State Rep. Rob Orr, R-Burleson, introduced two bills to the House Appropriations Committee that could add several million dollars to the public schools budget over the next two years.

HB 2646 proposes allowing the School Land Board to transfer at least half of the net revenue it collects from a land trust it oversees to theAvailable School Fund (ASF), an endowment that puts money directly into public schools in Texas. Orr said that pot of money has risen to more than $2.5 billion in market value and contains more than $1 billion in cash. If that trend continues, the fund could supply the state with an additional $500 million in the next biennium.

“I think it’s irresponsible to have that much cash sitting around when our public schools need that money,” Orr said.

Getting this measure to pass requires companion legislation, so Orr is also sponsoring HJR 109, a constitutional amendment that would allow the General Land Office, which oversees land that belongs to the Permanent School Fund, to distribute revenue directly to the ASF. The resolution would be placed before voters during the Nov. 8 election.

Lawmakers from both parties expressed surprise and gratitude.

“I want to get on my knees and thank Rep. Orr for finding this source of money,” said state Rep. Ruth McClendon, D-San Antonio.

“I feel happy we’ve discovered this cookie jar, but also sad that we’re just learning about it. It makes me believe there’s something else out there. We just haven’t dug deep enough,” said state Rep. Angie Chen Button, R-Garland.

State Rep. Warren Chisum, R-Pampa, expressed some caution because he said the School Land Board has made sound investments with the fund.

“Why should anybody be sitting with a billion in cash when we’re taking it from everybody else, when schools are suffering and nursing homes are closing?” state Rep. Sylvester Turner, D-Houston, responded. “Nothing should be left on the table as if it should be protected.”

State Rep. John Otto, R-Dayton, said so far he supports the proposal because it does not disturb the fund’s corpus, the principal amount of the trust.

“If we take the [principal] — that’s one-time money that may remove a future funding stream. I think it’s not unreasonable to ask for one half of the earnings and allow the [principal] to grow and also identify an ongoing source of revenue,” Otto said.

State Rep. Doug Miller, R-New Braunfels, tried to sum up the policy question before him using a boat metaphor.

“We have this cash that we’ve received from income,” he said. “Do we spend the money? We got a boat and the boat’s sinking. Do we spend the money on repairing the boat? Or do we save the money to invest in a new boat in the future?”

Orr responded by saying HB 2646 and HJR 109 would be a “win-win” for the state.

“We’re able to fix the boat, but we’re also building the funds for the new boat down the line,” he told Miller.

House Appropriations Chair Jim Pitts said the committee will vote on the bills next week.

article by: Thanh Tan

photo illustration by: Todd Wiseman

Gov. Rick Perry has called lawmakers back for a 30-day special session that opened May 31.

“The governor said he thought we would look back and this would be one of the most successful sessions we have had for the state of Texas,” Orr said. “It was for me.”

With a supermajority in the House, a decisive majority in the Senate and a Republican governor, the state’s GOP passed legislation addressing some of it’s party’s top priorities. Twelve of the 14 bills pursued by Orr have either been signed into law, sent to the governor’s desk for signature or will result in an election proposition.

“It just goes to show when you have a Republican supermajority what you can get done,” Orr said.

The Texas Conservative Coalition, of which Orr is a member, passed its priority items of balancing the state budget without a tax increase, improving election integrity and further securing the border. It also pledged to cut taxes and pass legislation that would limit federal intrusion into the lives of Texans.

“We said the two biggest items were going to be redistricting and the budget,” Orr said. “We passed redistricting maps for the House and Senate, working diligently to keep Johnson County whole. The budget is balanced, it did not raise taxes and we reserved much of the Rainy Day Fund.”

Lawmakers approved a $4 billion expenditure of the Rainy Day Fund, also known as the economic stabilization fund, Orr said. Cuts to education were dropped from $9.8 billion to $4 billion, he added.

“I visited with our local superintendents and they felt if we could get to $4 billion they could budget and work through the cuts,” Orr said. “We did the best we could with what we had to work with.”

Although, some Democratic lawmakers like Sen. Wendy Davis, representing a Fort Worth district that extends south to the Tarrant County line in Burleson, suggest by making deep cuts to education the tax increase will come from individual school districts.

HJR 109, by Orr, would provide as much as $500 million in funding for public schools if approved as a constitutional amendment by voters this fall.

“It is the biggest thing I’ve done since I’ve been in the legislature,” Orr said.

HB 367, by Orr, with support from lawmakers in Johnson and Tarrant counties, designated State Highway 121 as the Chisholm Trail Parkway from downtown Fort Worth to Cleburne.

“That is a road we’ve been trying to build for the past 40 years,” Orr said. “I think it is going to open the whole western area of Johnson County.”

The roadway will provide an alternative, more direct route from Cleburne to Fort Worth, and it could provide a “huge economic engine” for land within the Joshua ISD, Orr said.

HB 479, by Orr, was a bill filed on behalf of Bosque County. It will allow economic development corporations in neighboring towns to have joint meetings in counties of less than 50,000 population. The bill has not yet been signed into law.

HB 645, by Orr, would allow chief executives of charitable organizations to file ad valorem taxation based upon the entity, instead of the current practice of the chief executive having to file under their personal identification numbers. The bill has not yet been signed into law. The idea for the bill was brought to Orr by Robert Stewart, the president of Grandview Bank.

“He brought a good idea that made the state better,” Orr said.

HB 1456, by Orr, would facilitate quicker release of lien and payment to subcontractors. The bill has not yet been signed into law.

HB 2872, by Orr, eases some restrictions on the sale of certain motor vehicles at shows or exhibitions. The bill has not yet been signed into law.

He had six other bills that were amended and rolled into other legislation that went to the governor’s desk.

“It was the most success I’ve had in getting bills passed into law,” Orr said.

Among those bills was one that could provide some tools to the city of Joshua in its battle with the Johnson County Emergency Services District. It restricts the ESD board from issuing a budget until an audit has been filed, he said. If an audit is not performed by the state deadline, the bill would remove the president and treasurer of the board.

“I’m personally excited that we were able to get as much done on the issue as we did,” Orr said.

He does not anticipate filing further legislation in the special session, and it would only be accepted if it were to be identified by the governor as a special session item.

- Burleson Star