February 10, 2003
Joint Session to hear the State of the State from Governor,
2/11/2003 - 11:30 am
House Appropriations
MONDAY - 2/10/03
10:00 A.M., E1.030

House Government Reform
MONDAY - 2/10/03
10:00 A.M., E1.026

Senate Infrastructure Development & Security
MONDAY - 2/10/03
10:00 A.M., E1.028

Senate Education
MONDAY - 2/10/03
Subcommittee on Higher Education
1:30 P.M., Betty King Committee Room

Senate Nominations
MONDAY - 2/10/03
3:00 P.M., E1.016

House Appropriations
TUESDAY - 2/11/03
Subcommittee on Health and Human Services
7:00 A.M., JHR 120

House Appropriations
TUESDAY - 2/11/03
Subcommittee on Criminal Justice
8:00 A.M., E2.030

House Appropriations (PUBLIC HEARING)
TUESDAY - 2/11/03
Subcommittee on Education
8:00 A.M., JHR 140

House Appropriations (PUBLIC HEARING)
TUESDAY - 2/11/03
Subcommittee on General Government
8:00 A.M., E1.030

House Appropriations (PUBLIC HEARING)
TUESDAY - 2/11/03
Subcommittee on Regulatory
8:00 A.M., JHR 110

House Corrections
TUESDAY - 2/11/03
8:00 A.M., E2.026

Senate Finance
TUESDAY - 2/11/03
8:00 A.M., E1.036

House Transportation
TUESDAY - 2/11/03
8:00 A.M., E2.012

Senate Education
TUESDAY - 2/11/03
8:30 A.M., E1.028

Senate Business and Commerce
TUESDAY - 2/11/03
9:00 A.M., Betty King Room

House Insurance
TUESDAY - 2/11/03
10:00 A.M. or Adj., E2.016

Senate Criminal Justice
TUESDAY - 2/11/03
1:00 P.M. or Adj., E1.016

House Business and Industry
TUESDAY - 2/11/03
2:00 P.M., E2.028

House Appropriations
WEDNESDAY - 2/12/03
7:00 A.M., E1.030

House Appropriations
WEDNESDAY - 2/12/03
Subcommittee on Health and Human Services
8:00 A.M., JHR 120

House Appropriations (PUBLIC HEARING)
WEDNESDAY - 2/12/03
Subcommittee on Education
8:00 A.M., JHR 140

House Appropriations (PUBLIC HEARING)
WEDNESDAY - 2/12/03
Subcommittee on General Government
8:00 A.M., E1.030

House Appropriations (PUBLIC HEARING)
WEDNESDAY - 2/12/03
Subcommittee on Regulatory
8:00 A.M., JHR 110

Senate Finance
WEDNESDAY - 2/12/03
8:00 A.M., E1.036

Defense Affairs and State-Federal Relations
WEDNESDAY - 2/12/03
8:00 A.M., Extension Auditorium

Senate Veteran Affairs/Military Installations
WEDNESDAY - 2/12/03
8:00 A.M., Extension Auditorium

House Urban Affairs
WEDNESDAY - 2/12/03
10:30 A.M. or Adj., E1.010

House Government Reform
WEDNESDAY - 2/12/03
1:00 P.M., E1.026

Senate Government Organization
WEDNESDAY - 2/12/03
1:00 P.M. or Adj., E1.026

Senate Jurisprudence
WEDNESDAY - 2/12/03
1:30 P.M.

House Civil Practices
WEDNESDAY - 2/12/03
2:00 P.M., E2.026

House Elections
WEDNESDAY - 2/12/03
2:00 P.M. or Adj., E2.012

House Natural Resources
WEDNESDAY - 2/12/03
3:00 P.M. or Adj., E2.014

House Appropriations
THURSDAY - 2/13/03
Subcommittee on Health and Human Services
7:30 A.M., JHR 120

House Agriculture and Livestock
THURSDAY - 2/13/03
8:00 A.M., E2.016

House Appropriations
THURSDAY - 2/13/03
Subcommittee on Education
8:00 A.M., JHR 140

House Appropriations (PUBLIC HEARING)
THURSDAY - 2/13/03
Subcommittee on Criminal Justice
8:00 A.M., E2.030

House Appropriations (PUBLIC HEARING)
THURSDAY - 2/13/03
Subcommittee on General Government
8:00 A.M., E1.030

House Appropriations (PUBLIC HEARING)
THURSDAY - 2/13/03
Subcommittee on Regulatory
8:00 A.M., JHR 110

Senate Finance
THURSDAY - 2/13/03
8:00 A.M., E1.036

Licensing and Administrative Procedures
THURSDAY - 2/13/03
8:00 A.M., E2.012

House Government Reform
THURSDAY - 2/13/03
8:30 A.M., E1.026

House Appropriations
FRIDAY - 2/14/03
Subcommittee on Education
7:00 A.M., JHR 140

House Appropriations
FRIDAY - 2/14/03
Subcommittee on Health and Human Services
7:30 A.M., JHR 120

House Appropriations
FRIDAY - 2/14/03
Subcommittee on Criminal Justice
8:00 A.M., E2.030

House Appropriations (PUBLIC HEARING)
FRIDAY - 2/14/03
Subcommittee on General Government
8:00 A.M., E1.030

House Appropriations (PUBLIC HEARING)
FRIDAY - 2/14/03
Subcommittee on Regulatory
8:00 A.M., JRH 110
Next week the Texas House is expected to consider legislation that would sunset the school finance system on September 1, 2005. The proposal, H.B. 604 by Rep. Kent Grusendorf (R-Arlington), cleared the House Public Education Committee on Thursday. In defense of his legislation, Rep. Grusendorf said that an orderly process for developing a new school finance system would be mapped and laid out in the next several weeks.

H.B. 604’s supporters reason that it would be better for the Legislature to establish a self-imposed deadline for fixing the school finance system rather than waiting for the courts to do it for them. At the same time, Rep. Grusendorf is shopping a similar sunset bill for the state tax system, and Rep. Burt Solomons (R-Carrollton) has already filed legislation that would subject various state taxes to the sunset process (H.B. 702). This proposal is meeting with more resistance on the House side than H.B. 604, which many members consider as sounding the death knell of Robin Hood.

Politically, H.B. 604 allows legislators, especially freshman Republicans who were elected on a promise to do away with the present recapture system, to claim that their very first vote fulfills their campaign pledge. The symbolic importance of this vote probably explains House Speaker Tom Craddick’s decision to place school finance reform front and center in the regular session, rather than deferring the issue until the fall or later.

The problem with killing Robin Hood, however, is the money it would cost the state. Recapture now provides about $2.2 billion in funding for public schools per biennium, revenue that would have to be replaced assuming the current funding levels. Recapture is thus a major source of general revenue, rivaling the state franchise tax in size. With a $10-12 billion budget shortfall staring them in the face, legislators may want to think twice before dismantling the system.

Such, apparently, is the thinking in the Texas Senate. Senate Finance Committee Chair Teel Bivins (R-Amarillo) is reportedly cautious about embracing H.B. 604. Senate Education Committee Chair Florence Shapiro (R-Plano) has filed a companion to Grusendorf’s bill, but its future in her committee and in the Senate at large is cloudy at best. While sentiment to do something about Robin Hood certainly isn’t any less intense in the Senate than it is in the House, the reasons for that sentiment are slightly different.

For senators, whose larger districts tend to contain school districts that both benefit and suffer from recapture, changing the system is more about reforming the revenue structure to fund public education more “adequately” than it is to restore local tax base to fast-growing suburban school districts, although it is about that, too. This is one reason that Senator Shapiro has been pushing hard for an “adequacy” study for almost two years. The problem is, adequacy is in the eye of the beholder.

For the school community, which includes teacher groups, administrators, and school board members, adequacy invariably means more money. For the business community, adequacy means enough to teach the basics and pay teachers to do so, but does not include a lot of overhead and expensive administration. For politicians, adequacy means keeping the state solvent, teachers and administrators quiet, and taxpayers acquiescent.

Consequently, what an adequacy study will really look like is unclear. What kind of revenue structure will be needed to support an “adequate” education is equally unclear. Some legislators are willing to look at far-reaching solutions, up to and including income taxes. Rep. Grusendorf, not exactly the most liberal of legislators, has said publicly that he thinks the Legislature should consider personal and business income taxes to help fund education. Senator Bivins, who in all likelihood would carry a tax bill in the Senate, favors a broad-based business income tax that would tax corporate and non-corporate businesses alike.

Other Republican leaders, such as House Appropriations Committee chair Talmadge Heflin (R-Houston), favor abolishing the school property tax in favor of a broad-based sales tax at a much higher rate. The sales tax is a voluntary tax, the theory goes, though under Rep. Heflin’s proposal most goods and services would be taxed.

Some of those same leaders also see merit in a split tax roll, under which business property would be taxed at market value and residential property at a much lower ratio. Proposed constitutional amendments by two Houston-area legislators, Sen. Kyle Janek and Rep. Martha Wong, would lower the existing 10% cap on annual increases in residential value, effectively creating such a split tax roll. A different version of the same idea would tax business property at the state level and leave residential property to local taxing units. This concept would render currently business-property wealthy districts, such as those with power plants or manufacturing facilities, bereft and impoverished.
What would seem almost certainly to doom a statewide property tax for both business and residential property is the idea that wealthy suburban districts, such as Highland Park or Alamo Heights, would give up their local tax bases. Nevertheless, Sen. Bill Ratliff (R-Mount Pleasant) has proposed such a tax on the basis of equity. Indeed, a statewide property tax is probably the most equitable way to balance wealth differences between school districts.

Is Robin Hood really dead, as some House Republicans declare? Or will Robin Hood simply turn into Prince John through a statewide redistribution of property wealth? Is there a way to preserve local tax wealth while providing equitable funding to all districts for an “adequate” public education? These are the questions inscribed on the Legislature’s dance card. It now remains to be seen who will take the floor.