It has been almost five months since Barack Obama was elected president and we understood that the federal government was likely to pass a large fiscal stimulus with funds to assist the states.

It has been six weeks since that legislation (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, or ARRA) was signed into law. Yet to date, Texas — unlike most other states — has articulated no vision whatsoever for implementing the ARRA or budgeting our allocation. Almost every Texas legislator I've talked to either is uninformed about the ARRA and its potential or else is privately resigned to the likelihood that most of Texas' allocation will be squandered, wasting this one-time opportunity to make meaningful investments in the future of our state.

The budget is coming to the floor in both chambers over the next two weeks. Most legislators will have no real opportunity to say anything about spending priorities for Texas' ARRA funds. The budget committees are playing shell games with general revenue and ARRA funds instead of proposing rational strategies for maximizing the use of ARRA to advance our state's policy priorities.

This isn't a question of liberals wanting to expand state services versus conservatives fighting against bloated government. You can look across state after state, conservative and liberal, and see the same basic ARRA implementation processes happening everywhere:

1. The state — either the governor or another elected leader — sets up one or more public-private advisory bodies to guide ARRA implementation for the next three years and ensure transparency and accountability (the House Select Committee on Federal Fiscal Stabilization does not fill this bill, although it plays an important role and we should keep it).

2. The advisory bodies and/or lawmakers articulate a set of overarching state priorities and propose strategies for using various ARRA funding streams to achieve these priorities, including the introduction of ARRA-specific legislation.

3. There's a multi-purpose website where the public can get information about all things ARRA and, in most cases, submit proposals and ideas about how the state can best use its allocation to create jobs and address priority issues.

What other states are NOT doing is using their ARRA funds to merely maintain business as usual.

The reason so many other states are taking rational, long-term approaches to ARRA implementation is pretty obvious: they want to make sure they get the maximum return on investment of every dollar. They know this is a one-time opportunity and they don't want to waste it. They are making a big effort to include private sector experts in their advisory bodies so they can be sure they create the greatest range of new opportunities for their residents.

For a lot of states, like Ohio and Michigan, this is a life-or-death deal: if they can't generate enough new jobs fast enough to jumpstart some economic activity, it's hard to see how they can stay in business. For other states, like Oregon and North Carolina, this is a chance to get out in front on emerging industries.

You can imagine how Texas, with a little planning, could get special bangs out of our ARRA bucks. For example, we're getting hundreds of millions of dollars in weatherization and energy efficiency money. Spending the money on weatherization and efficiency is a given, we can't use it for anything else. But we could combine some of it with ARRA workforce development and education money to fund a green jobs training program, and throw in some ARRA childcare funds so the job-training participants have secure childcare while they are in the program. A similar approach could work in addressing Texas' health professional shortage.

But we can't do innovative job-creation and economic development projects if we just toss our ARRA funds into the appropriations bill and hope for the best. State agencies can't freelance with their appropriations; they have to respond to legislative priorities and stay accountable within defined performance measures.

Performance measures are nonexistent in Texas' ARRA budgeting. Federal agencies will require fiscal accountability, but not accountability to the policy priorities of Texans. Should we dedicate our ARRA funds to rebuilding hurricane areas and economic development in the Valley? So far, state agencies don't have these priorities in their budgets. Should we make sure some of our ARRA funds are targeted for historically underutilized businesses? Again, not so far. So far, the only specific ARRA-related priority we know of is a rider in the Senate's budget bill directing the State Energy Conservation Office to give as much of its allocation as possible to the Texas Engineering Experiment Station at Texas A&M University.

Whatever we do with the ARRA funds, one thing is for sure: Texans, like all Americans, will spend decades' worth of federal income taxes paying off the trillion-dollar deficit the stimulus package is creating. It's enough of a stretch to imagine paying off this debt if the investment results in material improvement in our infrastructure, education systems or state services. It's heartbreaking to contemplate making those payments in future years knowing that we got nothing but shell games and the status quo for our trouble.

Lawmakers struggle every session to meet human needs, grow our economy and protect our environment. Our ARRA funds can't do everything everyone wants, but they can do a lot. It's enough money to buy our school kids textbooks... restore ailing state parks... capitalize the Housing Trust Fund... bring solid infrastructure to colonias... and on and on. And, of course, it's enough to help the Gulf Coast recover from multiple natural disasters.

We can't afford this failure of leadership. It's inexcusable for Texas to be botching ARRA implementation when so many other states have figured it out. The gun has been fired, the Rust Belt is off and running, and Texas is standing at the starting line with its shoelaces tied together.

Bee Moorhead is executive director of Texas Impact, an interfaith group that lobbies on issues of religious social concern.

Texas Weekly's Soapbox is a venue for opinions, spins, alternate takes, and other interesting stuff sent in by readers and others. We moderate submissions to keep crazy people out, and anonymous commentary is ineligible. Readers can respond (through the moderator) to things posted here. Got something to submit? We're interested in everything from full-blown opinion pieces to short bits to observations or tidbits that have escaped us and the mass media. One rule: Your name goes on your words. Call or send an email: Ross Ramsey, Editor, Texas Weekly, 512/288-6598, ramsey@texasweekly.com.