Texas. Office of the Governor. Division of Budget and Planning. Human Services Section.

In 1967, the 60th Legislature, through House Bill 276, created legislation designating the Governor as the Chief Planning Officer of the state of Texas. 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 the 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.