Senator Eliot Shapleigh - El Paso, Texas

AUSTIN - Texas lawmakers are likely to approve a two-year state budget that reaches a record $130 billion, driven by education and human services spending, the senator who leads a budget-writing committee said Thursday.

That would be an increase from the approximately $118 billion current Texas budget.

The House and Senate must approve a budget when the Legislature convenes in January for its 140-day session. Although leading lawmakers say a high priority is overhauling the state's school finance system, they are only legally required to pass a spending bill.

"I would not be surprised if the bill that finally passes both houses, the total amount would be in the neighborhood of $130 billion," said Sen. Steve Ogden, a Bryan Republican who chairs the Senate Finance Committee.

That equates to more than $6,000 for every person living in the state, with its population of 22 million, Ogden said.

Rep. Jim Pitts, the Waxahachie Republican newly named to head the House Appropriations Committee after the previous chairman was defeated in his election, also outlined the budget process for "freshmen" lawmakers during an orientation meeting.

Although legislators may not face the nearly $10 billion budget shortfall they did two years ago, they will have difficult budget decisions to make because of mandated Medicaid spending and funding needed for the Teacher Retirement System, Pitts said.

Legislators won't know exactly how much they have available to spend until late December or early January, when Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn gives her official revenue estimate.

Her deputy comptroller, Billy Hamilton, spoke to the freshmen earlier Thursday and hinted that legislators may not find themselves in the budget pinch they did last time.

"We hope this session will be a little easier on everybody's stomachs that the last one," Hamilton said, adding the upcoming session should be a "reasonable" one financially.