AUSTIN — It was sunny and breezy at the Texas Capitol on Wednesday morning, picture perfect for about 300 people gathered outside to protest cuts to health care services the Legislature is considering to offset a revenue shortfall of up to $27 billion.

Dan Stultz, president and CEO of the Texas Hospital Association, which represents 480 hospitals, or 85 percent of all hospitals in the state, went straight to his point, particularly regarding the proposed cuts to the Medicaid reimbursement rates.

“Deep cuts to doctors and hospitals would have serious consequences,” Stultz told the vocal crowd, many of whom were carrying placards with a variety of messages such as “kids no cuts,” “find the funds,” and “Medicaid matters.”

Two hours later at the same location, a much larger group of about 700 — mainly school superintendents and administrators from across the state — gathered to protest proposed cuts to public education funding.

“Texas education is certainly at a crisis point,” Faye Beaulieu, a member of the Board of Trustees at the Hurst-Euless-Bedford Independent School District in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, told the crowd.

“We know pink slips are not issued at the Capitol, but we know that each pink slip has a face, and we see those faces at the post office and at the store,” Beaulieu said in reference to the thousands of teachers and other education employees expected to be laid off if the Legislature approves an austere budget under consideration.

Rallies and protests like the two on Wednesday are common every two years when the Legislature is in session. But as the lawmakers tackle what is expected to be the largest revenue shortfall in state history and face growing pressure to tap into the $8.2 billion state reserve fund, better known as the Rainy Day Fund, such gatherings have become larger, louder and more frequent.

Earlier this month, for example, a weekend rally drew more than 11,000 people from across the state to protest the proposed spending cuts to public education. Two days later, a smaller but still significant crowd held another rally to voice the same concerns.

More of those rallies are expected today and Friday as the House of Representatives starts tackling its budget bill, as well as a proposal that would allow the Legislature to tap into the Rainy Day Fund to cover a $4 billion hole in the current fiscal year ending Aug. 31.

Lawmakers say they take those rallies and protests into consideration when they tackle the budget and other issues impacting the state’s 25 million residents.

“It makes me stop and think very hard about the decisions we’re about to make,” said Rep. Drew Darby, R-San Angelo, co-author of House Bill 275, which would authorize the Legislature to withdraw $3.2 billion from the Rainy Day Fund to cover the hole for the current fiscal year.

But in the end, they must do what the voters elected them to do, according to Darby, Reps. John Smithee and Four Price, both Amarillo Republicans, Sen. Robert Duncan, R-Lubbock, and other lawmakers.

Equally important, the bills the House must vote on are just the beginning of a long process, Darby and Duncan emphasized in separate interviews.

“It’s not a finished product,” Darby said, referring to the fact that after leaving the House, the chamber’s budget bill still must go to the Senate and that the upper chamber has its own budget bill.

“It’s a work in progress,” he said. “Don’t panic. Don’t think this is as good it gets. It’ll get better.”

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