Recovery and Reinvestment in Texas
Federal economic recovery legislation working in Texas
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) is making a vital difference in Texas. Potentially injecting as much as $38 billion into the Texas economy, the ARRA temporarily increases grants to federal, state, or local government agencies, along with making tax cuts or tax credits available to families and businesses. About $16 billion of Texas’ Recovery Act funding had to be appropriated by the legislature through the state budget or required the legislature to change state law—for example, $555 million that was contingent on modernizing the state’s Unemployment Insurance system.
See a larger version of this graphic.
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Texas legislators appropriated $14 billion of federal ARRA funds through the 2009 supplemental spending bill (H.B. 4586) and the general appropriations act for 2010-11 (S.B. 1, Article XII). Of this $14 billion, 56 percent will be used for Medicaid and public education to avoid or reduce cuts by taking the place of General Revenue that would otherwise have been needed for those areas. The other 44 percent, about $6.3 billion, will pay for highways, child care, Workforce Investment Act services (or additional job training), energy programs, housing, water/wastewater projects, and other improvements. Some of these, particularly job training, energy conservation, and housing, are areas of the budget in which Texas has not traditionally invested much General Revenue, and the higher funding levels for these areas will not be continued once ARRA funds are exhausted. Most of the ARRA funds will be distributed to state agencies, and in some cases to local governments such as school districts, cities, and counties, through existing formulas.
Without ARRA funds to the states, Texas would probably have used some of its Rainy Day Fund to cover some of the General Revenue lost to the economic recession, but not all of it. Instead, without ARRA funds, the Texas budget would have made larger cuts to Medicaid and education than it did, and things like the teacher pay raise would not have been funded.
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
Select CPPP Publications
- Update on the ARRA Expansion of the Texas Weatherization Assistance Program
- A One-Year Anniversary Report on ARRA and Jobs
- Economic Recovery Act Keeping 640,000 Texans Out of Poverty
- Recovery Act State Budget Update
- It's Getting Hot in Here
- ARRA and Texas Fact Sheet
- Federal Recovery Legislation and Texas
- The Texas Recovery Plan
- Building Texas: The 2010-2011 State Budget
Federal Resources
- Recovery.gov
- Guide to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (.PDF file, prepared by the Office of Congressman Lloyd Doggett)
- Following the Money: GAO's Oversight of the Recovery Act (Texas, September 23, 2009)
State Resources
- Perfecting the Formula: Effective Strategies = Educational Success (The National Governors Association, Center for Best Practices, James B. Hunt, Jr. Institute for Educational and Policy)
- American Recovery and Reinvestment Act: A Texas Eye on the Dollars (Comptroller Recovery Website)
- Texas Stimulus Fund (Texas House Select Committee on Federal Economic Stabilization Funding)
- ARRA Highway Projects (Texas Department of Transportation)
- Texas Commission on the Arts Seeks Funding from the National Endowment for the Arts: The Arts & the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Texas Commission on the Arts)
- Guidelines for Stimulus Funds Use from the Texas Education Agency
- "Shovel-Ready" Local Projects Submitted by Texas Mayors for the 2008 Conference of Mayors Report
- Governor's Executive Order Requiring ARRA Reporting
Nonprofit Resources
- What Can Nonprofits Look Forward to in the Economic Stimulus Bill (Texas Association of Nonprofit Organizations)