AUSTIN – The Texas Legislative Budget Board (LBB) today adopted its first-ever consolidated general revenue spending limit, a new state spending cap established in Senate Bill 1336 by Sen. Kelly Hancock (R-Fort Worth) and House sponsor Dr. Greg Bonnen (R-Friendswood).

“Someone once asked me the single most important thing I could do in the Texas Legislature,” said Chairman Hancock, who also served on the Legislative Budget Board from 2016-2021. “While that’s a tough question to answer, guaranteeing a fiscally responsible state government for future generations of Texans might just top the list. I’m glad to say that’s what we did with SB 1336.”

Texas’ existing constitutional state spending limit capped general revenue (GR) at personal income growth and did not include general revenue-dedicated (GR-D) spending.

The new, additional limit loops in GR-D funds and quite literally “changes the equation” by requiring the limit to be calculated at a rate of population times inflation, a more economically-relevant and fiscally conservative metric than personal income growth.

Of note, Hancock wrote an exception into the legislation to ensure tax relief, which is considered an appropriation in the state budget, would not count against the spending limit. This provision may prove key to the substantial property tax relief proposals slated for consideration by the 88th Texas Legislature when it convenes in January.

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