AUSTIN, Texas -- After weeks of delay, the Texas Senate voted Monday to advance legislation that’s meant to slow down the rate at which local property taxes rise.
- Advances with 18-13 vote
- Critics worry about ability to provide public safety services
- House version debate postponed until April 24
The 18-13 vote came without the Lt. Governor using the so-called “nuclear option.” Initially, the legislation lacked the 19 senators generally needed to bring a bill up for debate. That led Lt. Governor Dan Patrick to threaten to upend decades of Senate tradition and use the procedural “nuclear option” to bring the measure to a vote with only a simple majority.
But Monday, the lone Republican dissenter, Sen. Kel Seliger, R-Amarillo, allowed the bill onto the floor for debate even though he said he would not vote in favor of it in the end. He criticized Patrick for even floating the idea of using the “nuclear option.”
“We have a way to do things that I think is important. It underscores that we must be willing to compromise,” Seliger said during a lengthy floor speech explaining his decision.
SB2 originally sought to require cities, counties and other taxing units to receive voter approval before levying 2.5 percent more property tax revenue than the previous year. A substitute for the bill now sets that election trigger at 3.5 percent for all taxing units except school districts, which remain at 2.5 percent.
Democrats and Seliger, as well as city and county leaders, have strongly opposed that low of a cap saying it would cripple local governments’ ability to provide public safety services.
Democratic senators proposed dozens of amendments during Monday’s debate but most failed largely along party lines.
The House was also expected to take up its version of the bill Monday but has postponed debate until April 24.
