Texas Insider Report: AUSTIN Texas -- In this edition well highlight some of the legislative initiatives we undertook directly and what our office set out to achieve this session. As a committee chairman the 84th Session provided me with an opportunity to make a greater impact. It was both an honor to be appointed and a significant increase in responsibility. As the Chair of the House Committee on Corrections you oversee the states criminal justice system and the agency responsible for administering it the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ). With 100 facilities employing 37000 personnel the TDCJ budget is roughly $6 billion. Today Texas incarcerates 148000 offenders with an additional 247000 on probation. We had an outstanding committee with seven members who tackled tough issues. We also had a and a fantastic and seasoned clerk Laurie McAnally. We will talk more about this work in a future issue.
Our legislative work focused on four key themes we established prior to the start of session: expanding the economy improving education protecting our community and increasing government accountability and transparency. While the legislative process is quite challenging I am pleased to report that we had success in each of these areas both with bills I authored and in the Senate companions to our bills that we passed. We were also able to amend other bills to include our initiatives which is one of the benefits of increased legislative experience.
We had quite a list of accomplishments but also experienced disappointment in cases where our bills did not complete the process. This experience has prepared us for revised efforts in the next session. I have learned that some bills take multiple sessions and these are definitely worth the wait.
Heres the good news:
Expanding Our Economy
HB 32 - Franchise Tax (HB 193 by Murphy): Reduces the rate of the franchise tax by 25 percent and extends the eligibility for EZ computation to businesses with under $20 million in total revenue. This reduces taxes for Texas business and consumers by $2.5 billion every two years helping spur economic growth across our state.
HB 931 - Waiting Week: Currently waiting week unemployment benefit payments are paid after the 3rd benefit payment. HB 931 makes the waiting week payment available when a claimant returns to full-time work or upon exhaustion of their benefits. Unemployed workers are incentivized to return to work as quickly as possible get payments when they need them most and lower the cost of unemployment insurance.
HB 2776 Clams Free Discount: Allows the Texas Insurance Commissioner to approve discounts to homeowners insurance premiums based on claim experience. A claims-free discount program may be implemented if the program is actuarially justified. Consumers will enjoy lower insurance rates and expanded competition for their business.
HB 2826 - Multiple Districts: Chapter 313 of the Tax Code incentivizes large capital investment in Texas. HB 2826 amends Chapter 313 to allow single large unified 313 projects to be assessed as one entire project even when the project spans multiple school districts. Texas will be able to attract more capital investment and larger industrial projects.
SB 752 - Inheritance Tax: Repeals the state inheritance tax. Although it is no longer assessed it remains in statute. With this repeal our Comptroller will be able to redeploy the resources and employees dedicated to inheritance taxes to other areas more valuable to Texas taxpayers.
SB 761 - Fireworks Tax: The cost of administering the fireworks tax exceeds the amount collected. SB 761 repeals the 2 fireworks sales tax (added to the standard sales tax). The bill also requires that an equal amount be allocated to Rural Volunteer Fire Department Insurance. It will save consumers millions and continue to fund the Rural Volunteer Fire Department Insurance Account for which the tax was created.
SB 100 - Enterprise Zones: the Enterprise Zone Program was created to provide businesses with performance-based incentives to locate and invest in economically distressed areas. SB 100 improves the program by (1) Ending retained job payments for the largest enterprise zone programs and instead focusing on new permanent jobs (2) Promoting the hiring of veterans (3) Allowing communities to recruit small projects without an entire enterprise zone designation and (4) Providing local flexibility between counties and municipalities by allowing inter-local agreements when nominating projects for enterprise designations.
Improving Education
SB 1750 - Work Study: Requires institutions of higher education to provide 20 to 50 of the Texas College Work-Study program employment positions off-campus in order to prepare students for career opportunities in the private sector. It expands program offerings without adding any new funds.
HB 1905 - Tax Omnibus Bill (HB 1276 by Murphy): HB 1276 was added as an amendment to HB 1905 exempting land leased to public charter schools from property taxes. Public charter schools will be protected from having to use state funds to pay taxes thereby putting more resources into classrooms. The amendment also requires that property owners certify by affidavit that the rent is reduced by an amount equal to the tax exemption. The corresponding constitutional amendment provision will be sought in the 85th session.
Protecting Our Community
HB 1481 - Aerial Trespass: Building upon established FAA guidelines HB 1481 makes it an act of criminal trespass to fly a remotely piloted vehicle (drone) over critical infrastructure including refineries chemical plants and water treatment facilities. The bill protects critical infrastructure in Texas from accidental and intentional harmful incidents.
Increasing Transparency and Accountability
SB 1394 - Protest Hearings: Requires an appraisal office to provide audio-visual equipment for use by a property owner or a representative at any protest hearing at which audio-visual equipment is used by the chief appraiser. This levels the playing field for property owners during an appraisal protest.
SB 1420 - Notice of Appraised Value: Amends the Tax Code to require appraisal districts to notify a property owner if an exemption (or partial exemption) approved for the property in the preceding year is cancelled or reduced for the current year. Busy property owners need this protection in our dynamic real estate market.
HB 1378 - Truth in Debt (HB 3654 by Murphy): Requires political subdivisions including special districts municipalities and school districts to compile and report financial information to the Comptroller (CPA) who will display this information on the CPA website. HB 1378 provides transparency in public finance by informing voters and residents about a political subdivisions current financial state before voters issue debt through elections.
Bills to Revisit in the 85t
HB 1872 - Sexual Predators: General-law municipalities do not have the authority to restrict where registered sex offenders reside within their communities. HB 1872 would have allowed general-law municipalities to restrict registered sex offenders from child safety zones and locations where children commonly gather. We would empower our cities with a very specific authority protect children and help remove a temptation for registered sex offenders to re-offend. Unfortunately this bill was scheduled for a vote in the House but didnt make the deadline.
HB 2608 - Pensions: HB 2608 would have restored local control of municipal retirement systems by granting decision-making rights to the governing body of the sponsoring municipality. This allows for changes to be made locally via municipal ordinance or resolution and not by legislators who dont receive the services of these municipal employees and whose constituents dont pay the taxes. Unfortunately despite our best efforts this bill was not voted out of the Pensions Committee.
Texas Insider Report: AUSTIN Texas -- In this edition well highlight some of the legislative initiatives we undertook directly and what our office set out to achieve this session. As a committee chairman the 84th Session provided me with an opportunity to make a greater impact. It was both an honor to be appointed and a significant increase in responsibility. As the Chair of the House Committee on Corrections you oversee the states criminal justice system and the agency responsible for administering it the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ). With 100 facilities employing 37000 personnel the TDCJ budget is roughly $6 billion. Today Texas incarcerates 148000 offenders with an additional 247000 on probation. We had an outstanding committee with seven members who tackled tough issues. We also had a and a fantastic and seasoned clerk Laurie McAnally. We will talk more about this work in a future issue.
Our legislative work focused on four key themes we established prior to the start of session: expanding the economy improving education protecting our community and increasing government accountability and transparency. While the legislative process is quite challenging I am pleased to report that we had success in each of these areas both with bills I authored and in the Senate companions to our bills that we passed. We were also able to amend other bills to include our initiatives which is one of the benefits of increased legislative experience.
We had quite a list of accomplishments but also experienced disappointment in cases where our bills did not complete the process. This experience has prepared us for revised efforts in the next session. I have learned that some bills take multiple sessions and these are definitely worth the wait.
Heres the good news:
Expanding Our Economy
HB 32 - Franchise Tax (HB 193 by Murphy): Reduces the rate of the franchise tax by 25 percent and extends the eligibility for EZ computation to businesses with under $20 million in total revenue. This reduces taxes for Texas business and consumers by $2.5 billion every two years helping spur economic growth across our state.
HB 931 - Waiting Week: Currently waiting week unemployment benefit payments are paid after the 3rd benefit payment. HB 931 makes the waiting week payment available when a claimant returns to full-time work or upon exhaustion of their benefits. Unemployed workers are incentivized to return to work as quickly as possible get payments when they need them most and lower the cost of unemployment insurance.
HB 2776 Clams Free Discount: Allows the Texas Insurance Commissioner to approve discounts to homeowners insurance premiums based on claim experience. A claims-free discount program may be implemented if the program is actuarially justified. Consumers will enjoy lower insurance rates and expanded competition for their business.
HB 2826 - Multiple Districts: Chapter 313 of the Tax Code incentivizes large capital investment in Texas. HB 2826 amends Chapter 313 to allow single large unified 313 projects to be assessed as one entire project even when the project spans multiple school districts. Texas will be able to attract more capital investment and larger industrial projects.
SB 752 - Inheritance Tax: Repeals the state inheritance tax. Although it is no longer assessed it remains in statute. With this repeal our Comptroller will be able to redeploy the resources and employees dedicated to inheritance taxes to other areas more valuable to Texas taxpayers.
SB 761 - Fireworks Tax: The cost of administering the fireworks tax exceeds the amount collected. SB 761 repeals the 2 fireworks sales tax (added to the standard sales tax). The bill also requires that an equal amount be allocated to Rural Volunteer Fire Department Insurance. It will save consumers millions and continue to fund the Rural Volunteer Fire Department Insurance Account for which the tax was created.
SB 100 - Enterprise Zones: the Enterprise Zone Program was created to provide businesses with performance-based incentives to locate and invest in economically distressed areas. SB 100 improves the program by (1) Ending retained job payments for the largest enterprise zone programs and instead focusing on new permanent jobs (2) Promoting the hiring of veterans (3) Allowing communities to recruit small projects without an entire enterprise zone designation and (4) Providing local flexibility between counties and municipalities by allowing inter-local agreements when nominating projects for enterprise designations.
Improving Education
SB 1750 - Work Study: Requires institutions of higher education to provide 20 to 50 of the Texas College Work-Study program employment positions off-campus in order to prepare students for career opportunities in the private sector. It expands program offerings without adding any new funds.
HB 1905 - Tax Omnibus Bill (HB 1276 by Murphy): HB 1276 was added as an amendment to HB 1905 exempting land leased to public charter schools from property taxes. Public charter schools will be protected from having to use state funds to pay taxes thereby putting more resources into classrooms. The amendment also requires that property owners certify by affidavit that the rent is reduced by an amount equal to the tax exemption. The corresponding constitutional amendment provision will be sought in the 85th session.
Protecting Our Community
HB 1481 - Aerial Trespass: Building upon established FAA guidelines HB 1481 makes it an act of criminal trespass to fly a remotely piloted vehicle (drone) over critical infrastructure including refineries chemical plants and water treatment facilities. The bill protects critical infrastructure in Texas from accidental and intentional harmful incidents.
Increasing Transparency and Accountability
SB 1394 - Protest Hearings: Requires an appraisal office to provide audio-visual equipment for use by a property owner or a representative at any protest hearing at which audio-visual equipment is used by the chief appraiser. This levels the playing field for property owners during an appraisal protest.
SB 1420 - Notice of Appraised Value: Amends the Tax Code to require appraisal districts to notify a property owner if an exemption (or partial exemption) approved for the property in the preceding year is cancelled or reduced for the current year. Busy property owners need this protection in our dynamic real estate market.
HB 1378 - Truth in Debt (HB 3654 by Murphy): Requires political subdivisions including special districts municipalities and school districts to compile and report financial information to the Comptroller (CPA) who will display this information on the CPA website. HB 1378 provides transparency in public finance by informing voters and residents about a political subdivisions current financial state before voters issue debt through elections.
Bills to Revisit in the 85t
HB 1872 - Sexual Predators: General-law municipalities do not have the authority to restrict where registered sex offenders reside within their communities. HB 1872 would have allowed general-law municipalities to restrict registered sex offenders from child safety zones and locations where children commonly gather. We would empower our cities with a very specific authority protect children and help remove a temptation for registered sex offenders to re-offend. Unfortunately this bill was scheduled for a vote in the House but didnt make the deadline.
HB 2608 - Pensions: HB 2608 would have restored local control of municipal retirement systems by granting decision-making rights to the governing body of the sponsoring municipality. This allows for changes to be made locally via municipal ordinance or resolution and not by legislators who dont receive the services of these municipal employees and whose constituents dont pay the taxes. Unfortunately despite our best efforts this bill was not voted out of the Pensions Committee.
