(AUSTIN) -- The Texas Senate today (Thursday) passed CSHB 1, which would allocate $152.9 billion to fund state programs. Senator Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, vice chair of the Senate Finance Committee, secured funding for several top priority projects and institutions throughout Texas and within her senatorial district.

CSHB 1 includes more than a six percent increase in spending, compared with the previous (2005) legislative session's budget. The Senate's version of the budget, however, spends approximately $2.1 billion more than the House version.

"Working with Lt. Governor David Dewhurst and Senate Finance Committee members, I am committed to developing a budget that prioritizes the needs of Texas families," Senator Zaffirini said. "Communities in my senatorial district and throughout the state greatly will benefit from the funding we worked hard to secure in this budget."

Included in CSHB 1 is a $21.3 million increase compared with current level spending for the UT Health Science Center in San Antonio (UTHSCSA) and a $13.8 million increase for Texas A&M International University in Laredo. Funding includes $3 million for expanding programs at the Laredo campus of UTHSCSA and $2 million for the Student Success Program and a PhD program in business at A&M International. Included in Article XI of CSHB 1 is $6 million for the San Antonio Life Sciences Institute - a joint program between UT San Antonio and the UTHSCSA.

What's more, CSHB 1 includes $313 million for the debt service for $1.9 billion in tuition revenue bonds authorized by Senator Zaffirini's HB 153 (2006), including $37.6 million for A&M International and $6 million for UT-Pan American's Starr County Upper Level Center. The bill authorized 63 projects at 48 higher education institutions, the largest investment in higher education ever made in Texas.

Senator Zaffirini also secured $100 million in new grants for the Instructional Facility Allotment (IFA), which helps poor school districts with facility construction; $1.5 million for the Surplus Agricultural Product Grant Program, which offsets the costs of harvesting, gleaning and transporting agricultural products to Texas food banks; and $8.4 million for debt service for interest on $87.5 million for the Economically Distressed Areas Program, contingent upon passage of a statewide bond election.

CSHB 1 also includes $120 million above the bill as filed for state parks; $448.5 million for State Water Plan programs; $1 million for a new independent living center that could be established in Laredo; $5 million to help compete for a wind turbine contract located largely in Senate District 21; $5 million for waste tire remediation; and $800,000 to combat zebra chip disease threatening Texas potato crops.

"Although proud of much of what we have accomplished in this budget, more must be done to ensure Texas appropriately funds our priorities," Senator Zaffirini said. "I look forward to working under the leadership of Lt. Governor Dewhurst and our colleagues in the legislature to ensure that we continue to serve persons most in need."

The House version of the budget was passed on March 30, and members from both the House and Senate soon will be appointed to the Appropriations Conference Committee so differences in both budget versions may be reconciled.

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