Finance Committee Hears Testimony on 2002-2003 Budget

AUSTIN - The Texas Senate Finance Committee met Thursday, January 11, to hear invited testimony on Senate Bill 1 (SB1).

SB 1 is the bill that will become the General Appropriations Act, which will set every state agency's budget and outline Texas' general spending policies for the 2002-2003 biennium. The proposed budget totals $108.2 billion, a 6.2 percent increase over the current budget.

The committee, chaired by Sen. Rodney Ellis of Houston, heard testimony from six witnesses, including representatives from the Legislative Budget Board, who laid out the details of the proposed budget for the committee members, and the Office of the Comptroller, who gave the Comptroller's Biennial Revenue Estimate.

In Session on Thursday, Lt. Governor Bill Ratliff distributed a letter to the members of the Senate naming the Veteran Affairs and Military Installations Committee, chaired by Corpus Christi Sen. Carlos F. Truan. Also appointed to the committee were Sens. Eliot Shapleigh of El Paso (vice-chair), Troy Fraser of Marble Falls, Tom Haywood of Wichita Falls and Leticia Van de Putte of San Antonio.

Also in Thursday's Session, the Senate adopted Dallas Sen. David Cain's Senate Concurrent Resolution 4 (SCR4), which will provide for a portrait of former governer and current President Elect George W. Bush to be hanged beside the portraits of all former Texas governors in the Capitol Rotunda.

The Senate also unanimously adopted Senate Resolution 5 (SR5), offered by Sen. Royce West of Dallas, in honor of the anniversary on Monday, January 15, of the birth of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The chamber will not convene on Monday in honor of the day and stands adjourned until 11 a.m. Tuesday, January 16.

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