By Julie Anderson | Editor, County Progress
Two years ago when Rep. Burt R. Solomons (R-Carrollton) filed House Joint Resolution 56 calling for the prohibition of unfunded mandates, Oldham County Judge Don R. Allred was there in person to offer his applause.
“This was an important piece of legislation for counties,” stressed Allred, a past president of the County Judges and Commissioners Association of Texas (CJCAT). “Unfunded mandates from state and federal governments have been the single greatest factor in the increase of county budgets over the last few years.”
House Joint Resolution 56 (HJR 56), filed on Jan. 10, 2011, called for a constitutional amendment that would bar state lawmakers from imposing any mandates on local government without paying for them. The legislative language read: “No bill enacted by the Legislature on or after January 1, 2012, requiring a local government to establish, expand or modify a duty or activity that requires the expenditure of revenue by the local government shall be effective until and unless the Legislature appropriates or otherwise provides for the payment or reimbursement, from a source other than the revenue of the local government, or the costs incurred for the biennium by the local government in complying with the requirement.”
Companion legislation was filed by Sen. John Carona (R-Dallas) in the form of Senate Joint Resolution 17. Both resolutions would have applied to counties, cities, community college districts, hospital districts, and other special districts.
In addition, House Joint Resolution 89 filed by Rep. Garnet Coleman (D-Houston) proposed an unfunded mandate amendment applied only to counties.
Both HJR 56 and HJR 89 made it to the House Calendars Committee but not to the floor, and SJR 17 did not get a committee hearing on the Senate side. Had any of these resolutions passed through the Legislature, voters would have made the final call in the November 2011 election.
If at First You Don’t Succeed…
What may be considered a defeat was actually deemed by many as a success, considering the statistics involved:
- Some 95 bi-partisan authors and co-authors supported HJR 56, only five short of the two-thirds needed for House passage of a constitutional amendment.
- The majority of Texas counties passed resolutions in support of HJR 56, resolutions which played a major role in educating lawmakers.
Legislative analysts have long suggested that some bills take multiple presentations, session after session, before garnering the needed support. As of press time committees had just been assigned, and an unfunded mandate resolution had not yet been filed.
As early as 2004, 253 counties passed resolutions decrying unfunded mandates and supporting a constitutional amendment prohibiting them. For counties and cities that are at the statutory maximum tax rate, unfunded mandates give local governments no option but to cut services for their constituents. For those who are not capped out, unfunded mandates force tax increases.
“Unfunded mandates can have a devastating impact on county budgets and can limit a county’s ability to provide essential services by diverting funds already allocated to specific programs to the mandates sent down from the state,” said CJCAT Immediate Past President and Hays County Commissioner Debbie Gonzales Ingalsbe.
Prior to 2004, the CJCAT addressed unfunded mandates in a resolution on fiscal notes with the following clause, “THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the County Judges and Commissioners Association of Texas urges the Legislature of the State of Texas, in all future legislative sessions, to expand the legislative fiscal note process to fully recognize all costs of any legislation to counties and to adopt a constitutional amendment or legislation to prohibit such unfunded and/or under-funded mandates.”
In 2004, the leadership crafted a resolution dedicated solely to the issue of unfunded mandates, which has been passed every year since by the State Association and its Regional Associations at their respective business meetings and has served as a key element of the CJCAT legislative platform. (See resolution page 17.)
“The primary legislative objective of the State Association is the prevention of unfunded mandates,” emphasized Jim Allison, general counsel to the CJCAT. “Legislators have an unending supply of ‘good ideas’ without funding. Every session, we successfully defeat numerous bills with proposed unfunded mandates. Despite our efforts, some unfunded mandates are enacted.”
The financial burdens placed upon counties by the Legislature in recent decades have become onerous for local property taxpayers, either causing local property tax hikes or reductions in services. For example, the 2001 Fair Defense Act basically doubled the price tag for appointed attorneys with the state assuming only a meager portion of the cost, meaning local property taxpayers are required to make up the difference. In 2005, Senate Bill 6 mandated counties must provide attorneys for indigent parents in CPS cases without a matching appropriation from the state to pay for the mandate.
The approximate percent of the county budget consumed by unfunded mandates will vary from 50 percent to 70 percent, Allison reported.
Unfunded mandates account for just over 50 percent of Ector County’s budget, according to a study conducted by the county auditor in 2011.
“Just to put this in context, our 2011 budget for our general fund was $43,835,737, so it is easily deduced that more than $20 million goes to unfunded mandates,” said Ector County Judge Susan Redford.
The CJCAT and its leadership team will, as always, keep vigil throughout the session with a watchful eye on any and all legislation that could result in an unfunded mandate, whether intended or unintended.
“We are going to spend most of our time making sure that the Legislature does not solve the state’s budget deficit by shifting responsibility and cost down to the counties,” said CJCAT Legislative Committee Chairman and Polk County Judge John Thompson. “All county officials should stay close to their state elected officials and make sure they know where we stand.”
One method to communicate the county message is to pass resolutions calling for the prohibition of unfunded mandates at the local level and make sure copies of these resolutions land directly in the hands of lawmakers.