An appropriations act is a law that authorizes the expenditure of government funds, setting money aside for specific expenses.
In Texas, the Legislature usually passes a single General Appropriations Act every two years. That’s because government finances in Texas operate on a two-year cycle known as a biennium. However, the Texas Legislature may deviate from the two-year appropriations cycle with other types of spending bills, such as emergency, supplemental and deficiency appropriations.
Before 1951, the Legislature passed multiple spending bills each two-year legislative cycle, rather than a single General Appropriations Act.
Spending Limits
The Texas Constitution limits the amount of money appropriated by the legislature in its biennial appropriations act. The appropriation may not exceed the cash and anticipated revenue that the Comptroller expects the state to have in the coming biennium.
In other words, the legislature cannot spend more money than it receives. This is a key difference between the state government and the federal government, which can spend in excess of its revenue by borrowing money through the issuance of Treasury bonds.
The restriction on spending limits can be overridden by the Texas Legislature “in the case of emergency and imperative public necessity and with a four-fifths vote of the total membership of each House,” according to the state constitution.
Moreover, a section of state law also limits the budget growth from one biennium to the next, linking it to the economic growth of the state: “The rate of growth of appropriations in a biennium from state tax revenues not dedicated by the constitution may not exceed the estimated rate of growth of the state’s economy” (Government Code sec. 316.001).
The state constitution also prohibits appropriations for a period longer than two years: “No money shall be drawn from the Treasury but in pursuance of specific appropriations made by law; nor shall any appropriation of money be made for a longer term than two years” (Art. 8 Sec. 6).
Legislative Process
Since the late 1980s the General Appropriations Act in Texas almost always goes by the bill number SB 1 or HB 1, alternating between a Senate designation and a House designation every session.
Line Item Veto
Under the Texas Constitution, an appropriations bill passed by the legislature may be vetoed by the governor. The Texas governor may also block a single item of a spending bill, which is called a line-item veto. A governor’s line item veto may be overridden by a two-thirds vote of each chamber of the legislature, if it is in session.
Recent Appropriations Acts
A copy of the General Appropriations Act passed in 2019, which covered the fiscal years 2020 and 2021, can be found here (PDF, 946 pages). The Appropriations Act passed in 2021, which covers the 2021-2022 biennium, can be found here (PDF, 972 pages).
