The 88th Texas Legislature is in session, and lawmakers, lobbyists and advocacy teams are swirling in the Texas Capitol to compete for a voice in making future legal guidelines.
Since the session began Jan. 10, the Texas Legislature — composed of the Texas Senate and the Texas House of Representatives — has mentioned points starting from gun management to property taxes to the legalization of casinos.
Republicans maintain the bulk in the Legislature, possessing 86 of the 150 House seats and 19 of the 31 Senate seats. For the remainder of the 140-day common session, legislatures will proceed trying to put in writing new legal guidelines and deal with varied state points.
Here are a number of highlights of curiosity.
The funds surplus and housing
This yr, the Texas Legislature is working with a $32.7 billion surplus in its funds, which Gov. Greg Abbott mentioned in his 2023 inauguration speech is the biggest the state has ever seen.
This kind of surplus isn’t frequent, and it’s the primary subject in this year’s session, mentioned Marcus Hendershot, political science assistant professor of instruction.
“One of the nice things about budgets, when you have surpluses, is everybody gets along a little bit better,” Hendershot mentioned.
A main reason for the excess is cash from the state’s quickly rising housing prices, which has resulted from demographic shifts and from massive company investments into the state. As these prices have risen, so has property tax income.
Texas has a number of the nation’s highest property taxes in the nation, in line with Tax-Rates.org.
Legislatures wish to return a number of the surplus to the individuals by placing limits on rising property tax assessments. Whatever occurs, how the session handles property prices instantly impacts renters, as renting prices follow housing worth traits, Hendershot mentioned.
In his inauguration speech, Abbott promised to make use of the funds surplus to supply the biggest property tax reduce in the state’s historical past.
“Make no mistake, that surplus does not belong to government. It belongs to the taxpayers,” he mentioned.
Both the House and the Senate funds estimates advocate allocating $15 billion towards property tax aid over the following two years.
Political science junior Lance Bokinskie mentioned he believes utilizing the excess for property tax aid would have fast short-term penalties for students who will quickly graduate and enter the workforce. Texas has seen a number of generations of younger employees not getting access to homeownership and early wealth constructing.
“The Texas economy is doing well. That’s why that surplus exists,” Bokinskie mentioned. “There’s jobs and, if you combine that with a measure of property tax relief, right when you have a whole generation in the state entering the workforce, that can be huge.”
Investments in schooling
The surplus can also be necessary to students and to the college, because it instantly pertains to funding and tuition, Hendershot mentioned. Last December, six of the state’s largest public college techniques, together with the UT system, requested lawmakers to allocate almost $1 billion towards increased schooling, in line with The Texas Tribune.
In change for the funding, college chancellors pledged to not increase tuition for all undergraduate students in the following two educational years.
The universities additionally requested the state to fund increased schooling worker medical health insurance on the identical charge as different state workers. Currently, the state covers lower than 80% of the speed for state workers, in line with the letter obtained by The Texas Tribune.
In main and secondary public schooling, Republicans and Democrats might agree on devoting extra of the state funds to rising Ok-12 instructor pay as lecturers have gotten a “scarce commodity” inside the state, Hendershot mentioned.
Haley Velasquez, social work and political science senior, mentioned she’d wish to see the excess used for schooling. Because faculty budgets are affected by native taxes, low-income communities typically have much less funding for his or her colleges, resulting in students having fewer alternatives than their high-income counterparts, she mentioned.
“Children are the most important aspect,” Velasquez mentioned. “They’re going to be the next generation, so why not put that funding into education so that the next generation could promote growth in our economy and our policy?”
Legislatures have filed a number of payments advocating for instructor pay raises. One is House Bill 1548, which pushes to offer public colleges an extra $15,000 per full-time workers to be allotted towards lecturers’ wages.
Rodrigo Lizaola, historical past and political science junior, mentioned the very best factor that’s seeking to come out of the session is rising pay for lecturers, which each Republicans and Democrats appear to be open to. He mentioned he thinks they’ll most likely enhance safety and provides lecturers weapons, however he hopes lecturers will profit instantly from the session.
“Public school teachers, specifically middle school and elementary school because I could never be in those jobs, they deserve something,” Lizaola mentioned. “Especially with like, you know, the way that economies has been for like the past year.”
Abortion
Since the final legislative session, the Supreme Court had overturned Roe v. Wade, the federal proper to an abortion, and gave states the ability to ban or enable abortions. In August 2022, Texas enacted a set off legislation that robotically banned all abortions until the mom faces dying or a “substantial impairment of a major bodily function,” in line with earlier Shorthorn reporting.
In 2021’s session, the legislature handed Senate Bill 8, also called the Texas Heartbeat Act, banning abortions as soon as a fetal heartbeat may very well be detected round six weeks and permitting an individual to make use of civil motion in opposition to anybody concerned in an abortion.
This yr, some legislatures have filed payments to develop the exception to abortion. SB 122 would enable abortion if the being pregnant resulted from sexual assault however wouldn’t require the prosecution of the offense or the affected person to file a police or investigative report or forensic proof.
On the opposite hand, some legislatures, just like the proponents of HB 61, search to tighten the state’s abortion legal guidelines. The invoice would prohibit Texas authorities entities from serving to pay for out-of-state abortions.
Hendershot mentioned there is perhaps some hesitancy to push abortion coverage in this session. In final year’s midterm elections, the subject mobilized liberal voters and bumped up turnout in elections, which Republicans would need to keep away from.
However, legislatures might transfer to deal with contraceptives just like the morning-after tablet by introducing new guidelines and laws, he mentioned.
For Velasquez, abortion legal guidelines are one of many foremost points at present going through the state, she mentioned. She mentioned she thinks abortion is well being care, and it’s necessary for ladies to have the ability to make their very own decisions.
LGBTQ+ rights
Laws surrounding the LGBTQ+ neighborhood have stayed on the forefront of the Texas political dialogue.
In the final yr, Abbott has related gender-affirming well being look after transgender youth with baby abuse, and in Arlington, the town council has repeatedly heard discussions about LGBTQ+ books and shows in public libraries, in line with earlier Shorthorn reporting.
Before the session started, lawmakers had filed round three dozen payments focusing on LGBTQ+ individuals, in line with The Texas Tribune. Top precedence amongst these are payments that mirror Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay’’ bill, which limits classroom discussion of LGBTQ+ topics in schools.
One of these, HB 631, aims to prohibit classroom instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity in kindergarten through fifth grade or in a manner that is inappropriate for students by state standards. HB 1155 would extend that threshold to eighth grade.
Uvalde response
Another conversation topic in this session stems from last year’s Uvalde school shooting, which took the lives of 19 elementary schoolers and two teachers.
In response to school shootings, SB 574 seeks to establish a School Violence Victims’ Compensation Fund, which would be fueled by a new tax on the retail sale of firearms and ammunition sold in Texas and allow victims of school gun violence to claim compensation from the state.
Also proposed is SB 145, which would raise the minimum age for renting or buying a firearm from 18 to 21.
Beyond talk of restricting access to guns, legislatures might look at using the budget surplus to improve security and safety at elementary, middle and high schools, Hendershot said.
Aiming to promote school safety, HB 801 would require schools to have only one main public entrance with more secure doors that only specialized personnel can unlock.
Velasquez said she isn’t against guns, but she thinks the current laws could be better. “If we’re gonna have guns, you should teach people more about gun safety or how to train properly.”
In 2021’s session, Abbott signed HB 1927 into legislation, permitting Texans to open carry and not using a background verify or beforehand required coaching, in line with earlier Shorthorn reporting.
Casino legalization
For over 50 years, most playing has been unlawful in Texas, with exceptions together with the state lottery and putting bets on some animal races. However, this session, playing trade lobbyists are anticipated to be lively, Hendershot mentioned.
“They pushed for movement on legalized gambling and gaming last time through, and they’ll be back,” he mentioned.
House Joint Resolution 97 requires a state constitutional modification to the state’s structure which might enable the legalization of casinos and sports activities wagering. If handed by the legislature, the choice would go to voters in November’s election.
Gambling is authorized in 36 states and Washington D.C., in line with the American Gambling Association. The legalization of playing sees combined assist from each Republicans and Democrats.
Hendershot mentioned this session won’t have many huge insurance policies concerning a number of the “red meat” points that exist between Democrats and Republicans.
“It’s going to be a more of a budget orientation because of this big pile of money that they’re going to try to distribute,” he mentioned.
@Shawlings601
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