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Texas Budget
Information... Politics should be about people, and perhaps in the future, it will be more focused on humane issues, meeting real needs and doing what is right. But, for the time-being, it seems to be all about money. If you want to know about money in Texas politics, there are two important sites: the Legislative Budget Board proposed a $9l.7 Billion dollar budget for the 2000-2001 biennium from all sources, excluding the Tobacco Settlement Receipts. This was a 3.8% increase over the 98-99 biennial level. In 1996-97, Texas scraped by with a $79.9 Billion dollar budget, which was a 5.9% increase from the 1994-95 biennium. A less conservative budget was then proposed by Gov. George W. Bush -- a $96.4 Billion dollar budget for 2000-2001; an additional $1.8 Billion is coming into the State coffer as our portion of the Tobacco Settlement funds. Now out of just the Tobacco Settlement, only $265.6 million has been allocated for Health and Human Services and the Dept. of MHMR, with some $63.2 million going just to purchase new generation medications at MHMR. In other words, let's DRUG 8,777 retarded, old or disabled folks and keep 'em quiet while enriching the pharmaceutical industry, to the tune of $600.00 per month per client! Another $471 million of the Tobacco Settlement has been "set aside" for a "rainy day" in Texas. Where is the other $1-plus Billion dollars going and why can't it be used NOW to keep a proper roof over the heads of some 10,000 to 30,000 disabled folks on the "wait" lists and/or l5,000 homeless vets in Texas and/or to feed the 5% or 1,000,000,000 hungry mouths in Texas? If this isn't a "rainy day", then what is? [TOP]
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Advocate F