HEGAR PROJECTS CRE SHORTFALL OF $4.6-BILLION

  

Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar has revised the Certification Revenue Estimate and now projects a shortfall of nearly $4.6-billion to end fiscal 2021.

The $4.58-billion shortfall, which Hegar attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic and recent volatility in oil prices, is a decrease from the $2.89 billion positive year-end balance originally projected in the October 2019 CRE.

In a July 20 letter to state leadership, Hegar said the state will have $110.2 billion in General Revenue-related (GR-R) funds available for general-purpose spending for the 2020-21 biennium, down from a projected $121.7 billion in the October 2019 CRE.

The ending balance does not include the impact of instructions from state leadership directing most agencies to reduce their spending by 5 percent of 2020-21 GR-R appropriations.