AUSTIN – The Honorable Talmadge Heflin, director of the Foundation’s Center for Fiscal Policy and former chairman of the Texas House Appropriations Committee, joined Gov. Perry for today’s Houston press conference introducing the Texas Budget Compact.
“There are few matters more central to our state’s continued prosperity than a fiscally responsible budget that continues the work of reducing state spending begun in 2011,” Heflin said. “Today’s announcement is a solid first step in that direction.”
“The Governor’s five principles for the next biennium’s budget are in line with the principles set forth last month by the Foundation and our allies in the Texans for a Conservative Budget coalition,” said Foundation president Brooke Rollins. “We are heartened that the Governor intends to lead Texas on a responsible and prudent fiscal path in the coming legislative session – and we will continue our own work toward that end. Texas jobs, homes, and communities flourish when businesses and families can keep more of their money rather than sending it to Austin through higher taxes and fees.”
The Texans for a Conservative Budget principles largely overlap those in Gov. Perry’s Texas Budget Compact. The TCB coalition reforms, if implemented, would reduce state overspending by $1.1 billion in the current two-year budget, $8.3 billion in the 2014-15 budget, and lower future spending growth.
Talmadge Heflin is director of the Center for Fiscal Policy at the Texas Public Policy Foundation. Heflin served 11 terms in the Texas House and chaired the Appropriations Committee in 2003, leading the Legislature’s successful efforts to close a $10 billion budget deficit without a tax increase.
Brooke Rollins is President and CEO of the Texas Public Policy Foundation.
The Texas Public Policy Foundation is a non-profit, free-market research institute based in Austin.
Primary website: www.TexasPolicy.com Facebook page: www.Facebook.com/TexasPublicPolicyFoundation Twitter feed: www.Twitter.com/TPPF
– 30 –