AUSTIN, Texas — Texas lawmakers worked until about 1 a.m. Thursday to set the House budget.
Ross Ramsey, the executive editor of the Texas Tribune, said lawmakers have $119 billion dollars to work with this year as opposed to the $110 billion they had last session.
Ramsey said there are three big issues this session that the legislature wants to take care of.
"They've talked about public school finance, and they've talked about property tax reform or reduction – depending on who you talk to – and the central document for both of those things is the state budget," Ramsey said.
Ramsey said the House is looking at spending $9 billion on a combination of more money for education and more money for property tax relief.
"A little bit more than a third of the budget is education, and a lot of what's going to happen in the school finance bill and frankly in the property tax bill are encapsulated in part in that part of the budget. So part of what they did yesterday is the first piece of school finance."
He explained that nothing is set in stone just yet. The budget is the first step to get things moving.
"We'll see what the Senate budget does, then we'll reconcile those," Ramsey said.
He said the Senate is expected to vote in two weeks.
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