Texas Senate approves new property tax cut
The Senate unanimously passed a bill on Thursday that would raise the state’s homestead exemption to $140,000, an amount its author states will save the average Texas homeowner $363 off their annual school property tax bill.
Houston Senator Paul Bettencourt says that combined with increased tax rate compression in the Senate budget proposal, average homeowners in Texas could expect to pay nearly $500 a year less in property taxes.
The effect on senior citizens could be even more dramatic, said Bettencourt, citing testimony delivered during Tuesday’s Local Government Committee hearing on the bill, SB 4.
“The passage of SB 4 will see eighty to ninety percent of Texas seniors paying zero [school] property tax,” he said. Bettencourt added that there are 492 school districts – almost half of the total number of districts in the state - with an average home value of less than $140,000, meaning that the average homeowner in those areas could see the maintenance and operation portion of their school property taxes drop to zero.
Since 2023, Bettencourt said the legislature has delivered significant school property tax relief to Texas homeowners.
“We’re now topping $1,762 in tax relief in just two sessions,” he said. “It’s been a Texas-sized commitment of $51 billion since 2019, and we’re adding onto it now.” The bills now head to the House for consideration.
On Wednesday, the Senate Criminal Justice Committee gave unanimous support to a package of legislation aimed at reforming the state’s bail bond system. Author and Houston Senator Joan Huffman says that since 2021, there have been at least 162 homicide cases filed against defendants who were out on bond in Harris County alone.
“It’s almost unbelievable what is happening when you look at it: violent repeat offenders, continually being released on low bail only to recommit in our communities. It’s not one or two occurrences, there’s hundreds,” said Huffman. “I truly believe that there are hundreds of people dead today that would not be dead if we had incorporated some of this legislation earlier on.”
Two of the measures would require voter approval. The first, SJR 1, would ask voters to mandate the denial of bail to illegal immigrants accused of felony crimes in Texas, if a judge determines there is probable cause that the defendant indeed committed the crime of which they are accused. The next measure, SJR 5, would expand the offenses for which judges could deny bail to include offenses like felony sexual assault and other violent offenses defined in the constitution.
Huffman said she believes the two measures will pass the electorate easily. “I’m betting they’re going to overwhelmingly want this,” she said.
Two other bills won’t require voter approval. SB 9 would require that elected judges, not magistrates, issue bond decisions in cases involving repeat violent offenders. It also excludes individuals accused of certain crimes, such as felony gun possession or violation of a family protective order, from release on a personal bond.
The second bill, SB 40, would end the practice of sending public funds to charitable bail organizations, who post bail on behalf of some defendants. Huffman said that Harris County sent more than $2.1 million in donations to these organizations since 2022, including a number of felony defendants.
Lt. Governor Dan Patrick said that the Senate will take up and pass these bills off the floor next week. The Senate has overwhelmingly approved similar legislation in the past two sessions, but the bills couldn’t muster enough support in the House.
With a new speaker in charge, Patrick said he is optimistic about the bills’ chances this time around.
“I believe we have a commitment from the Texas House and from the Speaker to pass this bail bond package,” he said.
If it doesn’t pass, Patrick says he supports coming back in special session until the bills reach the governor’s desk.