Lieutenant Governor Bill Ratliff outlined the 77th Texas Legislature’s three top issues at NHA’s April membership luncheon.
He identified the top issues as: redistricting, health insurance for teachers and the appropriations bill. Regarding redistricting, the Governor noted, “I think we’ll get the vast majority of the work done (during the regular session), but it will
be intense at times.” He predicted a state teacher insurance plan will be created, which will provide insurance to school districts. The districts will have the option to join the plan, in which the state will pay for some of the costs. He said there are currently seven different plans being proposed. Ratliff stated that 40 percent of teachers work districts without insurance or they pay pre-1\ns of $500 each month. When discussing the appropriations bill, Ratliff explained that the bill sets priorities for the state, and this is a tight budget session. He focused on the state’s pay scale, saying that Texas is “way behind”. The results are high turnover and high costs for the state.
According to Ratliff, Child Protective Services (CPS) has a turnover rate of 40 percent and it takes six months to train employees for these positions. Likewise, Mental Health and Mental Retardation’s (MHMR) turnover rate is 42 percent.
There are also 2,500 vacant prison guard positions, and “TNRCC and TxDOT can’t keep anyone (engineers) with technical skills. They train them for a few years and they are snatched away by the private sector,” Ratliff said. When asked about how the recent tax cut relates to the current tight budget, the Lt. Governor replied, “If we hadn’t had the tax cut, it (money) would have been spent. Chances are, it would have been spread throughout the bud get, not just in the areas we’re having problems with now.” He noted that the tax cut gave back only $1 billion, compared with the total budget of $111 billion.
