AUSTIN, Texas – The Texas Senate has once again passed its property tax relief bill. And this time, it includes an amendment by Sen. Roland Gutierrez, D-San Antonio, to give teachers $2,000 to $6,000 bonuses, depending on district size, for the next school year.
“This is work. This is legislative work right here,” said Sen. Gutierrez.
The Senate’s plan would increase the homestead exemption to $100,000, which is the amount of a home’s value that cannot be taxed. It also puts money toward what the House wants, which is to cut school district tax rates.
“It’s an off-the-charts win for Texas teachers who are going to get a homestead exemption because we want them to stay in their home, and they’re going to get a supplemental payment,” said Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston.
The House advanced its own plan out of committee, which only focuses on driving down school district tax rates. This is what Gov. Greg Abbott specifically called for. But with the new amendment to give teachers a bonus, the Senate hopes the House will sign their bill so the chambers can adjourn.
“I’m excited to support a well-deserved pay raise, whether that’s now or in a special session that we expect to have this fall that’s focused specifically on school finance and parent empowerment,” said Rep. Ellen Troxclair, R-Lakeway.
Lawmakers are hopeful a deal is being worked out behind the scenes between Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and House Speaker Dade Phelan.
“The folks that are in charge, they at some point are going to have to talk to each other,” said Rep. Armando Walle, D-Houston.
And Patrick says those discussions will likely happen next week. He said he texted Speaker Phelan to meet in person, signaling there might be an end in sight for the months-long stalemate between the House and Senate to pass a property tax relief plan.
“We reach out to our friends in the House, and we ask them to seriously consider this bill. I look forward to talking to the speaker,” said Lt. Gov. Patrick.
It seems the governor is now open to other options to fulfill his campaign promise of providing homeowners with the biggest property tax cut ever.
“When the House and Senate come to an agreement and send a property tax cut bill to my desk, I will sign it,” he wrote in a tweet.
Until a plan is agreed upon, Texans are left waiting for the money Abbott promised them.
“I know it’s frustrating that it’s taken longer than we all would have liked,” said Rep. Troxclair. “This is a massive amount of money and a huge change in the way that we fund our public schools and manage our tax system in Texas. And so it’s worth taking the time to really get it right.”
Rep. Walle says a compromise will probably be made soon, although he wishes it also included relief for renters. He says he’ll keep pushing for that as a member of the House committee that’s studying sustainable property tax relief. The group is supposed to meet for the first time later this year.
“It’s important that someone like myself has that perspective of working with people, people like renters,” Rep. Walle said. “How do you give relief to those folks that are also contributing to the economy of this state? We can’t just rely on trickle-down economics. We have to be very, very methodical in helping all segments of our population, not just homeowners [and] small businesses, but people that are renters. Those folks also contribute.”
Voters will need to approve a property tax overhaul. There’s an August deadline to get that on the November ballot, so the compromise needs to happen soon.