Director Reggie James of Consumers Union's Southwest Regional Office

What about Texas' Family Budget Crisis? (Jan. 2003).
By Reggie James

I hate to be an "I told you so," but the state is following the exact trend that we warned about at the beginning of the legislative sessions in 1999 and 2001. State finances are in crisis and consumers are being exploited in the marketplace — especially for essential goods and services. A horrible combination, particularly if you are a family living at the margins and in need of help acquiring medical care for your kids or a fair shake in the market for home or auto insurance.

Given the state leadership's pledges to balance the budget without additional revenue, there is no question but that any cuts will hurt families — especially children — given that education and health care comprise three-quarters of the budget. We will be working in support of other organizations such as the Texas Center for Public Policy Priorities and Texas Impact who are seeking real solutions to the fiscal crisis - solutions that must include additional revenue and fixing the state's antiquated and inequitable tax system.

While the state budget crisis deserves serious attention, the budget crisis of Texas families is driving Consumers Union's legislative agenda. Family finances are under assault every day by unscrupulous and predatory businesses. Enron, WorldCom, Global Crossing et al are proof that it's not about a few bad apples, its about a rotten system. The trend in deregulating markets in many cases allows and even encourages predatory and short-sighted business practices. The unregulated business free-for-alls spur stock market free falls, hurting not only consumers and investors but also the markets themselves.

While we can't resolve the national mess at the state level, we can do our best to help families get a fair deal with financial, telephone, electric, health and other services. We will monitor the Legislature's progress towards this end during the next four months and report back to you in future issues of Consumer OnLine.