WEEK IN REVIEW
SENATE ADVANCES SESSION AGENDA DESPITE QUORUM BREAK
(AUSTIN) — With more than 50 House Democrats leaving the state to break quorum in the House, halting consideration of a controversial mid-decade redistricting map, anything passed by the Senate cannot reach the governor’s desk. In case the House can re-establish a quorum – or in anticipation of additional called sessions – the Senate nevertheless moved a number of significant bills, including its own redistricting bill, SB 4. That map, identical to the version passed by a House committee earlier in the session, would add five Republican seats to the state congressional delegation and will be taken up on the Senate floor next week, said Lt. Governor Dan Patrick.
Bills passed off the floor this week include SB 9, by Houston Senator Paul Bettencourt, which would reduce the threshold at which cities and counties must seek voter approval for property tax increases. The “voter approved rate” was changed from eight percent in 2019 to 2.5 percent for school districts and 3.5 percent for municipalities. Since then school tax rates have seen a dramatic decrease in growth, from 19 percent on average to 3 percent. “That 2.5 percent [threshold] has served us well over time, reducing property tax levies and therefore property tax bills for school taxes across the state,” he said. Cities and counties, however, have shown much less dramatic changes, with city tax growth only down a single percent in the last five years, and county levies actually up almost a percentage point. SB 8 would put municipalities at the 2.5 percent rollback rate, the same as school taxes.
The Senate also approved SB 7, by Galveston Senator Mayes Middleton, which would effectively ban transgender individuals from using sex segregated facilities based on their gender expression. Instead, they’d have to use facilities commensurate with the sex listed on their birth certificate. Middleton says this is a common sense bill. “Women and children deserve safety, dignity, and privacy in spaces that are meant for them,” he said. The proposed law would only apply to public facilities, and those entities could face fines for not enforcing the law: $5,000 for a first offense and $25,000 for additional offenses. Middleton said governmental entities could avoid the fines by acquiescing to the policy with in 3 days of notice of violation.
In committee this week, the Senate Education Committee approved a bill that would get rid of end-of-course STAAR examinations in favor of three smaller tests designed to track student learning and growth over the course of the year. Parents, teachers, and students alike have expressed displeasure with the amount of time and worry that goes into the yearly exams. The new system contemplated in SB 8, also by Bettencourt, would have smaller exams, intended to take less than an hour, administered at the beginning, in the middle, and at the end of the school year. Results must get back to teachers and parents within 48 hours, providing critical feedback on where students are excelling and where they are falling behind. “It’s going to enable teachers to teach the students, and not ‘teach to the test’,” said Bettencourt.
Friday, Senate Select Committee on Disaster Preparedness and Flooding advanced two bills that seek to lessen the impact of future flash flooding on communities following the historic July 4th Hill Country floods that took the lives of 138 Texans, including 28 campers and counselors at a summer camp located along the Guadalupe River. SB 1 and SB 2, by Lubbock Senator Charles Perry and Bettencourt respectively, would require installation of warning systems, including sirens, in flood prone areas. The legislation would also require mandatory evacuation to higher ground for summer camps located in the 100-year flood plain whenever a flood warning is issued for the area. The bill also requires more rigorous evacuation plans for summer camps, and modifies the existing emergency management systems to ensure better continuity of command and better coordination of volunteers.
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