majority of the money — $4.4 billion — would come out of the rainy day fund.
The rainy day fund was set up in the late 1980s as a management tool to smooth out a volatile source of revenue: oil- and gas-related tax collections.
GOP lawmakers in recent years had been reluctant to touch the fund, but it now tops $12 billion — and Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar estimates the fund would have a balance of $15.4 billion by August 2021 if it isn’t touched before then.
The biggest withdrawal from the rainy day fund came in 2011, when lawmakers approved a $3.2 billion draw as Texas recovered from a national economic downturn.
Addressing the billions being spent from the rainy day fund in this proposal, Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound, who authored the bill and is chairwoman of the Senate Finance Committee, said, “I realize those are big numbers, but $3 billion from this package are due to Harvey.”
Rainy day spending
Under a state supplemental budget proposal approved by the Senate, the Legislature would draw $4.4 billion in fiscal 2019 from the rainy day fund to pay for items at these state agencies:
• Comptroller of Public Accounts, Texas Infrastructure Resiliency Fund: $1.7 billion
• Texas Education Agency, Hurricane Harvey-related costs: $905.5 million
• Teacher Retirement System, pension contributions: $542 million
• Health and Human Services Commission, state hospitals: $300 million
• Comptroller of Public Accounts, Texas Guaranteed Tuition Plan: $211 million
• Soil and Water Conservation Board, dam infrastructure: $150 million
• Health and Human Services Commission, Harvey costs: $110 million
• Office of the Governor, disaster grants: $100 million
• Texas Education Agency, school safety: $100 million
• Department of Public Safety, Harvey costs: $97 million
• Texas A&M Forest Service, wildfires: $54.9 million
• Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Harvey costs: $38.6 million
• General Land Office, Harvey costs: $23.6 million
• University of Houston, Harvey costs: $20.3 million
• University of Texas at Austin, Marine Science Institute, Harvey costs: $14.8 million
• Lone Star College, Harvey costs: $13.1 million
• Texas Workforce Commission, Harvey costs: $8.9 million
• Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Harvey costs: $8 million
• Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, radio replacement: $5 million
• University of Houston Downtown, Harvey costs: $4 million
• Texas A&M Forest Service, Harvey costs: $2.5 million
• University of Houston Victoria, Harvey costs: $1.7 million
• University of Houston Clear Lake, Harvey costs: $84,000
Harvey, which made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane near Port Aransas on Aug. 25, 2017, caused widespread flooding in Southeast Texas.