gan s plans could gouge state budget, Clements says By Stewart Davis OAL LAS NEWS Austin BUTC41.4 0! The News mAy j5 .61 AUSTIN — Reagan administration cuts in federal aid will knock a $305 mil- lion hole in the state budget in 1982 and again in 1983, Gov. Bill Clements said Thursday. "Assuming the budget is adop1ed as suggested, this is the case, hut a lot will happen from now until the budget takes place," Clements said. admitting the fig- ures are based on the assumption that the Reagan budget cuts will be adopted by Congress. The switch from specific grant pro- grams to block grants may save as much as 20 percent of the threatened funds through efficiencies and dismantling bu- reaucratic personnel who monitor the categorical grant programs. exeuctive budget director Paul Wrotentiery said. STATE LAWMAKERS have written their $26.6 billion 2-year budgets on the assunfption that the S610 million in fed- eral aid would be forthcoming, Wroten- bery said. Wrotenbery's figures show, however, that the state spent $4.9 billion in appro- priated funds in 1980-81 and is cOunting on $5.25 billion in the 1982-83 slate budget. The projected funds available under projections of the Reagan cuts total only $4.64 . billion, Wrotenbery said. This leaves the state with a $610 million short- fall for the 2-year budget cycle, unless lawmakers slice that amount from the budget in anticipation of the Reagan pro- gram's passage. Clements said he thinks the state law- makers must consider the impact of the threatened reductions in federal aid dur- ing compromise negotiations about the state budget. "THE TEAM IN THE House and Senate are just going to have to take this into United Prcss International Bill Clements says "a lot will happen from now until the (na- tional) budget takes place." consideration," Clements said. Each house has passed its version of a state budget, and the threatened drop in federal aid would have to be taken into account during conference committee negotiations to reach a compromise budget that both houses would endorse. "It's not going to drop like a hatchet," Wrotenbery said. The Reagan adminis- tration reductions in aid would occur in varying amounts and at various times during the months between now and the convening of the 1983 Texas Legislature, he said. Under existing law, the governor would allocate the block grants that re- place the categorical grant programs being shelved by the Reagan aclministra- 'a for the tent FT. WORTH s:r., MAY 1 4 A lot of good men who have served our country have not been too good to sleep in tents. So tents are good enough for some men serving time in prison. So says Gov. Bill Clements. Score one for the governor. What the governor proposes to do is move about 1,500 state prisoners into tents by July to ease over- crowding. A federal judge has said in no uncertain terms that the state must find ways to keep inmates from sleeping on prison floors, as some now do. No problem, said the governor. Simply erect tents, put cots in them, place w oo- den floors in them and, shazam, instant inmate quarters. The tents will be placed in secure areas at existing prisons. "If tents are good enough for our Army, for our Marines and for our National Guard, I see no reason why they aren't good enough for people in our prisons," Clements said. flec not 1-.dve said it better. The tents will not be used forever, only until the state can build three new emergency prison units to hold the inmate overflow. That should be this fall. tion. Wrotenbery said. Lawmakers proba- bly will want to insert some language into the state budget to permit legislative leaders to give some advice in the alloca- tion process, he said. Here is how Wrotenbery calculated the expected cuts: • $320 million less in federal funds re- ceived by state agencies by legislative ap- propriation. N $80 million in federal funds re- ceived directly by state agencies or which affect state agencies, but are be- yond legislative appropriation. ▪ $188 million in direct assistance to local governments. The total of these cuts is $588 million. A more detailed breakdown of the ex- pected cuts show highway funds down $20 million; health funds, down $16 mil- lion; Medicaid, up $15 million; other human resources, down $79 million; pub- lic school aid, down $124 million and other programs subject to appropriation, down $96 million. EXPECTED FUNDS CUTS beyond leg- islative purview include sewage treat- ment construction grants, down S142 mil- lion, food stamps, up $145 million; aid to college students, up Si million; college research, down $5 million; public school impact aid, down $23 million, and other, down $56 million. Expected cuts in direct assistance 'to local governments include employment and training programs, down SIll mil- lion; economic and re,:ional develop- ment. down SlY million: urban develop: ment, down S.32 million, and mass trancit, down $26 million. Wrotenbery predicted the most diffi- cult administrative problem in coping with the Reagan cuts would he the means of funneling local assistance through the state to the cities, counties and special districts. No governmental structure ex- ists for such a money flow, he said. Prison overcrowding will also be relieved by paroling some prisoners to halfway houses, where they will receive help in readjusting to society. Another beauty of the tent plan is that Clements and Texas Attorney General Mark White see eye-to- eye on the proposal. The two state officials have had some disagreement recently about how the state should respond to the federal judge's ruling that Texas prisons be dramatically improved. Clements said he thinks the federal judge and the U. S. Justice Department, which joined some in- mates in the lawsuit against the state prison system, will agree the tent program is a reasonable solution under the circumstances. We should think so. After all, the state does have to have some time to provide more permanent prison structures. The Legislature moved quickly to finance them and prison officials have said the three emergency units can be in place by this fall. That is moving plenty fast, in our view. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with tents. After all, they have gotten our military personnel through many a battle and a few wars. So they should fill the bill perfectly for a few hundred prisoners for a few months.