September 27, 2021

Fiscal Notes: Lawmakers Tackle Long-Term Obligations

(AUSTIN) — Since taking office in 2015, Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar has been calling attention to the growing costs of the state’s long-term financial obligations, while warning that failure to address those obligations could jeopardize the state’s credit rating and overall financial health. During the regular legislative session, Texas lawmakers took important steps to address those concerns.

In the just-released September edition of Fiscal Notes, the Comptroller’s office examines recent changes to state employee pension funding. We also provide brief updates on retirement and health care benefits for public school teachers, the state’s prepaid tuition plan and deferred maintenance for state-owned buildings.

“These issues are critical to our state's overall fiscal health which is why I have been working with lawmakers to address them every session since becoming Comptroller,” Hegar said. “This session lawmakers focused on passing much needed pension reforms – an issue that has been the focus of many of my discussions concerning any threats to Texas' top credit rating.”

In this issue, we also provide our biennial roundup of the regular session, including budget numbers for the 2022-23 biennium and an overview of appropriations. We highlight legislation affecting our office and its customers, as well as other state agencies. We also compare this year’s budget to previous years and briefly look at recently concluded special sessions. 

Fiscal Notes furthers the Comptroller’s constitutional responsibility to monitor the state’s economy and estimate state government revenues. It has been published since 1975, featuring in-depth analysis concerning state finances and original research by subject-matter experts in the Comptroller’s office.

Fiscal Notes is available online and can be received by subscribing via the Comptroller’s website.

For questions about how our agency functions are continuing during the outbreak, visit our COVID-19 News page or our Virtual Field Office.