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Charles Matthews

RRC Commissioner Named Solo Finalist for Chancellorship of Texas State System

Texas Railroad Commissioner Charles Matthews has been picked as the solo finalist for the chancellorship of the Texas State University System's nine universities and colleges. The university system's board of regents selected Matthews for the job on Thursday after a yearlong nationwide search. The earliest the board of regents can made a final decision on Matthews is January 27. Matthews would replace Lamar Urbanovsky, who is stepping down after nearly 30 years as chancellor.

Matthews was elected to the Railroad Commission of Texas in 1994. He previously served as the Mayor of Garland. He earned his B.A. at the University of Texas at Dallas and a Master's degree in Public Administration from Southwest Texas State University. He is nearing completion of his doctoral studies at the University of Texas at Austin in Higher Education Administration.


Comptroller Names New Chief Revenue Estimator

Texas Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn has promoted John Heleman to the position of the state's Chief Revenue Estimator, effective immediately. Heleman has been employed by the Comptroller's office since 1988, first as an economic analyst and research specialist. Most recently, he was the assistant manager of the Comptroller's Revenue Analysis Division.

Heleman is replacing James LeBas, who has held the same position since January 1999. LeBas has been named Chief Financial Officer for the Texas Water Development Board.


Lieutenant Governor Announces Top Priorities for 79th Session

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst has released his top legislative priorities for the 79th Session, which begins on Tuesday. They include: improving public education and reforming how it's paid for; enhancing the quality of care in Child Protective Services; balancing the budget while keeping taxes low; helping to make workers' compensation more affordable for employers and available to injured workers; continuing to pursue homeowners' insurance relief for Texas homeowners; working to make higher education more affordable, available and accountable to Texas students and their families; reviewing the state's water policy to ensure adequate water for all parts of the state; and making Texas government more open and accessible to the people it represents.


Economic Outlook Looks Rosy

After three years of lagging behind the nation, Texas' economy is set to grow slightly faster than the rest of the United States in 2005, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation's quarterly economic forecast for the state.

According to the report:

  • The expansion of the professional and business sector and the leisure and hospitality services sector is aiding the state's improving economy, along with solid growth in health and educational services. Additionally, the construction and transportation sectors are reporting accelerating year-over-year job growth, while the economic drag from the ailing manufacturing and information sectors is diminishing.
  • Continued U.S. economic growth and global trade, coupled with favorable population trends and relatively low business and living costs, will contribute to the state's economic growth in 2005.


Governor Announces $329 Million Reform Plan for CPS

Gov. Rick Perry has released a a two-year, $329 million plan to improve Child Protective Services (CPS). Perry has issued an Executive Order directing the creation of a new investigations division at CPS as the first step in a sweeping overhaul of the agency. He also called on the legislature to appropriate $250 million in new money for the agency for the next biennium to be used to hire more than 800 new investigators and hundreds of other clerical and support staff, provide $5,000 retention bonuses to CPS investigators and provide a 5 percent across-the-board pay raise to other CPS workers.

The governor's recommendations are among more than 100 changes that Health and Human Services Commissioner Albert Hawkins put forth as part of the systemic review of CPS that Perry ordered last year.

Perry said Hawkins' report on CPS is the most thorough examination of the agency in years, and included detailed reviews of every task caseworkers and investigators perform, the amount of time spent on paperwork and other factors. Perry said creating a Division of Investigations within CPS would focus investigators' time on the critical job of receiving, reviewing and investigating reports of abuse and neglect.


Texas Universities Rank Third in Research Funding

In 2002, Texas universities, including medical schools, received $1.4 billion in federal research and development grants, according to the National Science Foundation. Overall, $21.8 billion in federal research and development grants were awarded to colleges and universities, including medical schools, during 2002, the latest year available. Texas ranked third among states. California received the most funding - double the amount Texas received.


State Audit Calls for Better Oversight of Homeland Security Grants

A report released this week by the State Auditor's Office, A Financial Review of the Texas Engineering Extension Service's Administration of Homeland Security Grant Funds, says the Texas Engineering Extension Service (TEEX) needs to strengthen its management of the State Homeland Security Grant Program to ensure that funds are (1) used for their intended purpose of enhancing local jurisdictions' capabilities to respond to potential terrorist threats and (2) adequately protected from violations, abuse, and fraud. The Auditor's Office identified significant weaknesses in TEEX's processes for managing the $111 million in Grant funds (for the 1999 through 2003 supplemental grant years) allocated to local jurisdictions. The report says TEEX needs to do a better job tracking what local governments spend anti-terrorism funds on to ensure that they are being spent on homeland security initiatives.


Lens on the Legislature: How Much Will the State Spend?

On November 18th, a major state daily newspaper reported "State spending limit set at $52 billion… The Legislative Budget Board on Wednesday adopted a state spending limit of $52 billion for the next two year budget cycle. The cap is nearly $3 billion less than the $54.9 set two years ago." Many other papers around the state carried a substantially similar story.

Two weeks later, The Lufkin Daily News reported "Senator says state may have $130 billion budget… Texas lawmakers are likely to approve a two-year state budget that reaches a record $130 billion…. That would be an increase from the approximately $118 billion current Texas budget." A similar story appeared in The Daily Texan.

What's going on here? One estimate seems to be two and a half times the other. One is said to be an increase from the last biennium; the other is said to be a decrease.

The Texas state budget is as complex as it is large. Funding for the state's needs is traditionally categorized into at least four sources (with approximate sizes shown for the current biennium):

  • General Revenue Funds ($58.9B)
  • General Revenue - Dedicated Funds ($5.6B)
  • Federal Funds ($39.2B)
  • Other Funds ($14.5B)

Descriptions of these four categories can be found in Chapter 1 of Fiscal Size-up 2004-5, which was also the source for the dollar sizes shown. Note that the total is about $118.2B, which contrary to common impression, is a 2.2% increase over estimated expenditures for the 2002-03 biennium.

The Texas Constitution contains four limits on spending:

So how does all of this relate to the newspaper stories first mentioned above?

First, the accounts of $118B possibly increasing to $130B relates to total funds and is an accurate portrayal of the real spending levels of the state. The quoted Senator was Sen. Steve Ogden who, as Chairman of Senate Finance, is a recognized expert in this area.

The November 18th articles, on the other hand, really dealt solely with the fourth constitutional limit listed above. That limit is established as outlined in Section 316 of the Government Code, which among other things, requires a vote of the Legislative Budget Board. It took a 16-page staff memorandum to explain how to get to the answer, but the essence of the Spending Limits provision is that the rate of growth of appropriations in a biennium from state tax revenues not dedicated by the constitution may not exceed the estimated rate of growth of the state's economy. There are obviously a lot of revenue sources such as federal funds, bond proceeds and tobacco settlements that are not state tax revenues to begin with and then there are many state tax revenues that are dedicated by the constitution. No wonder this issue only relates to 40% of the budget!

So what is the message? It is that the state budget and its associated processes are quite complex and in their attempts to simplify things, the traditional media occasionally get it wrong. In fact, as shown in this case, many didn't even correctly state whether the budget was increasing or decreasing. The actual November 17th motion is quite specific and hardly sets the state spending limits. The media that ran that story were not named because it isn't the goal of this column to criticize. Rather, the goal here is to provide interested Texas Government Insider™ readers the tools to better understand these complexities. Here are some suggested references:

  • Readers who really want all the details may want to consult the Legislative Budget Board's 513-page Fiscal Size-up
  • Two good primers on the state budget process are: Senate Research Center's A Guide to the Budget Process in Texas and the House Research Organization's Writing the State Budget
  • A graphic of the two year budget cycle
  • The Comptroller's Biennial Revenue Estimate really sets the size of the allowable state budget because, unlike the federal budgets, Texas budgets are balanced. [Editor's Note: The new estimate is expected shortly and the link will be provided in the next issue of the Texas Government Insider™]

Website Offers Detailed Info on Federal Agencies' Financial Operations

The U.S. government's Chief Financial Officers (CFO) Council today unveiled the Metric Tracking System (MTS), a website meant to provide Federal financial managers, taxpayers and others information on Federal agencies' financial operations.

"Now Federal managers and the public will have easy access to government-wide information to measure performance and progress that was previously only visible to internal agency personnel," said Linda Combs, CFO for the Department of Transportation, and the CFO Council member heading up the metrics effort.


AISD-TV to Carry All Sessions of State Senate Live

When the Texas Legislature convenes this coming Tuesday, all sessions of the State Senate will be carried live on AISD-TV (Time Warner Cable Channel 22). The Austin Independent School District has carried all proceedings of the State Senate, both regular and special sessions, live since 1999.


Recent Reports

The Health and Human Services Commission has released its Final Report in response to Gov. Rick Perry's Executive Order to Reform Child Protective Services (CPS) Program.The reform plan for CPS calls for a two-year, $329 million infusion of state and federal funding to add nearly 2,000 caseworkers and support staff, strengthen management and oversight of the program, and purchase technology to help investigators in the field.

The State Auditor's Office (SAO) has released four new reports:

TSTC Waco Awarded $500,000 for Nanotechnology Initiative

Gov. Rick Perry has announced a $500,000 grant to Texas State Technical College (TSTC) in Waco to launch the Nanotechnology Workforce Development Initiative to encourage college students to pursue careers in nanotechnology. TSTC Waco will partner with Baylor University, Del Mar College of Corpus Christi, and Zyvex Corporation of Richardson on the initiative. The grant, funded through the federal Wagner-Peyser Act and administered by the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC), will be used to provide internships and apprenticeships for engineering students at TSTC Waco and Del Mar College to work in advanced nanoscale manufacturing environments at Zyvex.

Once the program is operational, the TWC will use the same model to replicate other nanotechnology initiatives at the state's 51 community colleges. State officials anticipate that the Nanotechnology Workforce Development Initiative will be key to a concerted statewide effort to support advanced manufacturing in Texas as well as stimulate entrepreneurial efforts and attract new business to the state.


183A Toll Road Work Underway

The development of the 183A toll road will begin early this month, announced Mike Heiligenstein, Executive Director of the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority (CTRMA). "In the coming weeks people will begin to see site preparation activity in 183A," says Heiligenstein. The congestion-relieving project, which has been on the transportation improvement waiting list for a number of years, will be completed by the CTRMA in record time. 183A is the CTRMA's first project being built from the ground up. It will extend 11.6 miles from SH 45/RM 620 to north of Leander. The toll road is expected to open in March 2007.


Event Links

19th Annual Texas Association of Fire Educators Instructor's Conference - 1/8/05 - 1/14/05

WSLCA Winter Conference 2005 - 01/09/05 - 01/13/05

Texas Career Education Conference - 1/19/05 - 1/21/05

Texas Municipal Utilities Association Annual Conference - 02/02/05 - 02/04/04

Texas Computer Education Association 25th Annual Convention & Exposition - 02/07/05 - 02/11/05

40th Annual Association of Mayors, Councilmembers and Commissioners Institute - 02/12/05 - 02/13/05

Texas Municipal League Legislative Briefing - 02/14/05

25th Annual Association of Texas Professional Educators State Conference - 3/31/05 - 4/2/05

Texas Library Association Annual Conference - 4/5/05 - 4/8/05

Texas Public Health Association's 80th Annual Education Conference - 04/24/05 - 04/26/05

2005 Excellence in Government Conference - 7/25/05 - 7/27/05

SPI’s GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS TEAM IS DIVERSIFIED AND EXPERIENCED

SPI’s Governmental Affairs experts provide a broad range of services, including:

Legislative Representation - development of legislative and political strategies, advocacy for legislative initiatives, drafting bills and amendments, tracking bills and issues through legislative channels, monitoring hearings, and providing training on presenting public testimony

Agency Representation - assisting regulated firms to resolve issues with agencies and to navigate government bureaucracy, participate in rulemaking and improve communications

Communications Coordination - providing public relations, media strategy, press placement, and media training

Please contact SPI's Crystal Kuhs at ckuhs@spartnerships.com for more details.

Past ABJ articles by Mary Scott Nabers

Texas' open records laws can offer wealth of information for contractors - 12/17/2004

Smaller agencies are hidden sources of contract dollars - 12/3/2004

Texas Government Insider Archives

Last Issue - 12/30/04

Volume 1 and Volume 2 Archives - 11/7/03 - 12/22/04


Resources

DIR's Security Alert Page

Legislative Lexicon

Legislative Information

Diagram of Legislative Process

Texas Legislative Sessions and Years

HUB Forms Library

State Contract Management Guide

State Procurement Manual

TBPC Facilities Master Plan

Who Represents Me? Texas Districts By Address

Diagram of Texas' Biennial Budget Cycle

Texas Fact Book 2004


Public Hearings/Meetings

Senate State Affairs Committee--3:00pm, January 10, Senate Chamber, 2E.8 (Purpose of hearing is to discuss the election contest of Delgado v. Gallegos)

Telecommunications Planning and Oversight Council--9:00am, January 11, 300 W. 15 Street, 1st Floor, Room 103, Austin

Alamo Regional Mobility Authority Board Meeting--12:00pm, January 12, 143 Billy Mitchell Blvd., Suite 6 (Greater Kelly Development Authority), San Antonio

Sunset Advisory Commission--2:00pm, January 12, Room E1.030, Capitol Extension

Signing Up for the Texas Government Insider™

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Texas Career Education Conference

The Texas Career Education Conference will be held January 19 - 21 at the Renaissance Hotel in Austin. The Texas Education Agency plans to share with conference attendees detailed updates regarding program areas and funding. For more information or to register, click here.

Women's Legislative Days

On February 7 and 8, Women's Legislative Days, a seminar designed to educate and encourage women to become informed and actively involved in the legislative process, will take place at the UT Thompson Conference Center located at Dean Keeton (26th Street) and Red River. For more information, click here.

40th Annual Association of Mayors, Councilmembers and Commissioners Institute

The 40th Annual Association of Mayors, Councilmembers and Commissioners Institute (AMCC) will take place February 12 and 13 at the Renaissance Hotel in Austin. The conference will include sessions such as: The Keys to a Successful Bond Election, Making Cents of the Budget and Budget Process and Building the Public's Trust: Responding to Ethical Challenges. For more information or to register, visit www.tml.org.

NEA's 23rd Annual Higher Education Conference

The National Education Association's 23rd Annual Higher Education Conference will be held March 4 - 6 in San Antonio. Participants will be able to explore the topic of diversity in academia from a variety of perspectives: diversity of the current student body and projections for the "echo-boomers," diversity in the workforce, diversity in what the work is, who provides it and how; and the impact of recent federal and state policy changes on the ability of higher education institutions to educate a diverse student body and employ a diverse workforce. For more information, click here.