Abbott signs business bills as deal on education funding gets closer
Lawmakers still need to fund education in Texas
A big deal on education funding that includes a teacher pay raise appears to be in the making. On May 14, the Texas governor, lieutenant governor, and house speaker said they are confident a multi-billion dollar package will be passed
AUSTIN, Texas - Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed two bills and a joint resolution Wednesday: Senate Bill 29, Senate Bill 1058 and House Joint Resolution 4.
Abbott was joined by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and House Speaker Dustin Burrows in the Governor's reception room for the signing ceremony.
"I’m about to sign three laws that solidify our status as the best state for doing business for many years to come. Laws that will make Texas the unrivaled epicenter for business headquarters," said Abbott.
What we know:
The legislation was drafted to attract corporations to Texas. The package provides protection from lawsuits filed by minority shareholders and prevents state taxes on securities as well as bans occupation tax.
Exemptions from certain franchise tax liabilities were also given to stock exchanges operating in Texas, like the NASDAQ, the New York Stock Exchange and the newly created Texas Stock Exchange.
What they're saying:
"What's important to the average person is to have a job to be able to go to work, a good paying job to go to work. A variety of economic opportunity, a thriving economy. It's business leaders, CEOs who make those decisions about what location they're going to be in to be able to start a business and grow a business. And this is important for entrepreneurs who are going to of business themselves" said Abbott.
The governor went on to explain that the new laws codify policies that attract businesses, attract job creators, and will ensure that Texans will have job opportunities.
Why you should care:
FOX 7 Austin asked Gov. Abbott why the average person should care about the pro-business measures.
"What's important to the average person is to have a job to be able to go to work, a good paying job to go to work. A variety of economic opportunity, a thriving economy. It's business leaders, CEOs who make those decisions about what location they're going to be in to be able to start a business and grow a business. And this is important for entrepreneurs who are going to of business themselves" said Abbott.
Education funding, HB 2
What we know:
How to fund the education of a solid workforce is still a work in progress for state lawmakers.
The new version of HB2 is up for a hearing Thursday morning in the Senate Public Education Committee. House Speaker Dustin Burrows gave what sounded like a partial green light, when asked if he was ready to sign off on what’s in the revised legislation.
"If you look at the key components of when it left the House, special education funding, teacher pay, looking at full day funding for Pre-K, looking at a lot of the different component parts. What I understand, most of those are in that bill. Obviously, like any school finance bill, you've got to see the runs. But we are very optimistic and very excited where we're at," said Burrows.
House Education Chairman Brad Buckley and Senate Public Education Chairman Brandon Creighton were recognized by Patrick for their work drafting a funding plan.
"I really think it's a masterpiece of school finance. It's prioritizing teachers. They're going to be paid more money than they've ever been paid before in Texas," said Patrick.
Dig deeper:
There are differing ideas on exactly how much extra money will be provided for teachers and how a pay raise will be calculated. The increase ranges from $2,500 to $10,000 and depends on classroom experience as well as where the teachers work.
"This is the best thing we can do for the most important part of education, and that is providing our teachers with the pay raise they need and deserve," said Gov. Abbott.
The biggest difference in the new Senate plan is how the $8 billion that’s been set aside for HB 2 is divided up for school districts. The original HB 2 added almost $400 to the basic per-student allotment to school districts. The Senate plan instead moves money around to where the proposed increase in the basic allotment is reduced to $55 per student.
House members reportedly have concerns about the cut, while Speaker Burrows seemed open to the change.
"Looking at just one number and not what the entire Bill does, I don't think is what we need to be doing. We need to look at actually how the Bill gets to the different components we need to get to. And so again, largest amount of school finance in history, that's actually classroom dollars. You know, this is real money that's going to get to public education that's in need of it. And you look at the things that it does, it's the things we identified were very important," said Speaker Burrows.
What's next:
The legislative clock is ticking on HB 2. The bill has until May 28 to clear the full Senate.
House members would then be asked to agree to the Senate changes or to send the legislation to conference committee for last-minute deal making before the Session ends June 2.
The Source: Information in this report comes from reporting/interviews by FOX 7 Austin's chief political reporter Rudy Koski.