THURSDAY NEWS LINKS:

Texas House Votes To Dip Into “Rainy Day Fund” to Finance New Water Programs

Posted byHoumanitarian

Matthew Tresaugue, Houston Chronicle
The Texas House on Wednesday voted overwhelmingly to create a revolving, low-interest loan program to help finance a new round of reservoirs, pipelines and other water-supply projects for the drought-stricken state.

Lawmakers approved House Bill 4 on a 146-2 vote, but left the question of how much seed money to provide the program for another day.

Water plan Texas 03-38-13
Projected urban growth is seen as the biggest factor in future Texas water concerns.
(Image 2012 Texas Water Plan)

State Rep. Allan Ritter, a Nederland Republican who filed the bill, said a $2 billion capitalization could finance the state’s entire longrange water plan, which identifies 562 projects over the next half-century to satisfy the demands of a rapidly growing population.

The startup money would come from the state’s unencumbered Rainy Day Fund under separate legislation filed by Ritter. His HB 11 is pending in a House subcommittee on budget transparency and reform.

Ritter said the new fund could leverage $27 billion over the next 50 years for water-related infrastructure. The loan program, as designed, would allow the state to continue lending money for projects as earlier loans are paid back.

“This will work,” Ritter told House members to close a four-hour debate.

Other lawmakers have proposed starting the program with a smaller amount, while the conservative Texas Public Policy Foundation and Empower Texans group have urged them to not tap the Rainy Day Fund, which could hold about $12 billion by the end of the 2014-2015 budget cycle.

“If water is important enough to fund, then we should do it out of the general fund,” said Rep. Van Taylor, R-Plano, who unsuccessfully pushed an amendment to block the use of the fund for the loan program.
(Read more of this story at Chron.com) 

RELATED STORIES:
• Texas House Passes Water Bill (Texas Tribune)
• House passes legislation aiming to improve state’s water supply (Austin Statesman)
• Waterless Fracking Makes Headway in Texas, Slowly (Texas Tribune)

LOCAL AREA HEADLINES:

STATE, NATION & WORLD: