The Regular Session of the Texas Legislature came to an end, Monday, May 29th. While we accomplished a great deal for Texas over the last 5 months, some of which is detailed below in this newsletter, there were a couple critical issues left on the table and Governor Greg Abbott called us back to finish the job.
The House kicked off the first “special session,” which was called to pass a bill to bring property tax relief to homeowners, less than 24 hours after gaveling out sine die for the regular session. The House and Senate each passed their own versions of property tax relief during the special session, but were unable to reach an agreement on how property taxes should be cut.
As a result, the governor called the legislature back for a second special session on Tuesday, June 27th, which happens to be my birthday.
The good news is that both the House and Senate (as well as the governor) are determined to give Texas homeowners property tax relief. Although the two houses have yet to reach an agreement on how best to do it, the reality is that we will eventually work out a way to return over $17.6 billion to homeowners in property tax relief. As the governor pointed out at an event in Houston on Tuesday, the $17.6 billion has already been set aside in the budget; all we have to do is agree to a way to return it to you.
There is a lot of great information in this week’s newsletter. Please feel free to share it with your friends and neighbors and encourage them to sign-up so they don’t miss any upcoming news, we are still hard at work and may be looking forward to the second special session soon!
Below is a summary of the legislation that the House passed in the 88th Regular Legislative Session and the First Special Session you’ll find in this newsletter, as well as the items for consideration in the second special session of the 88th Legislature.
- Property Tax Relief
- Border Security
- Texas House Budget
- Infrastructure
- Business and Commerce
- Fentanyl Crisis Relief
- Texas Online Protection
- Education and School Safety
- Higher Education Reform
As of Tuesday, June 27th, the Texas House of Representatives convened for the second special session of the 88th Legislature. The Governor issued a proclamation for the items to be considered in this special session, please find them listed below:
- Legislation to cut property-tax rates solely by reducing the school district maximum compressed tax rate in order to provide lasting property-tax relief for Texas taxpayers.
- Legislation solely for the purpose of increasing or enhancing the penalties for certain criminal conduct involving the smuggling of persons or the operation of a stash house.
I am looking forward to work with my colleagues to pass legislation that will provide a well-deserving property tax relief that will benefit all homeowners in Texas. Governor Abbott’s press release on his announcement of the second special session of the 88th Legislative Session can be found here.
You had our my and my colleagues’ word throughout session that we wouldn’t leave their post at the Texas Capitol until meaningful property tax relief was passed to put money back in your pockets. The Texas House’s plan delivers $17.6 billion in property tax relief, buys down the school district tax rate by an additional 16.2 cents, and is the largest property tax cut in Texas history!
Currently, the Senate wants to emphasize increasing the homestead exemption (the amount of value of your home that you don’t get taxed on — currently $40,000). The House has preferred to focus on lowering the appraisal cap — currently your home’s appraisal can’t increase by more than 10% per year; the House wanted to lower than to 5%. A third option is to include “rate compression” — which is when the state tells school districts and other local governments to lower their tax rates and then the state makes up the lost revenue by sending money to those local governments. We will see what the ultimate solution will be.
As you know, our communities have seen the negative impacts of drug and human smuggling for too long, much of it occurring at the border. The legislature appropriated $5.1 billion for border security, including funding for additional troops and equipment, and a training academy to ensure that our National Guard and civilian personnel know exactly what they are empowered to do and what federal law precludes. The legislature also provided funding for border counties whose sheriff’s, constables, and prosecutors are overburdened by the constant flow of illegal border crossings.
I am proud to have been able to vote for and contributed to passing this legislation because it is a major step forward in the fight to secure our border and lock up criminals who are endangering Texans.
The Texas legislature passed a strong budget that invests in Texas and prioritizes tax relief, public schools, and much more. House Bill 1 by Representative Greg Bonnen allocates $321.3 billion for the state budget in fiscal years 2024-2025.
Some of the top-line figures from the budget include: $17.6 billion appropriated for property tax relief, $8.9 billion for public schools, $9.4 billion for the development of mental health services, $5.1 billion for border security, $1.4 billion for school safety, and $1 billion for financing new water projects.
Expanding broadband access and securing water for the next generation of Texans were top priorities for the Texas House. The House is proud to have passed multiple bills this session that addressed both issues.
Senate Bill 28 establishes the New Water Supply for Texas Fund and the Texas Water Fund to improve water access and security. House Bill 9 by Representative Trent Ashby establishes the Texas Broadband Infrastructure Fund to ensure every Texan has access to affordable, high-speed internet.
Texas House Republicans were able to pass business friendly legislation this session that will keep Texas the number one state to do business. To name just a few:
House Bill 14 by Representative Cody Harris reduces the amount of red tape currently surrounding property development projects across the state.
House Bill 19 by Representative Andrew Murr creates a much-needed business court system in Texas, establishing a legal process for complex business cases that aims to solve such matters in a fair, streamlined and consistent manner.
House Bill 2127 by Representative Dustin Burrows provides regulatory certainty by creating a level playing field across the state of Texas, limiting local municipalities from imposing restrictions on local businesses.
This session the Texas House passed bills to better fund and arm our agencies, towns, and Texans in defending and securing our southern border.
House Bill 6 by Rep. Craig Goldman delivers swift punishment for fentanyl-related crimes in Texas, creating and increasing penalties for manufacturing or delivering fentanyl in Texas. This, along with other bills, helps communities and agencies combat the ongoing crisis in an appropriate manner.
There is a recent and alarming trend of companies illegally harvesting Texans’ data and using this data to create and implement harmful algorithms. The following couple of bills seek to address those issues and aim at protecting Texans, and their children, in the digital landscape.
House Bill 4, also referred to as the Data Privacy and Protection Act, by Representative Giovanni Capriglione cracks down on companies that for too long have profited off of Texans’ personal information by granting Texans new rights related to their data privacy, including parental rights to protect their children.
House Bill 18, also referred to as the SCOPE Act, by Representative Shelby Slawson creates a number of tools for parents to have more of a say over the way that data is shared, including the ability to know what kind of data is being collected and the power to delete it.
In light of the recent school shootings we have unfortunately witnessed, of some of the Legislature’s top priorities, the Legislative worked hard to get bills passed that would take one step closer in ensuring the safety of our schools and as well as our education as a whole. Proudly, Texas House Republicans were able to make great strides in supplying Texas schools with the resources they need to properly support our educators and protect school children in future emergency situations.
House Bill 3 by Representative Dustin Burrows further defines the roles and responsibilities of the Texas School Safety Center as well as the Texas Education Agency, ensuring that school safety standards can be properly enforced.
House Bill 900, also referred to as the READER Act, by Representative Jared Patterson will eliminate sexually explicit books from public school libraries and protect Texas children from radical sexualization.
House Bill 1605 by Representative Brad Buckley raises the bar for education in Texas by both improving curriculum for students and increasing professional development tools for teachers.
Finally, Senate Bill 10 delivers a cost-of-living adjustment for Texas retired teachers while maintaining the actuarial soundness of the Teacher Retirement System pension fund.
All of these bills are aimed at improving our school safety standards and improving assistance to our educators.
With 60% of our workforce coming from Texas, higher education in Texas was one of the top priorities for the Texas House.
House Bill 8 by Representative Gary VanDeaver will establish a new funding model for community colleges in the state — one that is focused on recognizing and rewarding such institutions for the important role they play with associate degrees, non-credit workforce education programs and other credentials of value.
Senate Bill 17 sets forth that higher education institutions cannot have an office that engages in hiring, implements policies, conducts training about, or provides preferential treatment based on race, sex, color, or ethnicity.
Senate Bill 18 improves the retention of professors at Texas’ institutions of higher education.
The future of Texas’ workforce starts with us being able to supply our higher education institutions with resources, and the Texas House dedicated this session to supplying those.
Connect With Me
I am your State Representative, but I am also your neighbor. If there is anything I can do to help you, please do not hesitate to reach out to me.
If you’d like to get in contact with our office, please feel free to go onto my webpage and click the “Email” button to fill out the form. The page can be found here: https://house.texas.gov/members/member-page/?district=132
You can also call our Capitol office at 512-463-0528 or our Katy district office at 281-492-0684. Our district office is located in the Houston Community College building at 1550 Foxlake Drive. We aren’t there right now, because HCC has closed the campus on Fridays and weekends.
I encourage everyone to stay connected this session on legislation, committee hearings, and floor debates through the following website: https://capitol.texas.gov/
Thank you and God Bless Texas,
