Posted on · Protests by local governments helped convince House leaders to KO an identical measure during the regular session. In the special session, its Governor Greg Abbott’s top priority.
Posted on · Governor Greg Abbott, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, and their allies are increasingly turning to “preemptive” legislation to give Texas the final say on issues ranging from school bathroom policies to tree ordinances. That’s frustrating not only big city liberals but also many small-government conservatives.
Posted on · Governor Greg Abbott is keeping mum over whether he’ll call Texas lawmakers back to Austin this summer. But Republican senators say they’re ready and willing to do so.
Posted on · State Representative Garnet Coleman (D-Houston) says he’ll kill his own bill before allowing it to pass with the Senate measures as amendments.
Posted on · Abbott’s endorsement of Senate Bill 2 gives teeth to Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick’s threat to force the Legislature into special session, unless the House passes the original Senate property tax reform bill.
Posted on · The House’s budget would boost state spending on K-12 education by drawing on the Rainy Day Fund. The Senate’s would force local property taxpayers to pick up more of the tab.
Posted on · There’s a series of free workshops to help homeowners identify and apply for property tax exemptions. The free homestead exemption workshops will be held in Acres Homes, the Near Northside, and the Second and Third Wards. These are communities identified in the tax rolls as having large numbers of homeowners who potentially qualify for homestead […]
Posted on · Supporters of Senate Bill 2 say the measure is needed to keep people from losing their homes. Opponents say it would starve local government of funding needed to provide critical services – and charge the bill’s author with using misleading statistics to make his case.
Posted on · SB2 has faced stiff opposition from local governments. Senator Paul Bettencourt, the bill’s author, hopes the endorsement from Texas’ 11th largest county will help sway the top ten.
Posted on · Governor Greg Abbott and Harris County Senator Paul Bettencourt argue property tax relief is needed to keep Texans from being taxed out of their homes. But Democrats say the evidence doesn’t support their claims.
Posted on · Texas now has one of the highest median property tax rates in the nation, and it’s climbing fast.
Posted on · Texas state lawmaker Jimmy Don Aycock recently bemoaned how “property value increases have triggered the ‘Robin Hood’ feature” of a school funding system which, in essence, requires HISD to send money to other districts. Aycock notes the same thing has happened to Austin, Spring Branch and other districts — and the Dallas school district may face […]
Posted on · The Harris County Appraisal District has seen increasing lawsuits in the last five years.
Posted on · The Harris County Appraisal District got in a tussle recently with Exxon Mobil over property taxes at their Spring Campus. HCAD put a valuation of about one billion dollars on the property, but Exxon feels that’s not an accurate reflection of their value. Such disputes are not unusual. The larger the corporation, the more property […]
Posted on · Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner says he’s reviewing the possibility the city may create a municipal ID. Municipal IDs are identification cards issued by cities or municipalities, used for a variety of reasons – some good, and some bad, depending on your point of view. On this edition of Houston Matters, we learn more about municipal […]