Texas Senate

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Texas House of Representatives

Subject: Pro-Taxpayer, House Bill 1301 (HB 1301)

• Author: State Rep. Charlie Geren (R-Fort Worth)
• TFR Position: Support
• Background: HB 1301 seeks to ensure that a property owner who timely files a protest is entitled to have the Appraisal Review Board (ARB) issue an order which is appealable to and reviewable by the district court. HB 1301 would fix an issue where the taxpayer has no ability to appeal to a district court if an ARB refused to issue an appealable order, to begin with. This empowers taxpayers when protesting their property appraisals. For this reason, TFR supports HB 1301.

Subject: Pro-Taxpayer, House Bill 1916 (HB 1916)

• Author: State Rep. Justin Holland (R-Heath)
• TFR Position: Support
• Background: HB 1916 seeks to require certain conservation and reclamation districts to receive written approval from a county commissioners court to issue bonds for a project that would be funded by bonds. Seemingly, HB 1916 only applies to Rockwall County. Currently, there is little oversight over the issuance of bonds by these districts as they are either created by the Texas Legislature or the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), which may result in bonds being issued without the support of taxpayers. HB 1916 would ensure that any would-be proposal is put to taxpayers by requiring the commissioner’s court to support it. Though it would be preferable that the question be put directly to taxpayers via an election, ensuring some elected official has accountability in the process supports taxpayers. For this reason, TFR supports HB 1916.

Subject: Pro-Taxpayer, House Bill 1956 (HB 1956)

• Author: State Rep. Charlie Geren (R-Fort Worth)
• TFR Position: Support
• Background: HB 1956 seeks to increase the amount of attorneys fees that can be recovered by a homeowner who successfully challenges their home appraisal in an appeal of an Appraisal Review Board (ARB) order in front of a court. This potentially could also have the effect of causing appraisal districts to carefully consider appraisals of homes and pay closer attention to taxpayer protests. For these reasons, TFR supports HB 1956.

Subject: Expanding Welfare, House Bill 2402 (HB 2402)

• Author: State Rep. Joe Moody (D-El Paso)
• TFR Position: Oppose
• Background: HB 2402 seeks to add developments that are considered under the federal Section 8 housing program to the definition of “at-risk development” in state law for the purposes of the additional low-income housing credits. HB 2402 aims to increase dependence on welfare programs that provide housing. To solve the housing crisis, Texas should 1) Secure the border, 2) deregulate the market, and 3) not throw even more welfare at an already overburdened social safety net. For this reason, TFR opposes HB 2402.

Subject: Increased Transparency for Information Requests, House Bill 2493 (HB 2493)

• Author: State Rep. Giovanni Capriglione (R-Southlake)
• TFR Position: Support
• Background: HB 2493 seeks to make it clear that if government information is maintained in a searchable or sortable electronic spreadsheet, it must be provided in that format if sought by the requestor and that data dictionaries or other information indicating the type of data held in a particular database field are part of the public record. Moreover, HB 2493 seeks to prohibit a governmental entity from refusing to release electronic information on the grounds that exporting or redacting excepted information will require filtering the data with software regularly used by that entity. HB 2493 seeks to provide additional transparency to taxpayers. For this reason, TFR supports HB 2493.

Subject: Increased Transparency for Information Requests, House Bill 3033 (HB 3033)

• Author: State Rep. Brooks Landgraf (R-Odessa)
• TFR Position: Support
• Background: HB 3033 seeks to ensure a more timely release of information subject to public information law by implementing a number of safeguards, including requiring a governmental body to take action within 30 days after the issuance of an opinion by the attorney general following a request from the governmental body. HB 3033 seeks to provide additional transparency and accountability to taxpayers. For these reasons, TFR supports HB 3033.

Reminder: Vote Notices are provided to both Texas state lawmakers and the general public in advance of Texans for Fiscal Responsibility’s position on issues to be rated as part of the Fiscal Responsibility Index prior to votes being taken in each legislative chamber.

Disclaimer: We reserve the right to consider amendments to legislation that may be introduced without notice as a part of issues to be rated as part of the Fiscal Responsibility Index. We will make every effort to provide notice on amendments that are pre-filed.