I was honored to have been re-appointed to Chair the House Ways & Means Committee. As Chair of Ways & Means, I spearheaded the effort to deliver $18 billion to taxpayers in the form of property tax relief- the largest tax cut in Texas history!

The property tax relief legislation compresses school district tax rates by 10.7 cents supplying an additional $7.6 billion of property tax relief for ALL property owners and increased the state’s share of the cost of public education to over 50% for the first time in over a decade. SB 2 also increased the residence Homestead Exemption from $40,000 to $100,000 for approximately 5.7 million homeowners. This means that if you have a Homestead Exemption on your property, the first $100,000 of value is exempted from the taxes that you pay and provides another $4.9 billion of relief for these owners. The landmark legislation also added essential measures to add transparency and accountability to the appraisal process in an effort to shield property owners from runaway appraisals. This includes adding 3 elected members to the Central Appraisal District (CAD) Board of Directors, who will be elected in nonpartisan elections.

Protecting Taxpayers

During the regular session, over 500 bills were referred to the Ways & Means Committee. We held weekly hearings to consider these very important matters.

In addition to the historic tax relief, some highlights of legislation that we were able to pass out of committee and into law include:

• Establishing an effective and transparent statewide Economic Incentive Program to compete with neighboring states and to attract businesses and jobs to Texas
• Doubling the amount of revenue that is exempted from the franchise tax to nearly $2.5 million and eliminating the filing requirement for these businesses
• Eliminating sales and use tax on feminine hygiene products and other maternal products such as diapers, baby wipes, baby bottles, maternity clothing, and breast milk pumping products.
• Prohibiting a Wealth Tax, or any tax based on the wealth or net worth of an individual or family

Over the interim, the committee will conduct several hearings to prepare for the next legislative session. I have also had the honor of being appointed Chair of the Committee on Sustainable Property Tax Relief. Both of my committees will work to promote the economic development of Texas, work to improve the efficiency of the tax collection process, and continue to find avenues for additional property tax relief. As always, I will focus on promoting economic recovery and smart, innovative approaches to tax reform while making sure we fully fund priorities like education and public safety.

The Legislature passed a $321 billion budget which includes $219 billion in state funds and $102 billion in federal funds. The state budget stays well below all Constitutional spending limits while fully funding public education, healthcare needs, supporting businesses by reinforcing infrastructure that is essential for private sector growth, and more. This budget also provides a historic $18 billion in property tax relief statewide as well reducing “Robin Hood” recapture payments.

The budget increases our commitment to our children by appropriating a total of $93.6 billion towards public education. This includes $3.2 billion to fully fund projected enrollment growth, $1.4 billion in new funding for school safety measures, and $307 million in funding increases for technology and instructional materials.

I’m also proud to have been a leader in delivering $20 million in state money to help fund a new state-of-the-art Dallas Regional Law Enforcement Training Facility.

The Texas Legislature continued its commitment to fully funding public education investments made in previous Legislative Sessions. I am proud of the work we have done to support Texas’ public educators and the 5.5 million children who are enrolled in our public education system.

For the upcoming biennium, funding for public education totals just over $93.6 billion. This includes an increase of over $30.3 billion in state General Revenue which includes $18 billion in our property tax relief package. These allocations of state revenue replace local tax collections in the school finance system, which results in the state’s share of public education funding exceeding 50% for the first time in decades and reduces recapture by $5.5 billion.

Additional funding was appropriated by the legislature that provides $1.4 billion for school safety initiatives including grants and increasing the school safety allotment. This also includes additional requirements to keep our schools safer such as panic alarms in every classroom, additional armed security guards and more collaboration between local and state agencies to ensure school safety standards are properly developed and enforced.

While it is important to ensure that public education is fully funded, it is also vital to provide support to teachers and retired teachers. This session we were able to provide $1.6 billion for a one-time supplemental payment (“13th check”) to most retired teachers and $3.4 billion to provide a cost-of-living adjustment increase.

I’m proud of the work I’ve done to further help in the prevention of Sexual Assault and Human Trafficking. We were able to build on legislation passed last session such as the Texas Human Trafficking Taskforce’s omnibus bill, SB 1527, which included multiple recommendations from years-long study and research. It includes expanded protections for victims with disabilities, increased ability for outcry testimonials to be included in trafficking trials and expanded penalties for child pornography charges.

SB 483 targets illicit massage establishments throughout Texas, one of the fastest growing sectors for human trafficking, by increasing requirements for receiving a permit to operate a massage establishment and requiring the State to deny or revoke a license for individuals that enter a plea of no-contest or guilty for a prostitution offense or other related sexual offense. We also passed HB 3536 which allows commercial landlords to terminate a massage therapy lease for an operator not acting in compliance with rules and regulations.

The Legislature also passed HB 2313 which requires rideshare companies to train their drivers annually on ways to identify human trafficking. Traffickers have increasingly been using rideshares as a tool in transporting victims and this bill represents a step forward in combatting these heinous crimes.

This session I authored and passed several laws to improve the lives of Texans, including:

House Bill 1161, which protects child survivors of abduction by making them eligible in Texas’s Address Confidentiality Program. This will help survivors and their families who are especially susceptible to harassment and attempts by perpetrators to initiate unwanted contact, including continued threats of criminal activity, especially in the case of familial abductions. Our office worked with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to pass this priority piece of legislation and to keep survivors’ and their families’ addresses private and confidential.

Senate Bill 129 which updates the State’s outdated child pornography laws by creating a tier system of penalties based on increasing amounts of explicit material. Unfortunately, there are websites that support hundreds of thousands of explicit images with hundreds of thousands of active users. SB 129 reflects current technologies and criminal trends so that law enforcement and prosecutors can efficiently protect the most vulnerable in our society – our children.

House Bill 1506 which increases the statute of limitations for the offense of abandoning or endangering a child, is another piece of legislation we were proud to author and pass this session. The existing statute of limitation for these offenses was only 5 years after the commission of the offense. This was far too short for a child to come forward, so we filed HB 1506 to increase the limitation to 10 years after the victim’s 18th birthday. This new law will help give more time for victims to come forward as they age and understand crimes that may have been committed against them.

House Bill 1769 also seeks to bring more criminals to justice by raising the statute of limitations for the offenses of trafficking a child and inducing a child to engage in sexual performance. In doing so, victims of these horrific crimes will have more time to come forward and speak out and allows more time for the guilty parties to be held accountable for their actions.