A bunch of bigwigs are conducting panels all day on federal stimulus dollars at the AT&T Conference Center on the UT campus. The event is sponsored by the Texas Lyceum. Find out more on their website here.

While we're on break, here's a quick recap of the first panel featuring the heads of the four agencies receiving about 75 percent of the $16.1 billion in stimulus dollars that state agencies get to spend. The panel was moderated by Ross Ramsey of Texas Weekly newsletter.

Robert Scott of the Texas Education Agency:
- Federal restrictions on stimulus spending would normally be called strings, but "it just so happens we're working on all that stuff anyway" -- teacher qualifications, student performance tracking, etc.
- "If you know the law well enough, you can get around any string," he said, meaning that they're going to find ways to use funds to build some new education facilities.
- A lot of the money is going to be used to fill holes in the budget, but he's championing using funds to buy electronic course materials, as well. (He says that could be a "game changer for Texas schools.")
- He thinks the feds missed out on the opportunity to devote a lot of resources to building new schools.

Albert Hawkins, Health and Human Services:
- Stimulus dollars won't affect the level of services they're able to offer, but will decrease the amount of money that Texas needs to chip in, providing relief for a tight state budget.
- Restrictions on stimulus spending aren't unusual. One restriction is the money the state saves on HHS this time around can't be used to increase the Rainy Day Fund.
- If a second stimulus passes, he would like to see more direct grants for innovative, long-term programs.

Dierdre Delisi, Transportation Commission:
- The federal dollars are speeding up projects that TxDOT had planned on building anyway.
- Maintenance of the projects built with stimulus funds won't pose difficulties in later years to the state, because TxDOT took maintenance costs into account when selecting the projects.
- The stimulus projects will be started within12 months and finished, ideally, in three years.

Mike Gerber, Department of Housing and Community Affairs:
- The amount of stimulus funds he's receiving dwarfs his agency's normal budget. That poses a problem of too much money, too little time to spend it all.
- The dollars will flow in and out of his agency in two to three years, meaning his agency has to expand rapidly and then contract back to its normal size.
- "This year is a great year if you're considering a new career in weatherization," he said. They're getting $326 million for weatherization projects, compared to a normal budget of $13 million.
- If a second stimulus passes, he'd like to see money focused on helping homeless folks in rural areas.

More to come... Next up, Dick Armey and James Galbraith, with only Dale Craymer to keep them from the other's throat.

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