Congress Plan Gets Legislature Nod
Along with Surprise Property Tax Cut

Editors Note: The Texas House adjourned sine die at 12:44 a.m. on Tuesday. The Senate adjourned at 12:49 a.m.

Capitol Inside
October 18, 2021

Texas lawmakers gave final stamps of approval Monday night to a new congressional map before votes on a last-second tax cut for homeowners and a $16 billion all-purpose spending bill with money that the state received from President Joe Biden and Democrats in Congress in the face of unanimous opposition from Republicans.

The Legislature's third special session of 2021 featured a surprise twist on the eve of its final day with the unanimous approval of a proposed constitutional amendment that would provide property tax relief for homeowners with a $15,000 boost in the homestead exemption on levies paid for schools. The measure was filed this morning.

The House and Senate also adopted a conference conference report for a dog tethering bill that Governor Greg Abbott killed after the regular session with his veto pen. The House sent the cruelty measure in Senate Bill 5 to the Republican governor for his signature this time around. The House backed the conference report on the dog cruelty bill

But GOP leaders put the brakes on legislation that Abbott wanted to reinforce an executive order banning vaccine mandates by businesses and governmental entities in Texas. The proposal that's packaged in Senate Bill 51 had been set for debate on the upper chamber floor on Monday. Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick and Senate Republicans balked on a vote on the vaccine requirement prohibition - however - amid apparent resignation that it would die in the House without a vote.

Sponsored by Republican State Senator Bryan Hughes of Mineola, SB 51 had sparked an unprecedented uproar among business interests and doctors who'd urged legislators to back off the proposal as a monumental infringement in the private sector. Some lawmakers have been concerned that Abbott would summon them back for a fourth consecutive special session if they failed to pass a bill that prohibits COVID-19 vaccination mandates in the current gathering that ends Tuesday.

The House and Senate approved a conference committee report that will establish new boundaries for congressional districts in Texas in a move designed to reinforce incumbent Republicans. The plan in Senate Bill 6 is drawn to give the GOP one of two new Texas seats that would go to Democrats if the ruling Republicans had based the map on population growth. The House endorsed the compromise in SD 6 on a vote of 84-65.

The Legislature ended special session number three with a surprise move with the unanimous approval of a measure that would boost the mandatory homestead exemption on school taxes from $25,000 to $40,000 a year if approved by voters in an election in May 2022. GOP State Senator Paul Bettencourt of Houston filed the property tax break in Senate Joint Resolution 2 on Monday as a proposed constitutional amendment.

Republican State Rep. Angie Chen Button of Garland sponsored the higher homestead exemption in SJR 2 in the Capitol's west wing tonight. State Rep. Morgan Meyer - a Dallas Republican who chairs the Ways & Means Committee - carried the enabling legislation in Senate Bill 1. Both measures cleared the lower and upper chambers on unanimous votes.

more to come ...