AUSTIN (Nexstar) — The Texas House of Representatives is currently discussing Senate Bill 1 - the 2026-27 general appropriations bill - and House Bill 500 - the supplemental appropriations bill. Combined, both measures will blueprint how the state spends its money (including its $24 billion surplus) in the next two years.
Entering the day Thursday, there were 393 pre-filed amendments to the budget, with more to be filed during the session.
Texas House preparing for long budget session“The members will be spending a lot of these amendments and debating the merits of it through the day,” Rahul Sreenivasan, Director of Government Performance and Fiscal Policy with Texas 2036, said. “Members are prepared for a long day, historically, they’ve gone late into the night.”
Throughout the day, Nexstar's Adam Schwager and Dylan McKim will update this article with the latest information from the State Capitol. Check back for updates.
Supplemental and Appropriation bills pass -- 3:13 a.m.
The House voted to suspend the House rules to allow the members to vote on final passage of the Appropriations bill. SB 1 passed as amended with a vote of 118-26. The Supplemental Appropriations bill passed 122-22.
Budget advances in House -- 2:57 a.m.
Just before 3 a.m. on Friday morning, the Texas House voted 118-26 to pass the budget on its second reading. The budget will need one more vote to pass out of the House. State Rep. Andy Hopper, R - Decatur, asked State Rep. Greg Bonnen, R - Friendswood, if the Texas Lottery Commission will remain defunded as it was voted in González's amended amendment at the beginning of the budget debate.
Bonnen responded saying, "We will determine in our negotiations with the Senate how that turns out."
The House is now taking up HB 500, the supplemental appropriations bill, which closes out the current biennium.
Uvalde Behavioral Health Campus -- 9:54 p.m.
Former Uvalde mayor, and current state representative, Don McLaughlin, R - Uvalde, proposed an amendment that would direct the Health and Human Services Commission to to spend $12.5 million to fund the start-up and operations of the Uvalde Behavioral Health Campus.
Gov. Greg Abbott announced the project last April saying the campus is going to have a 16-bed crisis unit for adults and a 16-bed crisis unit for children and adolescence, serving 32 counties in the surrounding area.
McLaughlin said the campus would not be able to operate a full-capacity without the additional funding, after more than $34 million of state dollars was spent to build the facility.
The campus broke ground in October and is expected to open this summer. McLaughlin's amendment passed 138-9. So far, 22 amendments have been adopted.
Thriving Texas Families Program -- 5:25 p.m.
State Rep. Tom Oliverson, R - Cypress, proposed an amendment on the floor to take away $70 million from Medicaid funding and move it to the Thriving Texas Families Program, which is designed to provide services to families experiencing unexpected pregnancies.
House Democrats questioned Oliverson about which Medicaid programs were going to be impacted, but Oliverson said it was not going to affect services. During questioning, State Rep. Chris Turner, D - Grand Prairie, suggested this is going to cause a shortfall in Medicaid funding in the next biennium. Oliverson responded saying he doesn't think that can be predicted.
The amendment passed 90 to 56.
Film Incentive Program Zeroed Out -- 2:57 p.m.
In the same amendment to State Rep. Mary González's, D-El Paso, amendment, the Texas House also voted to defund "Goal C and all associated Strategies" in the "Trusteed Programs Within the Office of Governor." Those funds include $34.4 million allocated annually to "Promote Development of Music Film TV And Multimedia Industries." This includes all the money dedicated to the “Moving Image Industry Incentive Fund.”
Growing the fund is a dedicated priority of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and drew Texas Senate testimony from Texas native Matthew McConaughey.
A list of Governor's Office budget items zeroed out by Rep. Mary González's amendment to the Texas Budget.Texas Lottery Zeroed Out -- 1:54 p.m.
At around 1:15, the House started to get to work. They started to work their way through the pre-filed bill packet.
As the Texas House started to discuss an amendment, it was stricken on a point of order because the funds would've been moved from the Trusted Programs within the Office of the Governor. Further examination of the amendment which defunded that program also showed funding completely removed from the Texas Lottery operations and from the Texas Lottery's charitable bingo operations. This comes at a time of uncertainty for the Lottery Commission, as the agency is under Sunset Review amidst a slew a controversies. If the Texas legislature does not pass a Sunset bill, the agency would cease to exist at the end of the session.
State Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin, confirmed the amendment defunded the lottery. When asked if that was the intent, she said she didn't know.
Also of note, an amendment by Howard moved $650,000 to the University of Texas at Austin to conduct a 10-year study on the prevalence of sexual assault within the state.
Budget Layout -- 12:31 p.m.
After a slew of resolutions and recognitions, the Texas House stood at ease to go over the amendments filed on the budget. Speaker Dustin Burrows set a 10:45 time to reconvene, and the House took nearly two hours to return to business, as many Representatives spent time trying to rally support for their proposed amendments.
A little before 12:30, Burrows called the House back to order and handed off the layout of SB 1 to House Appropriations Chairman Greg Bonnen. Bonnen laid out the heart of the Texas budget, reminding members that the Texas government does not deficit spend, unlike the federal government.
He highlighted several aspects of the 2026-27 budget, including increased spending for public education, border security, and property tax relief. Other highlights from the budget included increased judicial salaries, increased funding for law enforcement officers, and energy investments.
During the SB 1 bill layout, House staff were distributing new proposed amendments to members of the House.
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