(The Center Square) – While House Democrats remain absent from their legislative responsibilities, the Texas Senate continues to pass bills on the special session agenda – including bills filed by Democrats – with bipartisan support.
The Texas Senate will continue to pass bills “over and over again, in each legislative session, until House Democrats return from their ‘vacation,’” Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said.
More than 50 House Democrats remained MIA in protest over a Congressional redistricting bill. Gov. Greg Abbott filed an emergency petition with the Texas Supreme Court to remove the House Democratic Caucus Chair Rep. Gene Wu, D-Houston. He also directed Texas Department of Public Safety troopers to arrest absconded House Democrats in Texas and directed the Texas Rangers to investigate those who are fundraising to obstruct House business for potential bribery charges, The Center Square reported.
On Wednesday, the Texas Senate passed three bills: title theft protection, protecting women’s spaces and implementing additional property tax cut measures.
The Senate passed SB 15, Stopping Title Theft and Deed Fraud, filed by Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas, after it advanced unanimously out of committee. It provides county clerks with more tools to identify bad actors to prevent real property fraud or theft from occurring, implements recording requirements for certain documents, creates and enhances criminal offenses of real property theft and real property fraud, establishes a statute of limitations and strengthens restitution requirements.
“Fraudulent deeds and titles are a direct threat to Texas property owners,” Patrick said. “The Texas Senate will pass this bill over and over again, in each legislative session, until House Democrats return from their ‘vacation.’”
The Senate also passed SB 7, Protecting Women’s Spaces, filed by Sen. Mayes Middleton, R-Galveston, after it passed out of committee by a vote of 10-1.
“In 2017, Sen. Lois Kolkhorst and I were ahead of our time in addressing the issue of women’s privacy, passing legislation out of the Senate to keep men out of women’s restrooms and boys out of girls’ locker rooms and showers in schools,” Patrick said, but the bill never made it out of the House.
This year, the bill was filed by Middleton to require private spaces owned or controlled by political subdivisions or state agencies to designate the use of bathrooms, locker rooms, and family shelters for individuals based on their biological sex. It also authorizes a civil penalty and a private civil right of action.
“The Texas Senate will continue passing this bill each legislative session to protect women and girls until House Democrats return from their ‘vacation’ and get back to work for the people of Texas,” Patrick said.
The Senate also passed SB 9, Cutting Property Taxes, filed by Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, after it passed out of committee by a vote of 4-1.
This is the latest property tax relief bill lawmakers proposed after claiming every session they passed “historic” property tax relief and property taxes only went up.
“In 2019, the Texas Legislature set strict limits on how much local governments and school districts could grow their property tax revenues, capping cities and counties at 3.5% and school districts at 2.5% unless voters approve a higher rate,” Patrick said. “This reform slowed the growth of local government revenues and property taxes across the state. Unfortunately, some local governments have exploited taxpayers for more revenue by raising taxes beyond the limits set by the legislature.”
This bill will further reduce “the rollback rate for large cities and counties to 2.5%, ensuring out-of-control local governments cannot keep driving up Texans’ tax bills,” Patrick said. It caps the amount of maintenance and operations (M&O) property taxes that cities and counties with a population of more than 75,000 can collect from 3.5% growth to 2.5% growth.
In the regular session, property tax relief included increasing the homestead exemption to $140,000 for all homeowners and $200,000 for seniors. The increase, Patrick says, “ensures that the average Texas senior homeowner will never pay school property taxes for the rest of their life.”
He also claims that bill, which becomes law Sept. 1, will save non-senior homeowners “a nearly 50% cut in their school taxes from what they paid 7 years ago on average.”
Despite House Democrats fleeing Texas and denying the House a quorum, the Texas Senate “has maintained a quorum and continues to work,” Patrick said.
