Tax reform takes center stage in Austin
Measure is among conservative bills quickly clearing Senate committees
AUSTIN — A controversial and mostly conservative agenda continued to steamroll through part of the Texas Legislature on Saturday.
In an unusual early Saturday series of meetings, three committees of the Senate passed out nearly a dozen bills aimed at fulfilling Gov. Greg Abbott’s 20-item wish list that the called the Texas Legislature back into session.
More restrictions on abortions, a bill blocking city tree ordinances and clamps on the amount cities and counties can raise property taxes were among the slew of bills that cleared their only committee stops Saturday. That follows a busy Friday, where other abortion restrictions and a new version of the bathroom bill also progressed.
But while the bills continue their sprint through the Senate, where Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has vowed to be Abbott’s “wing man,” the House led by Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio, hasn’t committed to passing any of the bills and has already called most of the agenda “manure.”
The most important issue to Abbott — property tax reform — was one of the items that took center stage Saturday.
Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, presented his new legislation that would bar cities and counties from raising the effective property tax rate more than 4 percent without triggering a voter referendum. Now, cities and counties — which vehemently oppose Bettencourt’s proposal — can raise that rate 8 percent before being subject to a possible rollback election.
Bettencourt bristled when critics called the 4-percent limit a cap. He said it is not a cap and still gives the cities and counties a chance to go higher if they can convince the voters.
“Here’s the key thing, you got a case, take it to the public,” Bettencourt said.
Bettencourt said cities and counties — because of increasing home values — have seen a surge in extra revenue. Yet, that hasn’t stopped them from continuing to raise tax rates to collect even more money from homeowners and businesses. He said if cities and counties were be-
ing fair to taxpayers, they would have been cutting tax rates. He singled out cities like Houston and San Antonio. He showed charts that indicated Houston city tax revenues grew nearly 27 percent from 2013 to 2016 and in San Antonio it went up 35 percent. During that same time, the city tax bills on average grew 24 percent in San Antonio and nearly 25 percent in Houston.
“The bottom line, property taxes grew 2.3 times faster than median incomes,” Bettencourt said. Numbers questioned
Bettencourt said if the bill becomes law he estimated that the average homeowners would get a $30 to $100 decrease on their tax bills each compared to what it would have gone up by if the Legislature does nothing.
But city and county governments say Bettencourt’s numbers are cherry picked and overstate the savings if his bill does become law. Because of the way the bill is crafted, Bill Longley of the Texas Municipal League told the Senate’s government reform committee that only people living in 35 of Texas’ 1,200 cities will see any real impact. And even in those affected cities, the tax decrease won’t be noticeable to taxpayers because of other tax increases like from school districts. Yet, he said those cities that are affected will be hurt in their battle to provide services in growing communities.
“We take exception to the notion that this will provide meaningful property tax relief,” Longley said.
Longley accused the Senate of trying to override local control.
His testimony triggered an angry response from Sen. Van Taylor, R-Plano, who called Longley’s logic “staggering” because he was arguing it would have little impact on property tax bills, yet would devastate cities.
“I’m amazed that you’re able to spin it that way,” Taylor said.
Longley also triggered ire from Sen. Charles Perry, R-Lubbock, gave Longley and the Texas Municipal League a 2-minute tongue lashing for its political tactics in fighting the rollback rate legislation. Bettencourt joined in later, bristling at Longley calling the rollback rate limit a “cap” on cities.
Longley was far from the only person on the losing end of debates in the Capitol on Saturday. Dozens of people argued futily against a bill to require health insurance plans from government exchanges, via Obamacare, to not include abortion procedure coverage. Groups that help low-income women pay for abortions said the legislation will create new financial hardships on the people they serve.
“This would just make it even harder for people to be able to afford their abortion,” said Nan Kirkpatrick for the Texas Equal Access Fund.
Houston resident Laila Khalili, who works with the non-profit Lilith Fund, which also provides financial assistance for women who seek an abortion, also testified. She said she knows there was almost no chance of stopping the legislation but felt compelled to testify anyhow to send a message.
“We won’t lay down without a fight,” Khalili said. “We’re here not just to take a stand for ourselves but for our clients.” Tree ordinances
But Texas Right to Life and other supporters of the abortion language said the legislation is critical to helping make sure people who oppose abortion are not paying for them through tax dollars that support government exchanges.
“I, as a citizen and a taxpayer and an insurance consumer, don’t want to pay for the abortion of others,” said Elizabeth Graham, Director of Texas Right to Life.
In another hearing to block cities from imposing tree ordinances on private property owners, Austin resident Ryan Rosshirt called that hearing and others over the weekend unnecessary.
“This is a waste of time for the citizens of Texas,” Rosshirt said.
But supporters of the restraints like Sen. Bob Hall, R-Edgewood, said ordinances that make people pay the government a fee to cut down a tree are in their nature a kind of government taking and should be regulated by the state. If a city wants a tree removed for the good of the community, the government should be compensating the homeowner he argued.
Later, the Senate Finance Committee easily approved a plan to provide bonuses for school teachers and a plan to offset health care costs for retired teachers. Senate Bill 19 would provide nearly $200 million for teacher bonuses — another Abbott priority — starting September 2018. It also puts another $121 million into a health insurance program for retired teachers.
The stage is set for another busy day in the Capitol on Sunday when three Senate committees will debate alleged voter fraud related to mail-in ballots, restrictions on how union dues are collected and set regulations on cities related to annexations.