Early voting:
See what changes to the Texas Constitution are on the Nov. 3 ballot as voting begins.
Early voting begins Monday for seven proposed amendments to the Texas Constitution, including one designed to pump billions of dollars into road projects and another to allow statewide elected officials to live outside of Austin.
Election day is Nov. 3, and early voting ends Oct. 30. Check statesman. com/elections for the latest election news.
PROPOSITION 1
Homestead exemptions
Raises the homestead exemption for school property taxes from $15,000 to $25,000 beginning in the 2015 tax year. Authorizes the Legislature to appropriate money to reimburse school districts for lost tax revenue. Also bars imposing a future tax on property sales.
PROPOSITION 2
Property tax exemptions
In 2011, voters approved a property tax exemption for spouses of deceased disabled U.S. veterans. This proposal would extend the benefit, which exempts taxes on all or part of a home’s value, to those whose disabled spouses died before 2011.
PROPOSITION 3
Elected official residency rules
Repeals the requirement that statewide elected officials, including the attorney general and comptroller, reside in Austin. The governor, however, still must live in Austin.
PROPOSITION 4
Sports team raffles
Allows the Legislature to permit a professional sports team’s charitable foundation to sell raffle tickets at home games. No more than 10 percent of gross receipts can pay for expenses, with half of the remaining proceeds going to charity, the other half to raffle winners.
PROPOSITION 5
Building private roads
Allows counties with up to 7,500 residents to build private roads, up from 5,000.
PROPOSITION 6
Hunting and fishing rights
Adds the right to hunt, fish and harvest wildlife to the state constitution’s Bill of Rights — subject to laws and rules meant for conservation and wildlife management. Does not affect laws related to trespassing, property rights or discharging weapons inside city limits.
PROPOSITION 7
Money for building public roads
Increases money to build roads by sending up to $2.5 billion a year in state sales taxes to the State Highway Fund beginning in 2018. In 2020, roads would get 35 percent of vehicle sales and rental taxes after the first $5 billion is raised annually, putting an estimated $3 billion a year toward roads in 2020 and 2021.