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Perry sees riches in sale of TX lottery
Wednesday, February 07, 2007 posted 12:44 PM EST
AUSTIN - Showing a different side of himself, Texas Gov. Rick Perry made bold proposals Tuesday to spend billions of dollars
to help the uninsured and fight cancer - and to pay for it by selling the state lottery.
Perry, a conservative Republican known for his commitment to cutting property taxes and controlling spending, made the sweeping
health-care initiatives the centerpiece of his State of the State speech to the Legislature.
His past addresses to Texas lawmakers have focused on precise budget and program recommendations and pleas to repair a broken
education funding system. But with a new school finance plan in place and a record surplus, Perry this time branched out
in a big way.
"This moment in time is a unique opportunity to address great challenges and build the foundation for a future of unparalleled
prosperity," said Perry, viewed in some circles as a potential vice presidential nominee in 2008.
He proposed increased tax relief, property tax appraisal relief, increased education funding, state budgeting transparency
and more emphasis on rehabilitating nonviolent offenders. He said he agrees with Republican Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst there
should be tougher penalties for sex offenders who prey on children.
With his lottery sale proposal, Perry said he's tapping a source of funding for key programs that won't dry up or cost the
state general revenue. Perry estimated a sale price of at least $14 billion.
Perry said he'd use the proceeds to establish a $2.7 billion endowment to help more Texans get health insurance and create
a $3 billion fund for the fight against cancer. Both would continue to generate revenue, he said.
Perry also said the sale could provide more than $8 billion to be dedicated to a public education endowment, providing $800
million a year for public schools. However, the state-run lottery currently contributes $1 billion per year to public schools.
No state has sold or leased its lottery, although several are considering it. Last month, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels proposed
leasing the state lottery for 30 years to pay for scholarships aimed at keeping Indiana's top college graduates in-state.
In Texas, the lottery reported more than $3.77 billion in sales in the 2006 fiscal year, the most in its 14-year history.
Several legislative leaders were skeptical or noncommittal about Perry's lottery idea.
Republican House Speaker Tom Craddick, who controls the House agenda and would be key to passing the legislation, wouldn't
say whether he agreed with the plan.
"I'm certainly in favor of cancer research," Craddick said. "I don't know whether selling the lottery is what we need to
do or not."
Sen. Steve Ogden of Bryan, the Republican chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, doubted that the lottery would sell for
as much as the governor thought.
"And if it really is $14 billion, then I think it's worth looking at," Ogden said. "It's got a lot of potential warts on
it, but $14 billion is far more than I thought that lottery was worth."
In other parts of his speech, Perry repeated his request for $100 million in state money for border security and said Congress
should pass a guest worker program for legal immigrants.
He complained about what he said were unfair federal actions or inaction in Washington on health-care funding, border security
and environmental regulations.
And, he defended his executive order making Texas the first state in the nation to require girls to get a vaccine that prevents
the spread of the virus that is the leading cause of cervical cancer.
He has come under fire from some fellow conservatives who say lawmakers should have been allowed to air the issue.
Critics say the vaccine requirement interferes with parental decisions.
"If I err, I'm going to err on the side of protecting life," Perry said.
Promoting his comprehensive cancer fight initiative, Perry said while there are hundreds of thousands of cancer survivors
in the state, there will be 95,000 Texans diagnosed with the disease this year and 34,000 who will lose the fight.
"These people are our neighbors, our colleagues, our co-workers, our husbands, our wives, our precious children," he said.
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