Oct 11th 2019 | Posted in State by Texas Government Insider

The Texas Comptroller’s Office released a Certification Revenue Estimate (CRE) on October 10 that projects revenues available to the state for general spending to total about $121.76 billion for the 2020-21 biennium.
That amount, which is up 9.6 percent from the 2018-2019 biennium, will finance the $118.86 billion in general-purpose spending appropriated by the 86th Legislature and result in a balance of $2.89 billion, according to a press release.
Comptroller Glenn Hegar said the state is projecting continued expansion of the Texas economy at a pace below the previous biennium.
Glenn Hegar Comptroller forecasts $121.76M in state revenue for 2020 21 biennium

Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar

The State Highway Fund (SHF) and Economic Stabilization Fund (ESF), which is also known as the state’s Rainy Day Fund, both receive funding from oil and gas severance taxes.

According to the comptroller’s estimates, FY 2020 transfers will total $1.67 billion each to the ESF and SHF and FY 2021 transfers are projected to be $1.59 billion to each fund. After accounting for interest and investment earnings by the ESF, along with expenditures authorized by appropriations made in recent legislative sessions, the CRE projects a fiscal 2021 ending Rainy Day Fund balance of $9.35 billion.
Also, based on a constitutional amendment passed in 2015 and because annual state sales tax revenue exceeded $28 billion, an additional $2.5 billion will be deposited to the SHF in each year of the 2020-21 biennium. This amendment also stipulated that when motor vehicle sales tax revenue collected in any fiscal year exceeds $5 billion, a portion will be transferred to the SHF. The CRE projects that the threshold will be met for the first time in fiscal 2020 and that $35 million will be transferred to the SHF from motor vehicle sales tax collections in the 2020-21 biennium.