There are just three days left in the 86th Legislative Session and it looks like a deal has been reached on school finance reform and property tax relief. On Thursday, Governor Greg Abbott, Lt. Governor Dan Patrick and Speaker of the House Dennis Bonnen held a joint press conference to declare a victory on boosting the state’s share of funding going to education and giving taxpayers property tax relief.
The Big 3 highlighted the work completed by the House Bill 3 conference committee, a plan that will inject $4.5 billion more into the state’s public education system and provide $5 billion in property tax relief. The plan includes lowering the school property tax rates by an average of 8 cents per $100 in home value in 2020 and by 13 cents in 2021. Teachers across the state will also get a pay raise. Roughly $2 billion of the $4.5 billion for education would be earmarked for boosting compensation for teachers, nurses, counselors and librarians. The bill will allow school districts the flexibility to determine what works best for their needs which could include merit and incentive pay.
The plan also funds full-day pre-K for low-income students, creates the first dyslexia identification program in Texas history and establishes a “do not hire” registry, a list that would help administrators determine if a person should or should not be hired based on prior sexual misconduct. The state would send more money to schools with higher concentrations of under-served students including dropouts and students in special education. The plan also increases the base amount of money the state spends per student by more than $1,000 to $6,160.
The bill still needs the approval of the House and Senate before the legislative session ends Monday. We hear it may be taken up as early as tomorrow, so we will be watching. Click here to see the press conference.
In other actions, the House soundly defeated Senate Bill 29 by a vote of 85-58, that would have prohibited cities and counties from lobbying at the Capital on fiscal matters. House Bill 3143, the bill to reauthorize Chapter 312 passed 30 - 1 but unfortunately included a 30-date public notice. Senate Bill 10, the Mental Health Consortium Bill and Senate Bill 11, the Comprehensive School Safety Measures Bill were combined into one bill and passed.
Unfortunately, Senate Bill 2487, the Paid Sick Leave bill, stalled in House Calendars and never made it to the floor for a vote. Preempting Paid Sick Leave was a top priority for Governor Abbot, and it is unfortunate that with a Republican Governor, Senate, and House this could not be accomplished. Your Chamber made preempting paid sick leave our top priority and fought hard at the State Capitol to emphasize the devastating impacts to small-and-medium size businesses.
Denise Hernandez of True Flavors testified in support of Senate Bill 15 before Sen. Brandon Creighton split the bill into four smaller bills and got them all passed individually in the Senate. President and CEO Richard Perez testified at that hearing on behalf of the San Antonio Chamber and the Metro 8 Chambers and requested an explicit carveout to protect local nondiscrimination ordinances (NDOs). That language is was ultimately led to the bill being stalled and never debated on the floor. See Statement from our President and CEO Richard Perez on Paid Sick Leave.
The members were working late into the evening on Wednesday voting on bills in their respective chambers. Your Chamber will continue to watch closely, as this is the time where members try to tack on amendments with bills that failed earlier in session. With conference committee reports due this week, we should have a clear idea as to whether we can expect the Governor to call a special session. We will keep you posted.
Please contact Stephanie Reyes, VP of Policy at sreyes@sachamber.org with any questions.
