Senator Eliot Shapleigh - El Paso, Texas

 AUSTIN — Despite a high-profile push to spend dedicated fees and taxes for their intended purposes, more money collected for everything from clean air to trauma care is instead being set aside to balance and cushion the state's overall budget.

More than $3 billion in general-revenue dedicated accounts will go unspent for their specified purposes in the current 2007-09 budget period — including balances that have built up over time, plus expected revenue — compared with nearly $2.65 billion in the previous budget cycle.

Lawmakers can spend an amount equal to those account balances on other items or use the money as a budgetary pad, an expert said.

"We're basically borrowing from ourselves. It's like using the rent money to pay the food bill. Everything is fine, unless the rent comes due," said Dale Craymer, chief economist of the Texas Taxpayers and Research Association, who has worked for a state comptroller, two governors and as the Texas House fiscal analyst. "If you don't spend the dedicated money, then that gives you more money you can spend for discretionary purposes."

More than 200 such accounts collect money dedicated to particular purposes. In some cases, lawmakers appropriate more money than expected in fees and in others, less. It's largely unappropriated balances, built up over time, that give them the $3 billion available to spend on other things.

Besides the general-revenue funds, the state's gas-tax-fueled highway fund will see more money diverted from road-building in the current budget — $1.57 billion, compared with $1.33 billion last time. That's on top of the one-fourth of state gas-tax money sent to public education.

Transportation is on the front-burner because of a hot battle over the state's push for toll roads as the gas tax fails to keep up with projected road needs, a debate that will continue Tuesday at a joint meeting of the Senate's finance and transportation committees. The transportation panel's chairman, Sen. John Carona, R-Dallas, talks often of "ceasing the practice by the Legislature of raiding" the highway fund.

Gov. Rick Perry, who led last year's call to spend dedicated fees for their intended purpose or stop collecting them, is still concerned about highway fund diversions and the larger dedicated-fund issue, said spokesman Robert Black.

"The governor has said for quite some time now the Legislature needs to make their budgeting process transparent, and they need to square up with Texans," Black said.

Rep. Warren Chisum, R-Pampa, chairman of the budget-writing House Appropriations Committee, argued that lawmakers don't spend dedicated funds on other programs "but sometimes we don't spend all the dedicated funds, just because the revenue source raises more money than is appropriate to spend."

While lawmakers can spend an amount equal to the unspent balances, Chisum said, "The fund still has the money. We put the money back. It's just a bookkeeping deal."

Lawmakers did make progress last year on several fronts to devote dedicated fees to their intended purposes.

Among them, money for specialty license plates was allocated as advertised; more was spent from the System Benefit Fund, financed by a utility fee, to help low-income people with electric bills; and more funding than last time went to clean air, emissions reduction and trauma care programs that have dedicated fees.

Lawmakers also agreed to eliminate a phone tax that no longer goes for its original purpose, and they spent more of a sporting goods sales tax on what it was meant to fund: parks.

Still, a slightly larger percentage of the accounts remained unspent for their dedicated purposes in the current budget — 34.87 percent of $8.8 billion in estimated revenues and balances, compared with almost 34.8 percent of $7.6 billion last time.

Parks advocates, who say the entire take from the sporting goods tax should be used to address pressing needs, aren't satisfied that just $112 million of $229 million expected to be collected over the next two years is going to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission and Texas Historical Commission.

Some other areas, while getting more money, will still have a lot of fees unspent — $199 million in the trauma care fund, financed by driver fines; $561 million in the System Benefit Fund; $522 million in the emissions reduction program, financed by commercial vehicle and other fees; and $111 million in the clean air fund, which gets money from the motor vehicle inspection fee and air pollution fees.

"If we aren't able to clear the air, not only will your health suffer, but the economies of cities like Houston and Dallas are negatively impacted because new companies won't move to cities that are highly polluted," said Tom Smith of Public Citizen.

Cyrus Reed, of the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club, added, "This legislative session, they did a much better job of making sure that revenues that were coming in ... (for air quality) were actually spent on their intended benefits. But that still leaves a significant amount of monies ... not being spent on their intended purpose."

John Hawkins of the Texas Hospital Association said the trauma care money "could actually be used immediately." People who come to hospitals and can't pay still will get care, but those costs will show up in pricier health care and public hospitals' taxes, he said.

Even dedicated accounts spent as intended aren't necessarily safe from future legislatures, said Rep. Mark Strama, D-Austin, who last year unsuccessfully tried to require license plate funds to always be spent on their intended purpose after hearing from constituents about the Animal-Friendly plates, whose proceeds are dedicated to spay-and-neuter programs.

"It would have been easy to (make the commitment) this year," Strama said, because lawmakers did spend the license plate money as advertised this time. "As a practical matter, you can't expect people to keep paying extra to support a cause if they're not actually supporting the cause when they pay extra, and as a matter of principle, we ought to do what we say we're going to do."