State Aims to Curb Misuse of Fees
Fees collected by the state sometimes aren't used as they were intended, and some legislators are working to fix that. Photo by Liang Shi/KUT News.Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Today at the State Capitol, lawmakers wrapped up three days of hearings on the use and misuse of money collected from fees across Texas. As KUT’s Mose Buchele reports for StateImpact Texas, they’re exploring ways to reform how the money gets spent.
State Agencies charge fees on all sorts of things, car registration, phone service, utility bill payments. All that money adds up, but it doesn’t always go where it’s supposed to. Some of it is diverted to pay for other state programs, and a lot more is simply stored up by the state, kind of like an unofficial savings account. It’s used to show that the budget balances at the end of every legislative session.
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