The Texas Minute 5/29/2019

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"Email" Good morning! It’s not every day taxpayers find a hero in Congress.

Here is today's Texas Minute.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan

    A Texas congressman thinks his colleagues should actually spend time debating a $19 billion disaster relief bill, yet Rachel Bovard writes the reaction from Democrats and the media would make it seem D.C. was burning down. She adds: “But if you care about fiscal responsibility, believe members of Congress should vote on billion-dollar bills before they pass, or even think that reading and debating legislation is a useful exercise, meet your new hero: freshman Rep. Chip Roy.”
       
    Just before the 86th legislative session ended, the Texas Senate and House gave final approval to two of the highest-profile bills of the session—Senate Bill 2 (property tax reform) and House Bill 3 (property tax relief). Brandon Waltens provides the details.
       
    Senate Bill 2, now known as the Texas Property Tax Reform and Transparency Act, differs significantly from the version proposed by Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, and House Speaker Dennis Bonnen in the early weeks of the session. SB 2 now only covers cities and counties; they must seek voter approval if property tax revenues will exceed 3.5 percent. Counties will be able to deduct the costs of indigent legal defense and county hospitals into that calculation. Meanwhile, all taxing entities are able to take a “de minimis” exemption of $500,000 of new revenue to not be included in the cap. Confusing? Yep. The measure also exempts many smaller cities and counties from some of the most stringent, taxpayer-friendly controls contained within the bill.
       
    Meanwhile, House Bill 3 – the session’s $11.6 billion school spending bill—passed out of both chambers unanimously. While originally the bill allotted only $2.5 billion towards property tax relief, pressure from taxpayers eventually forced lawmakers’ to up that total to $5 billion. Other elements of the bill include taxpayer-funded, all-day pre-kindergarten as well as state funding for classes during the summer.
       
    Perhaps the strongest pro-taxpayer protection of the session was worked into HB 3 during the conference committee process. School districts, which comprise the majority of the average Texan’s property tax bill, will be subject to a hard 2.5 percent property tax revenue cap. However, that provision will not take effect until 2021.       

    In the final days of the legislative session, lawmakers were hustling to reach a compromise on legislation expanding a corporate welfare program. But Cary Cheshire reports bickering over which cronies should get the cash caused the bill to die – saving taxpayers millions.
       
    While the Texas Senate passed a ban on taxpayer funded lobbying, the Texas House killed it. Erin Anderson reports 88 percent of Texans supported the ban.
         
    “While watching the dialogue on social media, it is interesting to see that the very people who told the grassroots that ‘the Austin bubble could easily swallow you up’ … have been swallowed up.” – Joel Starnes of the Organization for American Values
       
    “I have a feeling this primary season will be very interesting.” – Chad Hasty, KFYO radio​    

    Another instance of alleged voter fraud has popped up in Texas. Chris Nettles, a candidate for Fort Worth City Council, is filing a civil lawsuit contesting the results of this year’s May 4 election. Robert Montoya reports 548 were absentee votes (also called mail-in ballot votes). Nettles alleges there were differences between signatures on the applications for the ballots and the envelopes in which the mail-in ballots were returned to the elections office.
           
    Amarillo Independent School District trustees voted unanimously to initiate a process to rename Lee Elementary School. Thomas Warren reports the school first opened in 1951 as “Robert E. Lee Elementary.” In 2018, the Amarillo school board voted to remove “Robert E.” from the building’s facade.
         
    “My hope is that the name of Lee Elementary will be changed to something that is not divisive or offensive to our community.” – AISD Vice President John Ben Blanchard

 
Number of the Day

96.3

Population per square mile in Texas. Overall, the United States has 87.4 people per square mile.

[Source: U.S. Census Bureau]


Today in History

Happy 171st birthday to Wisconsin! It became the 30th state on May 29, 1848.


Quote-Unquote

“Life, liberty, and property do not exist because men have made laws. On the contrary, it was the fact that life, liberty, and property existed beforehand that caused men to make laws in the first place.”

– Frédéric Bastiat​

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