Texas. Comptroller's Office. Economic Analysis Center

Since its creation in 1835, the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts has always been the central accounting officer or chief fiscal officer of the state, and as such is responsible for maintaining effective methods for accounting for the state's funds. He or she is the state's principal tax administrator and collector of tax revenue. The Comptroller must also provide the research and statistics necessary for revenue estimating and certification. The Comptroller's Office, like many complex state agencies, is continually in flux as to internal organization, making the following divisional history very tentative.

Sometime between 1978 and December of 1983, the Planning and Research Division of the office of the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts was renamed the Budget and Research Division. In the fall of 1986, it was reorganized as the Economic Analysis Center, also called the Economic Analysis Library. The Economic Analysis Center was responsible for preparing revenue estimates and economic forecasts. It also conducted research on the state's economy and finances, public debt, the economic impact of proposed legislation, and other governmental financial matters.

The Economic Analysis Library staff estimated the probable effect on revenue of all proposed revenue bills; performed economic research, analyzing changes which had occurred and relating their effect on probable revenue sources; determined which phases of business activity must be measured; and compiled data to be used as a measuring device. The Comptroller's Office implemented a revenue forecasting system which provided the Economic Analysis Library access, through a communications terminal, to computer files and statistical programs designed to analyze and project state revenues. The system provided projections of state expenditures and produced the comptroller's biennial revenue estimate.

In November 1989, the Economic Analysis Center was divided into three divisions: Research, Revenue Estimating, and Intergovernmental Affairs. In September 1989, the divisions had been designated: Revenue, Spending, and Economic Forecasting; Administration and Information Support; and Economic and Financial Research (with Intergovernmental Issues a subunit of the last).

The Economic Analysis Center is listed in the Guide to Texas State Agencies, 6th edition (1990) as being in the Fiscal Management Area of the Comptroller's Office. But in consulting the Guide to Texas State Agencies, 7th edition (1992), it appears that the functions of the Economic Analysis Center were taken over by the Revenue Estimating Division of the Fiscal Management Area.

(Sources include the Guide to Texas State Agencies, 6th edition (1990); the Guide to Texas State Agencies, 7th edition (1992); and Texas Comptroller's Office organization charts, 1978-2001 .)

From the guide to the Comptroller's Office Economic Analysis Center records, 1964-1985, 1987, 1989, (Texas State Archives)