AUSTIN – Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick issued this statement today following the unanimous passage of Senate Bill 1, the Senate’s Budget for Texas, by Sen. Joan Huffman, R-Houston:
“As Texas enters the second half of the 2020s, our state’s fiscal foundation has never been more solid. Texas gets stronger and stronger with each passing biennium because our conservative principles guide our approach to budgeting. The Texas Senate’s All Funds budget for Texas, which passed unanimously today, grows a conservative 0.9% from last biennium.
“I believe in the words of Matthew 6:21 “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” The Senate’s budget for Texas maintains our steadfast commitment to public education by fully funding the Foundation School Program along with additional money for school safety and special needs students. Our budget also provides significant pay increases for Texas educators. In 2019, the average Texas teacher earned $54,000 per year. With the Senate’s proposed teacher pay increase included in this budget, the average Texas teacher will earn approximately $69,000. Texas must pay our teachers as the professionals they are. Additionally, we funded the Senate’s universal school choice program in SB 1.
“The Senate’s budget also provides significant property tax relief, increasing the homestead exemption to $140,000 ($150,000 for seniors). Our budget makes huge investments into our state’s electrical grid and includes $2.5 billion to address Texas’ water needs. SB 1 also contains funds to create a new program for the Dementia Prevention & Research Institute of Texas (DPRIT), with a special emphasis on Alzheimer’s prevention and research. SB 1 continues to fund border security at current levels and provides funding for almost 600 new Department of Public Safety troopers to serve across our state.
“Writing the budget for Texas, which has the 8th largest economy in the world, is no small feat. Senate Committee on Finance Chair Joan Huffman has done skillful work on this budget, and I thank her for her continued leadership in ensuring our state’s financial future is secure. Chair Huffman, our teams, and I began building this budget in the summer of 2024. Chair Huffman and the entire Senate Finance Committee worked long hours and I thank them for their hard work. With our careful, conservative approach to budgeting, SB 1 is within the spending limits set by the Texas Constitution, and once again, the growth rate does not exceed population times inflation, like every budget passed by the Senate since I have been Lt. Governor.”
The Texas Senate’s All Funds Budget for Texas totals $336.06 billion for the 2026-2027 biennium.
