Archives for 2023

We have reached the halfway point in the 88^th legislative session.  The House Appropriations Committee has concluded its work on HB 1 (budget) and the bill will head to the House floor to be considered in early April.  While it is assumed that there will be considerable debate on the House floor about specific points of contention within the bill, it should pass with minimum changes from what the committee members voted out of the Appropriations Committee last week.

A few highlights in the House version of the bill:

• Health and Human Services increase 15.8% to $44B
• Education (Public and Higher) increase 10.4% to $66B
• Public Safety and Criminal Justice increase 54% to $18B
• Natural Resources increase 58% to $4B
• Business and Economic Development increase 48% to $1.7B

These highlights give just a glimpse of the state priorities and where your tax dollars are spent.  The other item of significance that has emerged within the House budget proposals is the House version of “property tax relief”.

Under the Speaker’s proposal the state would cut school district property taxes by 28%.  The more controversial aspect of the plan is to place a tighter cap on how much more school districts can tax property owners each year and expand the benefit to include commercial property owners. 

The Senate budget process is a bit more opaque. The Senate considered its version of the budget on Monday March 27^th but won’t have final committee vote until mid-April.  The Senate version spends increased state money on community colleges, mental health services, property tax cuts and raises for current and retired teachers. The Senate Finance Committee also set aside $5 billion for teacher pay raises, other educator programs and money to offer parents private school vouchers. 

The Senate property tax proposal is considerably different than the House version.  The Senate version of property tax relief came out in 3 different bills that have already passed the Senate.  The most popular portion of the package is SB 3 which raises the homestead exemption from $40k to $70k.  SB 4 would also add an additional $5.3B into public schools.

The 2 proposals are considerably different not the least of which are the proposals to address property tax relief.   The Lt. Governor recently announced that he was not going to consider the House version of the property tax relief effort, feeling the Senate version was superior. 

The Lt. Governor also recently stated that he had no plans this summer and would be happy to spend his time here on these and other issues of interest to him and the Texas Senate.

Out of the roughly 8,000 bills and resolutions that have been filed there is only 1 that must pass, that is the state budget.  Failing to pass the budget during the regular session rarely happens.  I can recall only once in the past 30 years or so.  Regardless, these initial comments and efforts on both sides have set the stage for a more contentious than usual finish.  The regular session ends on May 29, 2023.

The 88th meeting of the Texas Legislature is well underway and could potentially have a great impact on the future of water in Texas.  After experiencing almost continuous multi-year droughts during the past decade, our state government appears to be interested in making long term investments in water infrastructure.  Over the past 20 plus years, state assistance in water projects have been centered around low interest loans to individual communities.  While this practice has been beneficial to local communities, it has limited more regional large-scale projects. 

It now appears that there now is some interest in expanding those efforts beyond just loans.

Most members of Texas Desal are aware of Texas efforts over the past 2 years in regard to studying the potential of “Produced Water”.  That favorable report has given momentum to the next steps in the process and a request for additional funds to continue the efforts to explore the potential of this resource.  Senator Charles Perry, author of the original “Produced Water study” legislation will be seeking an additional $5 Million to continue and expand the efforts of the Produced Water Consortium.  While nothing is for certain at this time, Senator Perry’s level of interest and focus on this issue certainly increases the chances of ultimate success.

There are also efforts on a larger more comprehensive scale to supply water to a growing Texas.  Senator Perry and Representative Tracy King have filed legislation in both the House and the Senate to create the “Water for Texas” fund.  SB 837 and HB 2483 (identical) will provide additional financial resources to the Texas Water Development Board to address infrastructure repair (leaky pipes) and the development of new water, reuse and desalination (brackish and marine).  The amount and focus of this commitment is unprecedented and, if passed, will indicate a level of support for expanded water infrastructure in Texas not seen in many years. We applaud Senator Perry and Representative King on their efforts to invest in the long-term water infrastructure in Texas.  The Texas Desalination  Association is looking forward to assist both Senator Perry and Representative King in these efforts to supply Texas with this much needed resource.

The session has begun.

Sort of.

Tuesday January 10^th 12 noon, House and Senate members got sworn in and became official.  Representative Dade Phelan (R- Beaumont) was elected Speaker with a vote of 147 to 3.  The 3 went to  Representative Tony Tinderholt (R- Ft Worth). History tells us that members who vote against the eventual Speaker do not necessarily fare well.  Time will tell if this trend continues.  This futile effort was not a surprise.  Representative Tinderholt has not been subtle about his intentions.  He leads a small group of Republican members who feel that the Texas House has not quite completed its starboard tack, Speaker Phelan being the current main impediment in that further shift to the right.       

The complaint or issue de jour for this session is the long-standing habit of appointing a small number of minority party chairman.  This has been a tradition in the Texas House (and Senate) as long as there has been a party in the minority (R or D). While we wait to see the eventual committee assignments in both Houses, there is a good chance that there will be several D chairs in the House at least.  Last session there was only 1 D chairman in the Senate, John Whitmire (D- Houston) who was chair of the Criminal Justice committee.  We should know soon whether that trend continues. 

While the Senate committee assignments should be completed soon, the House will be awhile coming.  House members have been requested to submit their committee preferences by Thursday January 26^th.  The challenge by the Speaker and his team at that point is to arrange the puzzle between members, attempting to align their seniority  requests with the Speaker’s desires and construct committees that can function to accomplish the work that the House needs to complete.  Think of a wall of puzzle sticky note pieces with names on them, being moved around to complete a picture.  Not an easy task considering all that is attempting to be accomplished with the finished picture. 

Water has figured in both Governor and Lt. Governor agendas as well.  It has been many years since water was front and center of the legislative consciousness, this discussion is greatly needed.  With on-going droughts and regular flooding now becoming our new normal, it is time for the state to take a leadership position on water and spend some of this unusual surplus on water infrastructure.

As of today approximately 2,000 bills and resolutions have been filed.  Over 1450 House bills and about 500 Senate bills.  Many dealing with property tax reductions, and, after listening to both the Lt. Governor and Governor inaugural speeches I think it is pretty certain that we will see property taxes reduced.  While it sounds like a significant amount of money most of the proposals would result in less than $200 per year on the average home.  While certainly better than nothing, not by much. 

In addition, both the Governor and the Lt. Governor mentioned (to varying degrees) improving the power grid and school vouchers.  The voucher discussion has never been particularly serious during past sessions with a coalition of rural Republican and Democratic House members coming together to defeat any effort.  While the Governor talked about his support of school choice during the campaign, the Lt. Governor qualified his support with the desire to protect rural communities.  How far this effort progresses remains to be seen.  Regardless, this type of issue manages to remove lots of oxygen from the room and eat up lots of legislative time. 

A number of other issues will also steal time from needed infrastructure discussions including:

Transgender considerations, abortion restrictions, border security, CRT and other red-meat Republican issues. If past is prologue, figure that bills will pass and be signed reflecting these interests. 

The General Appropriations Bills have been filed.  Lots of water still to pass underneath this bridge as this is just a beginning.  Both the House and Senate bills are very similar emphasizing tax relief, school funding, and border security.  While both spend similar amounts they of course differ in the details.  Both bills leave approximately $50 Billion on the table based on Comptroller Hegar’s budget estimate.  127 days till the session over.  Hang on, its going to be a bumpy ride.