Today, the Texas House added a provision to the must-pass “Fiscal Matters” bill that would automatically withdraw money from the Rainy Day Fund as new dollars become available.

This special session of the Texas legislature provides opportunities for commonsense spending reforms that were shunned during the regular session. State Rep. Kelly Hancock (R – Fort Worth) plans to offer an amendment to SB1 that would improve the state’s spending cap.

For government, transparency is an effective path to efficiency – especially when said transparency involves detailing how government is spending your money. That’s why State Rep Bill Zedler has filed legislation this special session to compel Texas school districts to post key financial information online.

Earlier this week Texas Gov. Rick Perry vetoed tax legislation for the right reason: it simply hasn’t been studied enough.

According to the House-Senate Conference Committee working on Texas’ new budget, state funding for public education will increase by $125 million in 2012-2013.

As the Texas Legislature and the budget deal seem to be breaking down over school finance, Senator Florence Shapiro (R-Plano) is going to the mat to iron out the differences and deliver what is necessary.

Having already lost once, liberals in the Senate are taking another stab at tapping the Rainy Day fund. Today the Texas Senate allowed Senator Royce West to late-file legislation that would raid the state’s Rainy Day Fund for $2 Billion.

Usually “expanding efficiency” means streamlining and saving money. When the government is involved, more often than not, the opposite is true.

There has been a great deal of Legislative attention focused on the hunt for new revenues, but almost none has been directed toward meaningful reform meant to avoid this type of shortfall in the future by limiting the state’s overspending.