Senator Eliot Shapleigh - El Paso, Texas

Texas Tech Medical School rises out of the ground, a dream come true

AUSTIN - A new Senate budget for 2008-2009 unveiled by Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst Tuesday includes $43 million for El Paso’s medical school.

The announcement delighted El Paso leaders.

“Our number one goal for El Paso is to fully fund the $43.8 million needed for 1st and 2nd year faculty. With the full amount in the base bill, we're off to a great start," said Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso, a longtime champion of the medical school.

Shapleigh said the medical school will serve as a cornerstone of renewed economic development, health and opportunity for the El Paso community.

“With vision, leadership, and resources, El Paso will be the Capitol of Hispanic Health,” Shapleigh said. “Our city has the opportunity to lead the nation as the first medical center to focus on education, research, and care focused on the opportunities and challenges unique to Hispanics in the United States.”

Dewhurst said the two-year Legislative Budget Board budget outlined in Senate Bill 1 totals $147.6 billion and funds essential services. It increases general revenue by $4.6 billion. Dewhurst said a separate bill would deliver $14.2 billion in local school property tax cuts passed by the Legislature last spring.

“Four years ago we faced a $10 billion budget deficit that threatened to cripple the state's ability to provide essential services,” Dewhurst said. “By keeping taxes low, holding the line on state spending and passing conservative budgets, we helped generate billions in new revenue. Our conservative fiscal policies are working and there's no reason to change course now.”

Dewhurst was joined at a press conference by House Speaker Tom Craddick, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Steve Ogden, R-Bryan, and Vice Chair Senator Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo.

“Thanks to fiscal discipline, new jobs and a robust economy, Texas has gone from a $10 billion deficit to $14.3 billion in new money - a $24.3 billion upswing,” Craddick said.

“I am looking forward to continuing this success by working with the Lieutenant Governor, the Senate and the House to make investments in our most critical needs and possibly look at further tax relief.”

Dewhurst said his top priority in the 2008-09 state budget was to return taxpayers' money to hardworking Texas families. To pay for the $14.2 billion in local school property tax cuts, Dewhurst proposes using a portion of new available state revenue along with revenue from tax reform passed last spring to provide a net tax cut of over $6 billion for the biennium.

Dewhurst said he would also ask the Legislature to set aside at least $3 billion in new revenue to continue local school property tax cuts in 2010-11. “Cutting local school property taxes isn't just good fiscal policy, it's keeping the commitment we made to taxpayers. When we're blessed with billions in new revenue, we should return as much money as possible to Texas taxpayers," Dewhurst said.