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- The Texas House (Photo Credit: Andrew Schneider)
- Senate passes SB1 (Photo Credit: Andrew Schneider | Houston Public Media)
The Texas House and Senate voted Saturday to approve a $217 billion budget to fund the state government through August 2019.
The Senate voted 30-1 to pass the compromise package worked out by conferees from both chambers. The sole no vote was Houston Democrat Sylvia Garcia. The House approved the budget earlier that evening by a margin of 135-14.
The deal includes expanded funding for Child Protective Services and community colleges. But the House's effort to increase state funding for public schools fell through.
"What's going to happen is that local property taxpayers are going to continue bear the burden of increasingly funding our schools," said Tarrant County Representative Chris Turner, leader of the House Democratic caucus.
The package also contains $300 million to replace or repair state mental health facilities.
"Many of us know the state of disrepair our state hospitals are in," said Fort Bend County Republican John Zerwas, chair of the House Appropriations Committee. "This is a giant step towards actually achieving some significant improvement in those facilities."
The budget is the one bill the Legislature is required to pass before the session can end. It now goes to Governor Greg Abbott for his signature.
