Volume 46 | January 20, 2023

Coalition news & updates

Days to Sine Die - 128

Session has officially begun and while there was an attempt to unseat Rep. Dade Phelan as the Speaker of the House by Rep. Tony Tinderholt, only three reps voted in Tinderholt's favor. Rep. Phelan took the oath shortly after the vote and will serve his second term as Speaker of the House.

The Capitol is buzzing that Senate Committee assignments may come out tomorrow or next week, but we don't expect the House Committee assignments to be released until the end of next month.

Some quick updates:

Due to redistricting, the Senate drew straws (or actually drew envelopes with pill shaped cards that had an even or an odd number) to determine if they would serve 2 or 4 year terms. You can see who will serve which terms here. For our Bexar County area Senators - Senator Campbell will serve two years, Senators Gutierrez, Menéndez, Flores, and Zaffirini will serve four years.

The House has released the first version of the state's budget - House Bill 1. You can read the 1033 page budget here. I recommend the slightly less dense Legislative Budget Board summary found here and/or the items to note provided below.

The Senate has also released their preliminary funding recommendations here and the LBB summary here. As this is an even numbered session, the House starts budgetary discussions and the final budget will be "HB 1."

The Senate unanimously adopted a resolution to take up redistricting again. There is a lawsuit asserting that since the Legislature took up redistricting in a special session it was done too soon after the US census was completed (the Texas constitution requires redistricting to be taken up during a regular session). Read more about the resolution, the upcoming hearings, and how it probably won't change the maps that much here.

The Governor and Lt. Governor were inaugurated earlier this week. You can read the Governor's remarks (including an extended Texas Our Texas metaphor) here and watch the Lt. Governor's remarks here.

As education bills begin to move through the process, I will capture summaries here. See below a few bills to note (five of the ones listed below were shared during the last RAC, I've added two more - Thank you Deb for flagging them)

Important Dates for the 88th Legislative Session

Friday, March 10, 2023 - 60-day deadline for bill filing
Monday, May 29, 2023 - Last day of 88th Regular Session (sine die).

House Bill 1 - The Budget

With a record-breaking amount of money available for the budget, Texas lawmakers have a lot of groups coming to the Capitol this session to ask for their piece of the $188.2 billion pie. Furthermore, the Governor stated during his recent inaugural address that he would make the largest property tax break in Texas History.

Thanks to Amanda Browson at TASBO for her speedy review, here are some quick summary points about the recently released House Bill 1:

Golden penny guaranteed yield in Tier 2 is increased from the current $98.56 to $126.21 in FY 2024 and to $129.52 in FY 2025. This represents the state's estimate of what was needed to comply with statutory requirements to keep pace with the 96th percentile of property wealth per WADA.

A total of $15 billion is appropriated for property tax relief in Rider 81. This is comprised of two parts:

$5.3 billion for reducing the MCR (Tier 1 portion of the tax rate) by 7.75% in addition to the reduction called for by the comptroller's estimated property value growth in Rider 3; and
$9.7 billion through a constitutionally dedicated fund for additional property tax relief (the mechanism for this is to be determined, but could include an increased homestead exemption, further reductions in the Tier 1 tax rate, etc.).

The Instructional Materials Allotment is increased to $1.05 billion

Rider 82 promises increased school funding in a yet to be determined amount through some combination of mechanisms that could include a basic allotment increase, an increase in the instructional materials allotment, increased teacher pay, an increased school safety allotment, and in increase in the teacher incentive allotment.

The bill signals an intent to spend $600 million in the current biennium on school safety, but the actual appropriation for funding in the current biennium will need to come in the supplemental appropriations bill to be filed later.

Page 30 in this summary shows the amount remaining under the spending cap, which they estimate to be $4 billion under the tax spending limit. This amount could change if the legislature decides to appropriate more funding in the current biennium, thus increasing the base.

Important Dates for the 88th Legislative Session

Friday, March 10, 2023 - 60-day deadline for bill filing
Monday, May 29, 2023 - Last day of 88th Regular Session (sine die).

Bills to Note

Bill #	Author	Caption	Summary	Notes
HB 29	Murr	Relating to the elimination of school district maintenance and operations ad valorem taxes and the creation of a joint interim committee on the elimination of those taxes	eliminating M&O, keeping enrichment, forming committee to understand if consumption (sales) tax could replace M&O	Non-official draft (no lege council signature) - wanted low bill number
HB 31	Hinojosa	Relating to the use of average enrollment for purposes of the public school finance system	replaces "average attendance" with "average enrollment"	Non-lege council draft
HB 37	González, M	Relating to the creation of the Texas Commission on Assessment and Accountability.	Creates commission modeled after the school finance and special education commissions. Report would be due December 2024. Commission must include ways for the accountability system to go beyond standardized test measures.	Non-lege council draft
HB174	Oliverson	Relating to the allocation and deposit of certain surplus state revenue to the property tax relief fund for use in reducing school district maintenance and operations ad valorem taxes.	Deposits 90% of GR funds above 104 percent of the total amount of general rev funds receiveds during the preceding biennium
HB185	González, M	Relating to the inclusion of chronically absent students as students at risk of dropping out of school and the collection and reporting of data regarding those students.	Adds chronically absent students to at-risk category; defines as more than ten days absent in six-week grading period
HB 221	Toth	Relating to a requirement that an election for a member of a board of trustees of an independent school district is partisan.	Requires candidate to disclose the political party they are aligned with and if they are not aligned with a political party to state that on application; also moves election to general election date for state and county officers and only allows for four year terms with elections occurring biennially with one half of board being up for election.
SB 43	Zaffrini	Relating to business days for purposes of the public information law.	Defines"business day" as a day other than a Saturday or Sunday, a federal holiday, a state holidays, certain religious holidays (if the PIA officers observes said holidays). Also allows an ISD to designate no more than ten nonbusiness days via board vote
SB 425	Paxton	Relating to a school district's use of public money to pay fees or dues or provide compensation to a nonprofit state association or organization that engages in certain lobbying activities.	Specifically prohibits utilizing public money to join a nonprofit state association that lobbies for school boards