Budget talks slow, anxiety rises
Senate leaders say a final deal on the state's two-year budget has been delayed.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Steve Ogden, R-Bryan, told reporters a few minutes before noon that Gov. Rick Perry "is involved in the discussion" -- much of it about higher education.
Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst said late Friday that House Speaker Tom Craddick, R-Midland, has intervened in the talks about university funding. "The speaker's taken a real interest ... particularly [in] the higher education budget and some special items," Mr. Dewhurst said.
Asked if the special college funding items were for Midland, the lieutenant governor responded, "For different [House] members' districts."
Wrapping up the budget now seems unlikely before House members decide whether they're deposing Mr. Craddick or not in the session's last seven days.
Former Sen. Ken Armbrister, the governor's point man with the Legislature, confirmed that Mr. Perry is hanging tough for a couple of new approaches in the higher education budget: Incentive funds that are tied to an individual college's performance, as measured by things like graduation rates; and an "unpacking" of the single dollar amount traditionally placed into the budget for each campus.
Mr. Perry wants to use his line-item veto power to cull higher education pork, though lawmakers now have the upper hand: A governor has to veto an institution's entire appropriation to protest some part of it.
Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, one of the budget negotiators, explained, "We have always had rolled-up funding. We've never considered changing it."
Mr. Ogden wouldn't comment on whether lawmakers would refuse to unroll the campus line items. He said deciding where some incentive funds for colleges might come from is "part of the discussion."
Neither Mr. Ogden nor Mr. Armbrister would comment on whether the governor has threatened to veto the higher ed portion of the budget.
Mr. Ogden said there were other unresolved items -- prison construction and how much of the sporting goods sales tax to dedicate to state parks. But Mr. Ogden said higher education is "the stickiest sticking point."
He said he's now "really worried" about getting the budget finished by the session's close next Monday. But he added, "It's always this way. I was this concerned two years ago."