Capital Highlights: What's happening in Texas this week

House OKs $4.5 billion for teacher pay raises

The Texas House last Thursday passed two education-related bills, one that allocates $4.5 billion for teacher pay raises and another to increase the annual per-student base funding from $6,160 to $6,300 – a 2.3% increase.

The Austin American-Statesman reported the bill would create minimum salaries for teachers ranging from $35,000 to $63,000 depending on experience and level of education. It would also increase funding for special education and fine arts.

Some education advocates worry the per-student funding is insufficient to keep up with inflation, which has grown by 17% in the last four years, the Statesman reported.

The bill also creates a method to adjust the per-student funding for inflation every other year, starting in 2025.

Voters may decide fate of broadband expansion

Voters could decide whether the state should invest $5 billion to expand internet availability if a bill passed last week by the Texas House makes it through the Senate. House Bill 9, sponsored by state Rep. Trent Ashby, R-Lufkin, would create the Texas Broadband Infrastructure Fund, the Texas Tribune reported.

“This bill will have a measurable impact on each one of your districts,” Ashby said last week on the House floor. “No matter whether they be urban, suburban or rural.”

Nearly 7 million Texans do not have reliable broadband service, a fact hammered home during the pandemic, when connectivity often was crucial for schools and people trying to work from home. However, state Comptroller Glenn Hegar said in March that it would take closer to $10 billion to get all Texans connected.

The state is also expected to receive federal dollars for broadband expansion out of the infrastructure package passed by Congress in 2021, though it is unknown how much Texas will receive out of the $42.45 billion allocated for broadband expansion. The state will need to match one-fourth of whatever it receives from the federal government.

$200 annual fee for EV owners goes to Abbott

A bill requiring electrical vehicle owners to pay a $200 annual fee to the state has passed both chambers and sent to Gov. Greg Abbott, The Dallas Morning News reported. Backers of the bill say the higher vehicle registration fees are needed because EV owners don’t pay fuel taxes built into the price of fuel and used to fund the state’s highway system. The state fuel tax on both gasoline and diesel is 20 cents per gallon.

Opponents of the bill say it would slow the expansion of EVs in the state, which pollute less than vehicles using carbon-based fuels. They also note the fuel tax funds just 29% of what is spent on Texas highways.

“The primary cause of the road funding shortfall in Texas has nothing to do with EVs, but rather with the fact that Texas has not increased their gas tax since 1991,” Dylan Jaff, sustainability policy analyst with Consumer Reports, said in a memo.

Fentanyl test strip bill stalls in Senate

A bipartisan effort to decriminalize the use of fentanyl test strips has stalled in a Texas Senate committee after passing the Texas House with near unanimous report, The  Morning News reported. The bill also has the backing of Abbott.

State Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, chairs the criminal justice committee. He said some members fear making the test strips legal would lead to more people feeling confident about using dangerous drugs.

“It’s just illogical, but there’s a belief by some members that it might safeguard the use,” Whitmire said.

The testing strips are currently treated as drug paraphernalia. The strips are used to test for the presence of fentanyl in other drugs.

Bill calls for armed officers at all schools

Gary Borders is a veteran award-winning Texas journalist. Email: [email protected].