Bills, Bills, Bills.

In this article Price Comments on Budget Bills: C.S.H.B. 1, 4, and 275, posted by On the Record, discusses the substance of Committee Substitute to House Bills 1. As of April 4th, the Texas House of Representatives passed, without raising taxes, a proposed budget for the 2012-2013 year. CSBH 1 will provide funds for education and state services. Also, the house voted for withdrawing a chunk (3.1 billion) from the Rainy Day Fund. Rep. Four Price stated "by voting to use a significant portion of the Rainy Day Fund for this current budget cycle, we were able to free up nearly 2 billion dollars for education  and vital services for the elderly and disabled." To me, this seems like progress. Price later went on to state that the rest of CSHB 1 will freeze the remaining amount of the Rainy Day Fund, for it may be needed. Education is top priority, as followed by state and human services, and public safety. I agree with this order of importance and think that education is key. Taking away from an already weak part of society is not a good idea.

From my standpoint, I agree with Mr. Price. I believe education and state services need to be funded, not cut. I also believe his reasoning that taxes will put too much of a crunch on the average consumer. If Texas is to get out of debt, cuts will need to be made and choosing those areas is very difficult. I think that Mr. Price had a good point about making tough decisions and some people are going to have to "tighten the belt." I also agree with Price on the saving of the rest of the Rainy Day Fund. As far as my little knowledge of the Rainy Day Fund goes, I believe that saving some of it for possible emergencies is wise. Spend a little to help get stimulation from the economy and start the budget cut, but keep a majority for down the road. Like Price said, the recession may not be over with when they meet back up in 2013.