Texas Office of the Governor, Division of Budget and Planning:

An Inventory of Governor's Correspondence at the Texas State Archives, 1983, 1987-1990

Agency History

In 1967, the 60th Texas Legislature, through House Bill 276, created legislation designating the Governor as the Chief Planning Officer of the state. The Division of Planning Coordination was created and charged with assisting the Governor in his planning activities and coordinating a comprehensive state planning and policy development process. The Division provided planning and technical assistance to state agencies, regional councils of government, and local governments. Responsibilities include or have included providing staff support to the Governor, and interagency councils and task forces created by the Governor, coordinating activities of planning councils, reviewing and commenting on grant applications for federal funds and state plans requiring federal assistance, coordinating and serving as a liaison for metropolitan and regional councils of government and state agencies, providing financial and technical assistance to regional councils, administering the State Planning Assistance Grant Program, and providing legislative and policy support.

In 1976, the Division was consolidated with the Governor's Budget Office and renamed the Governor's Budget and Planning Office. In addition to its planning duties, budget responsibilities by this Office include assisting in the preparation of budget recommendations to the legislature, issuing budget instructions to state agencies, conducting joint hearings with the Legislative Budget Board staff, informing the Governor of the fiscal outlook, and assisting in the analysis of agencies requests for emergency funds. The Budget and Planning programs are each administered by their own director.

The Budget and Planning Office, through its state and regional planning assistance programs, coordinates several federal grant programs on state and regional levels. Several state agencies, through interdepartmental contracts, carry out various aspects of some of these programs. Federal grants are issued to the state or regional planning associations -- usually regional councils of government. The Budget and Planning Office has oversight responsibility for these councils. Regional councils of government are associations of local governments, organized and governed by elected local officials. They serve as multipurpose planning agencies for multicounty state planning regions. The councils are the focal point for various state and federal planning and development programs. They provide technical assistance, service, or training to member governments. They also review and comment on local government applications to federal grant programs, to determine if the proposed project is consistent with regional plans or policies. A major portion of their funds are federal, with state and local governments providing the rest.

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Scope and Contents

The records include copies of executive proclamations, orders, and correspondence of Texas Governor William P. Clements, Jr. The correspondence includes attachments, memos, and drafts of replies prepared for the governor's signature. The records cover a wide variety of subjects requiring the governor's personal attention. These records were kept as a file copy by the Office of Budget and Planning. During the years of these records the Office of Budget and Planning was first headed by Robert E. Davis and later by Sheila Beckett.

The executive proclamations and executive orders, a single folder of each, consist of xerographic copies dating from 1987-1990. The proclamations include calls for legislative special sessions, vetoes of bills, line item vetoes on an appropriations bill, and emergency appropriations for state agencies. Executive orders were used to establish planning committees and task forces, designate the observance of special events, honor individuals, and transfer funds and land held in trust by the State of Texas for the Alabama-Coushatta Indians over to the federal government.

The bulk of the records consist of correspondence that received Governor Clements' attention and/or signature from February 1987 to November 1990. Copies of the outgoing letters which were prepared for the governor's signature are attached to the incoming original correspondence to which there were replies. Along with the correspondence are attachments and memos prepared by the governor's staff. These records were filed in folders marked “C” Correspondence indicating they had received Governor Clements' attention. The correspondents include legislators, congressmen, governors, federal and state agency officials, and private citizens.

The federal agencies and officials among the correspondents include the Environmental Protection Agency, Federal Railroad Administration, Department of Commerce, Department of Labor, U.S. Army, and the Secretaries of Labor, Interior and Energy. Topics with these agencies include the superconducting super collider, funds for oil exploration and research, the Fair Labor and Standards Act, high speed rail, and offshore oil drilling.

Correspondence with Texas state agencies include the Board of Education, Comptroller of Public Accounts, Employment Commission, Department of Human Services, and Department of Commerce and covers such topics as state budget appropriations, state lottery, tax increases, teacher appraisal, the governor's veto of items in the budget, public school finance, water pollution, funds for job search assistance, adult literacy, and management audits. Administrative correspondence with state agencies needing the governor's signature is also present such as requests for exemptions of various job positions from the State Classification Plan, agency appropriations, and emergency appeals for funds.

Correspondence with other governors concerns regional environmental issues, federal legislation, and the recently discovered remains of Texas Confederate soldiers buried at the 1862 battle site of Glorieta Pass in New Mexico. Finally, there is a small amount of correspondence with private citizens that ranges from speaking invitations to complaints about state services to opinions on current issues especially those involving taxes and state spending.

To prepare this preliminary inventory, the described materials were cursorily reviewed to delineate series, to provide an estimate of dates covered, and to determine record types.

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Restrictions

Restrictions on Access

None.

Restrictions on Use

Most records created by Texas state agencies are not copyrighted and may be freely used in any way. State records also include materials received by, not created by, state agencies. Copyright remains with the creator. The researcher is responsible for complying with U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17 U.S.C.).

Technical Requirements

None.

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Related Material

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Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

(Identify the item), Governor's correspondence, Division of Budget and Planning, Texas Office of the Governor. Archives and Information Services Division, Texas State Library and Archives Commission.

Accession Information

Accession number: 1991/063

These records were transferred to the Archives and Information Services Division of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission by the Texas Office of the Governor on January 15, 1991.

Processing Information

Paul B. Beck, March 1991

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Detailed Description of the Collection

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