AUSTIN, Texas — The fight over property tax relief is getting more personal.

“They didn't give the bird to the Texas Senate, they gave the bird to 5.7 million homeowners,” said Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, R-Texas, during a fiery news conference Tuesday, criticizing a House property tax relief plan backed by Gov. Greg Abbott.

The lieutenant governor did not hold back bashing the House and Speaker Dade Phelan for gaveling out of the special session, and likened their roadmap to one day eliminate property taxes to a pipe dream. Patrick said the governor was given “bad information.”

“There's been a lot of new direction,” he said. “We're going to end all property taxes, and that's a fantasy.”

Patrick criticized the House for refusing to take up what the Senate wants — homestead exemptions. 

“Homeowners weren't thinking about reducing property taxes for shopping centers and offices and every other complex you can think of, or people out of state who own property here,” said Patrick. “They were thinking about themselves. Rightfully so.”

Patrick insisted the state must increase the amount of a home’s value that cannot be taxed. The House’s latest bill does not mention it. 

“Dan Patrick has tried to run the Republican caucus from both House and Senate, and it's grating on a lot of the members, especially to House members,” said Brandon Rottinghaus, political science professor at the University of Houston.

“The governor's reasserted himself as a political player, wants to be seen as the real cornerstone of the Republican Party in Texas,” Rottinghaus continued.

Last week, House lawmakers voted to drive down school district tax rates, the largest chunk of a property tax bill for home and commercial property owners. Some conservatives have touted this approach as a way to eventually wipe out all property taxes in Texas.  

When asked during a separate bill signing Tuesday if he would sign a bill with homestead exemptions, Abbott would only say both chambers need to reach an agreement. He sidestepped a question later about how specific the governor needs to be when designating a topic for a special session.

“What taxpayers of Texas want, they want us to cut their property taxes, period, regardless of process. Get it done,” Abbott said.

Phelan’s spokesperson, Cait Wittman, said the Senate is “keeping Texans waiting.”

“In the big three, if you've got to have two of the three who agree, then that's where the power is. That means the governor and the House have got a lot of sway in this,” Rottinghaus said.

But Patrick disagreed with that notion and said, “not if the two have bad policy.”

The lieutenant governor urged the House to come back and hoped the governor will come around.

And if not, he said, “I invite Gov. Abbott to a Lincoln-Douglas style debate on this issue.”

Maybe we will see a different kind of duel play out next week in the Texas Legislature.