Paxton gets an earful as he weighs the governor’s budget vetoes
AUSTIN — As Attorney General Ken Paxton weighs the legality of more than $230 million in line-item budget vetoes, he has received an earful from a leading Democratic lawmaker, a state agency whose funding was slashed and the office of Gov. Greg Abbott, who made the cuts.
State Comptroller Glenn Hegar in August asked Paxton to weigh in on whether Abbott acted properly when he made the line-item vetoes, which were challenged by the director of the Legislative Budget Board.
Hegar is treating the vetoes as effective unless advised otherwise, in which case he said the money can be made available immediately.
One agency that lost money, the State Securities Board, said in a brief filed with Paxton last month that the veto affecting its spending is different from Abbott’s others. That’s because the nearly $1.2 million targeted by Abbott specifically was intended by lawmakers to flow to the agency only if separate salary legislation didn’t pass — and it didn’t.
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