Texas Senate

Subject: Property Tax Relief, Senate Bill 3 (SB 3)

• Author: State Sen. Paul Bettencourt (R-Houston)
• TFR Position: Support
• Background: Provides property tax relief to some Texas taxpayers in the form of an increase to the homestead exemption. SB 3 would use $3.4 billion to increase the homestead exemption from $40,000 to $70,000. Using an additional $0.5 billion, SB 3 would also increase the homestead exemption an additional $30,000 to $100,000 total for seniors/disabled. In total, SB 3 would use $3.9 billion. This would result in an estimated annual savings of about $800 for a $350,000 home. For this reason, TFR supports this bill, although we encourage amendments to increase the amount of the exemption to at least that of $100,000 for all of those who have homestead property.

Subject: Property Tax Relief, Senate Bill 5 (SB 5)

• Author: State Sen. Tan Parker (R-Flower Mound)
• TFR Position: Support
• Background: SB 5 provides business owners property tax relief by using $1.05 billion for providing a business inventory tax credit and an additional $0.45 billion for an exemption of $25,000 for business personal property taxes. In total, SB 5 would use $1.5 billion. For this reason, TFR supports SB 5.

Subject: Burdensome Regulation, Senate Bill 58 (SB 58)

• Author: State Sen. Judith Zaffirini (D-Laredo)
• TFR Position: Oppose
• Background: SB 58 creates a new cause of action and ultimately bans the use of bots to obtain goods or services online. Detecting bots would also be very difficult and could pose privacy threats to citizens. In a society that is quickly moving toward AI automation, banning such innovation would be harmful to the progress of this technology and to the free market as a whole. For this reason, TFR opposes SB 58.

Subject: Burdensome Regulation, Senate Bill 384 (SB 384)

• Author: State Sen. Lois Kolkhorst (R-Brenham)
• TFR Position: Oppose
• Background: SB 384 classifies clear aligners, or transparent orthodontic braces, as a medical device, expanding the reach of the government and infringing upon free enterprise. Texas should be moving away from medical regulation, not adding more. If the recent pandemic and the government response taught us anything, it is that people should be able to make their own medical decisions without government intervention. This is especially true when it comes to cosmetic medical devices. This ultimately places undue burdens on businesses, which will interfere with the free market. For this reason, TFR opposes SB 384.

Texas House of Representatives

None

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 a 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 a part of the Fiscal Responsibility Index. We will make every effort to provide notice on amendments that are pre-filed.