Texas Speaker of the House Suggests 5% Budget Cuts for All State Agencies

Texas Tribune- Texas House Speaker Dennis Bonnen has reached out to fellow state leaders to initiate conversations about the state’s economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, suggesting that the lower chamber would like to discuss a directive to all state agencies “to immediately identify and execute 5% budgetary savings.”

“It has become apparent that the time to engage in long-term economic planning is now,” the Angleton Republican wrote in an April 9 memo to Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, which was obtained Wednesday by The Texas Tribune. “While it is true that we do not have an immediate funding need or a lack of COVID-related emergency funding, all indications are that we will most certainly have a future state revenue concern due to lagging economic conditions statewide.”

In the memo, Bonnen also wrote that he would like to begin conversations about settling on instructions for legislative appropriations requests for budget planning for the 2022-23 cycle. The memo was shared last week with the House Appropriations Committee and its staff.

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