Raises for state employees in new budget? Only for select law enforcement and correctional officers
A state employee union leader and a disability rights activist lambaste the budget as miserly, especially to care attendants who help elderly Texans.
Practically the only state workers who will receive pay bumps in the newly passed Texas state budget are several thousand law enforcement officers and some prison guards – just a fraction of the more than 200,000 Texans whose jobs depend on the budget.(Bob Daemmrich / Bob Daemmrich/CapitolPressPhoto)
6:30 PM on Jun 3, 2021 CDT
AUSTIN When the newly passed state budget takes effect in September, practically the only state workers who will receive pay bumps are several thousand law enforcement officers and some prison guards just a fraction of the more than 200,000 Texans whose jobs depend on the budget.
Senate Bill 321 would enroll new state workers in a cash-balance plan similar to a common 401(k) retirement account rather than the defined-benefit pension plan that current employees have.
AUSTIN Though the foster care system in Texas has been rocked by a growing shortage of beds and increasingly pointed critiques by a federal judge, leading providers are urging the GOP-led Legislature to double down on a regional privatization approach.
The private providers are advocating brisk rollout of “community-based care,” in which one non-state entity is ceded virtual control of a geographic region, even as citations and official rebukes pile up on the two nonprofits in charge of the push in San Antonio and Fort Worth.
Troubles are mounting in both cities, the only urban demonstrations so far of the community-based care model that is likely to be imposed on Dallas and Collin counties late next year assuming there are willing bidders.
Credit: Jordan Vonderhaar for The Texas Tribune
Sign up for The Brief, our daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news.
A plan to overhaul the pension for Texas’ future state employees and shore up billions of dollars in unfunded obligations owed to retirees advanced out of the Texas Senate on Wednesday.
Republican State Sen. Joan Huffman’s proposal to revamp the Texas Employees Retirement System moved forward by a 19-12 vote, despite fierce opposition from some state workers’ unions. Senate Bill 321 would enroll new state workers hired after Sept. 1, 2022 in a cash balance plan similar to a common 401(k) retirement account rather than the traditional defined benefit pension plan. The bill now heads to the Texas House for consideration.