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Conservative groups: Texas Legislature shouldn't drain 'rainy day fund'
(Dallas Morning News, The Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Feb. 12--AUSTIN -- Texas budget writers should resist temptation to drain the state's "rainy day fund" and accept some of the billions offered in a federal economic stimulus bill, according to seven conservative groups and a trade group for small business owners.
The groups urged the Legislature on Wednesday to preserve Texas as "the last refuge of fiscal sanity," as limited-government advocate Peggy Venable put it.
They want lawmakers to keep their mitts off at least half of the $9.1 billion expected to be available in the rainy day fund this session.
"Yes, we are in a rainy day, but no one knows for sure how long this storm will last," said former House Appropriations Chairman Talmadge Heflin, R-Houston.
Heflin, now of the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a free-market research institute, said, "Texas families have the instinct to stretch their emergency savings as long as possible, and state government needs to show the same discipline."
The conservative groups, along with the state chapter of the National Federation for Independent Business, offered nine guidelines for good fiscal stewardship.
They include a tighter state spending cap, more tax cuts, more online disclosure of spending and less duplication of services offered by local government or private firms.
Heflin said janitorial services perhaps could be outsourced, and the DPS shouldn't patrol county roads.
He and John Colyandro of the Texas Conservative Coalition Research Institute said the Legislature should be wary of accepting money from the $789 billion stimulus plan that is nearing passage in Congress.
"It ought to be handled just like the rainy day fund," Colyandro said.
Colyandro spoke favorably of one-time expenditures to fix storm damage but cautioned against accepting federal school construction money unless there's a proven need.
Lawmakers should make sure any new spending "does not create an ongoing obligation on state budget writers into the future," he said.
Heflin said one "worthy" reason to accept stimulus money would be for a Texas highway project that eases traffic congestion.
Likewise, Heflin said it's acceptable to use rainy day fund money to make sure school property tax cuts passed in 2006 aren't scaled back.
Other groups signing on to the fiscal guidelines were Texans for Fiscal Responsibility; Plano-based Free Market Foundation; Dallas-based Heritage Alliance; Texas Eagle Forum; and Americans for Prosperity. Venable heads the latter group's state office.
To see more of The Dallas Morning News, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.dallasnews.com.
Copyright (c) 2009, The Dallas Morning News
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
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