Patrick Says Senate Won't Play Along
with House and Abbott Compromise

Extraordinary Session #1

Capitol Inside
May 31, 2023

Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick all but guaranteed a swift start to extraordinary session #2 on Wednesday when he said that the Texas Senate wasn't going to pass a property tax relief bill that the House approved before adjourning the first special session sine die on Tuesday night in the Capitol's west wing.

"If the House thinks after abandoning the Capitol, and walking out on the Special Session, the Senate is going to pass their “take it or leave it” property tax bill without a homestead exemption, they are mistaken," Patrick warned in a tweet late this afternoon. " The Senate is still working. The House can return."

Texas senators have been hamstrung severely in the current session where it would be impossible to pass any legislation with the House not at the Capitol. Patrick and his GOP allies find their potential options severely limited at this point as a consequence of the House's creative maneuvering that pulled the rug from under the Senate Republicans with Governor Greg Abbott as a newfound ally on taxes. Senate Republicans can ratify the House plan that's tailored for Abbott's official call or kill it with a vote or simply by refusing to bring it up in the current special session where their time from this point on will be a waste.

The Senate is a victim of its own greed in the first special session - having taken the liberty to add a homestead exemption hike to a tax reduction plan they sent to the House before going on a two-day break. Abbott ordered lawmakers to act upon "legislation to cut property-tax rates solely by reducing the school district maximum compressed tax rate in order to provide lasting property-tax relief for Texas taxpayers."

But Patrick argued on Wednesday that the homestead exemption fell within the special session's formal agenda that only the governor can set based on legal precedence. Patrick said on Tuesday night House Speaker Dade Phelan and Abbott were confused about the relations between the various roles of government. But Phelan made the call that relegated the Senate tax bill to House graveyard as a measure that defied the governor's operating boundaries for the first special session in a brazen fashion.

The Senate will have to vote against the largest tax cut in Texas history or simply adjourn without a vote on the House bill before Patrick and the Republicans can get a shot at the resurrection of the homestead exemption that's been their centerpiece proposal from the start. proposal in a second special session.

Patrick defended the Senate approach as a sound compromise that would have devoted 70 percent of the pie to tax compression as prescribed by the governor with the remainder reserved for homeowners through an exemption increase. But Phelan held out throughout the regular session for a reduction in appraisal caps that the lieutenant governor vehemently opposed. The House gave up on appraisal caps as a way to get a bill passed and signed into law by the governor.

Patrick excoriated Phelan and the House on Wednesday after ripping the Republican governor the night before.

"Our bill is simple – dedicating about 70% of the $17.6 billion to compression for all properties, with the remaining 30% going to a $100K homestead exemption," Patrick said on Twitter. "The House already unanimously passed the homestead exemption in the regular session; now the House All-Compression Plan takes the homestead exemption away.   No State Representative ever campaigned on taking money from homeowners to give to businesses. The Senate plan gives $1,250 – $1,450 to homeowners. The House’s All-Compression Plan only gives about $740 in tax saving to homeowners."

more to come ...

 
 

 

 
 
 
 
 

 

 

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