SD 11 SREC: District 129 3rd Special Session Recap

Earlier this week, the Legislature concluded its third special session. As I am sure you know, during a special session, the Legislature is constitutionally limited to taking up matters that are placed on the agenda by the Governor. In the third special session, the Legislature completed its decennial duty of redistricting as well as raising the homestead exemption on your property taxes, appropriating billions of dollars in federal covid relief dollars, and protecting our Texas girls in High School Sports.

Continue reading for details on the legislation mentioned above and other matters taken up during the third special session.

To view all the items placed on the special session agenda, click here.

God Bless,

Dennis Paul

State Updates

Redistricting

Current HD 129

New HD 129

Every ten years the Legislature is charged with drawing new districts for the Texas House, Texas Senate, U.S. Congressional Districts, and the State Board of Education. The Legislature completed this task with the passage of House Bill 1 (Texas House Maps) Senate Bill 4 (Texas Senate Maps) Senate Bill 6 (US Congressional Maps) and Senate bill 7 (State Board of Education)

Above you can see the existing HD 129 along with the new version of HD 129 as passed in House Bill 1. To view the final version of all the new maps you can visit the Texas Legislative Council's DistrictViewer website here.

Property Tax Relief

Too many Texans are being taxed out of their homes due to the dramatic rise in property taxes across the state. Senate Bill 1 and Senate Joint Resolution 2 propose a constitutional amendment to increase the residential homestead exemption from property taxes levied for public school purposes. If passed by voters on May 7, 2022, the residential homestead exemption will rise from $25,000 to $40,000.

Note, that this constitutional amendment will be voted on during the May General Election and not during the normal Constitutional Amendment Election taking place right now.

Appropriation of Federal Covid Recovery Funding

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on states, the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 allocated funds to each state for recovery purposes. Senate Bill 8 appropriates $13.3 billion in funding received by Texas from the federal government. Key highlights of the appropriations include:

$7.2 billion for the Unemployment Compensation Fund to pay back outstanding advances received from the federal government.
$2 billion to the Texas Department of State Health Services for surge staffing at hospitals and other facilities, purchasing therapeutic drugs (including drugs for monoclonal antibody treatments), and for the operation of regional infusion centers.
$500.5 million to fund broadband infrastructure.
$200 million for cybersecurity projects.
$160 million to the Trusteed Programs within the Office of the Governor for grants to crime victims.
$150 million to deploy reliable next-generation 9-1-1 services.
$100 million to the Texas Department of Agriculture to provide supplemental funding to foodbanks in response to the pandemic.
$300,000, I added in SB 8 to fund a cost study for the Coastal Texas Project. This study will assess the most accurate cost of the proposed gate system in the Coastal Texas Study and the effectiveness of other features. Texas A&M University at Galveston is partnering with TU Delft in the Netherlands and Jackson State University to do the study. I anticipate that an accurate assessment of the actual cost can save the GCPD, state, and local taxpayers millions, if not billions, of dollars in local match obligation and permanent operation and maintenance costs.

Protecting High School Sports

It is critical that we protect girls' UIL sports by ensuring girls are not forced to compete against boys unfairly. House Bill 25 requires students competing on interscholastic athletic teams to compete in competitions designated for the biological sex stated on the student's official birth certificate or another government record.

Helping to Children of First Responders Killed in the Line of Duty

Current state law provides important tuition benefits for surviving spouses and children of certain public servants. However, this law is limited to surviving children who are minors which means surviving children who may be college students over age 18 are ineligible for these benefits, such as in the case of the daughter of Caleb Rule, a police officer from Fort Bend County who was killed in the line of duty. House Bill 133 changes the eligibility for education benefits to ensure Texas takes care of the adult children under 25 years old of first responders who give their lives in the line of duty.

Capital Improvements to Higher Education Campuses

For higher education systems in Texas to undertake capital projects on the campuses of their institutions, it is critical for the systems to have flexible funding options. Senate Bill 52 authorizes the issuance of $3.3 billion in bonds for capital improvements at public higher education institutions.

Within this $3.3 billion, close to $45 million was appropriated to the University of Houston- Clear Lake to renovate the Bayou building, the Delta building, and the Student Services and Classroom building.

Constitutional Amendment Election

Monday, October 18th is the first day of early voting in the upcoming Texas Constitutional Amendment Election. You can find more information on the individual amendments click here.

The following are Early Voting locations. Please note the Freeman Library is NOT an Early voting location. On Nov. 2^nd you vote at your regular precinct location.

1. University of Houston Clear Lake – Garden Room

2700 Bay Area Boulevard

Houston, TX 77058

2. MultiCultural Center – Right Lobby

951 Tristar Drive

Webster, TX 77598

3. MultiCultural Center (Drive-thru) – Tent

951 Tristar Drive

Webster, TX 77598

4. Clear Lake Islamic Center – Community Hall

17511 El Camino Real

Houston, TX 77058

5. East Harris County Activity Center – Big Room

7340 Spencer Highway

Pasadena, TX 77505

6. ** *Harris County Scarsdale Annex – Room D-110

10851 Scarsdale Boulevard

Houston, TX 77089

7. BakerRipley Cleveland Campus – Gym

720 Fairmont Parkway

Pasadena, TX 77504

8. Clear Creek ISD Central Support Facility

2145 West Nasa Boulevard

Webster, TX 77598

Everyone agrees that our property taxes are too high. In this special session, the legislature built upon the success of SB 2 in 2019 and passed SB 8 and SB 12 to help provide further relief to homeowners.