Status quo holds in the Texas Senate

      by Matthew Watkins, The Texas Tribune

      November 8, 2016

While a few new faces will be added to the Texas Senate, the partisan makeup of the upper chamber will stay the same — 20 Republicans and 11 Democrats will take the floor when the Legislature convenes in January.  

The nine contested Senate races on the 2016 general election ballot turned out as expected. In Senate District 24, Republican Dawn Buckingham of Austin beat Democrat Jennie Lou Leeder by a wide margin in the only open seat that was contested by both major parties. Buckingham, who defeated state Rep. Susan King in the GOP primary runoff, will replace Sen. Troy Fraser, R-Horseshoe Bay, who will retire at the end of his current term.  

Buckingham was leading 73 percent to 27 percent with 59 percent of precincts reporting, which includes roughly 20,000 square miles and goes from the northwest suburbs of Austin up to Abilene. 

"I am humbled to be the first woman elected to represent Senate District 24, and the first Republican elected to the Texas Senate from Travis County in our state’s history,” Buckingham said in a statement. “We started this run for the Texas Senate to make a positive impact on the lives of millions of Texans. We thank the Lord our God for His guidance, for our friends who believed in us, and for our family and staff who sacrificed with us along the way.” 

She'll join state Rep. Bryan Hughes, R-Mineola, among newcomers in the Senate. Hughes, who didn't face a general election opponent, will replace Sen. Kevin Eltife, R-Tyler, who retired after the most recent session.  

The only other non-incumbent poised to win a seat is Democratic state Rep. Borris Miles of Houston, who will take the Senate District 13 seat vacated by Rodney Ellis. Miles' only opponent was Libertarian Joshua Rohn, who was trailing 93 percent to 7 percent with 88 percent of precincts reporting.  

Three other incumbents faced major party opponents on the ballot. Sen. Carlos Uresti, D-San Antonio, defeated Republican Peter Flores. He led 56 percent to 41 percent with 85 percent of precincts reporting. Sen. Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa, D-McAllen, led Republican Velma Arellano 68 percent to 32 percent with 55 percent of precincts reporting. And Sen. Brian Birdwell, R-Granbury, defeated Democrat Michael Collins. Birdwell was up 70 percent to 30 percent, with 90 percent reporting. 

The rest of the senators in contested races are cruising to victory against third-party opponents. They are Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe; Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound; Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, and Sen. José Menéndez, D-San Antonio. 

Experts said that the status quo will hold in large part because of the size and shape of Texas Senate districts. Most boundaries are drawn in a way that makes the incumbent Democrat or Republican a huge favorite each election. And the districts are so large and expensive to campaign in that challengers are disincentivized from mounting what looks like a quixotic bid.   

     This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2016/11/08/texas-senate-election-results/.

State Leaders Ask Agencies to Cut Budgets by 4 Percent

  by Patrick Svitek, The Texas Tribune

  July 1, 2016

 Texas' top elected officials are asking state agencies to scale back their budget requests by 4 percent, seeking to further rein in state spending for the 2018-2019 cycle. 

In a letter dated Thursday, Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and House Speaker Joe Straus said agencies should propose the 4 percent reduction as a "starting point for budget deliberations."  

"Limited government, pro-growth economic policies and sound financial planning are the key budget principles responsible for Texas' economic success," the three wrote. "It is imperative that every state agency engage in a thorough review of each program and budget strategy and determine the value of each dollar spent." 

The letter hints at some priorities for lawmakers heading into next session, making several exceptions to the 4 percent cut. They include funds for public schools, border security, Child Protective Services and mental health resources. The exemptions also include public-employee pensions, Medicaid and dollars needed to meet debt service requirements for bond authorizations. Agencies are also being asked to submit information about zero-based budgeting, a practice in which all expenses must be justified in a new cycle. Patrick and state Sen. Jane Nelson, a Flower Mound Republican who chairs the Finance Committee, have been proponents of zero-based budgeting.  

Overall, the letter makes a plea for holding back the growth of state government as Texas continues to deal with a downturn in the oil and gas industry.   

"Due to the slowdown in parts of our economy, some difficult decisions will be required to balance the next state budget, and the process of making those decisions begins now," Straus said in a separate statement. 

The directive to agencies is the first step in the process of coming up with a spending plan for the next two years. Later this summer, agencies will send their requests to the Legislative Budget Board, which will review the proposals ahead of the 2017 session. 

This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at http://www.texastribune.org/2016/07/01/state-leaders-ask-agencies-cut-budgets-4-percent/.

Analysis: No Political Benefit if Voters Can't Feel Tax Relief

  by Ross Ramsey, The Texas Tribune

  July 1, 2016

If a state officeholder of any political persuasion promises to cut your property taxes, demand proof.

They made their most recent attempt during last year’s legislative session with a constitutional amendment increasing the homestead exemption. Their hope was that school property tax bills would drop.

Voters approved the amendment in November, giving the average homeowner a $126 tax break.

Hey, if you can’t make it rain, make it sprinkle.

Lawmakers tried the rain thing back in 2006, rewriting property and franchise and other tax laws to bring relief to taxpayers.

State Sen. Paul Bettencourt, a Republican who was Harris County’s tax assessor-collector at the time, watched the benefit get swallowed by “appraisal creep” — the steady increase of property values in a booming state.

This is the problem for Texas lawmakers. They want to get a leash on property taxes statewide, even though there is no state property tax. It requires them to restrain local governments. The local governments, with plenty of evidence, point to expensive state government mandates that drive up their costs.

Your governments, taken together, operate as a circular finger-pointing squad.

Bettencourt and other state lawmakers are working on new proposals for state-imposed limits on increases in local property taxes.

But Texas lawmakers don’t set property tax rates or control increases in the market values of taxable real estate — so they’ve never really been able to keep their promises of relief.

Relief itself has a definition problem. What lawmakers mean isn’t necessarily what you mean. “Relief is when you limit the increase in the tax,” Bettencourt says. “A cut is when you actually lower it.”

What Bettencourt and his colleagues are suggesting is relief.

“The real answer is that the rate of increase becomes livable because what we’re at now is not,” Bettencourt says. “Whether it’s Lubbock, the Valley, you name it, Houston, go wherever you want to go — they just can’t stand the rate of increase.”

Texas puts a heavier load on property owners than all but a handful of other states. We’ve all heard tales of people — particularly those on fixed incomes — whose rising property taxes forced them out of their homes and into cheaper digs. The prosperity in Texas hasn’t helped in this regard, since it has fueled fast increases in property values in many parts of the state.

Politicians in office have attempted to respond to that.

• Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick sent the Senate Finance Committee this homework assignment (among others) to complete before the next legislative session begins in January: “Study the property tax process, including the appraisal system, and recommend ways to promote transparency, simplicity, and accountability by all taxing entities;” and this: “Examine and develop options to further reduce the tax burden on property owners.”

Imagine, if you’re especially good with small numbers, the Texas taxpayers whose need for property tax relief was fulfilled by the increased homestead exemption now written into the state Constitution.

• In the House, property tax relief appears in the instructions on school finance for the Public Education Committee, in a directive on special district bonds and how to pay them off and in House Speaker Joe Straus' charge to the tax-writing Ways & Means Committee: “Review aspects of the property tax system that contribute to rising property tax levies and taxpayer dissatisfaction. Examine whether the current system allows taxpayers meaningful participation in determining local property tax rates. Explore changes to the appraisal process that could improve the accuracy of appraisals.”

• State leaders would also like to know who ate their previous homework, as you can see in another of their interim projects: “Monitor implementation of the increased residence homestead exemption as approved by the voters in Proposition 1. Determine the amount of property tax relief for homeowners, taking into account increases in appraisals and local property tax rates. Additionally, determine the cost to the state to make up the revenue loss for school districts.”

The political benefits of that constitutional amendment were even smaller than the average $126 tax cut. Imagine, if you’re especially good with small numbers, the Texas taxpayers whose need for property tax relief was fulfilled by the increased homestead exemption now written into the state Constitution.

If voters can’t feel relief, there’s no political benefit.

If lawmakers do something property owners can feel, they will feel the result at the polls.

Sure, other things are more important to voters, like immigration and border security. But if you go to town halls with Bettencourt or anyone else in the Texas Legislature, you’ll hear about property taxes.

Maybe nobody in office will ever get credit for mending property taxes, but they are getting the blame. This is going to be a problem for incumbents until voters are pacified.

And it’s going to be a problem for the voters until the lawmakers find a genuine remedy.

This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at http://www.texastribune.org/2016/07/01/analysis-convincing-texas-property-taxpayers-theyv/.

Report: Not Enough Done Since West Explosion

by Kiah Collier

Texas Tribune

Jan. 28, 2016

 The Texas Legislature’s efforts to beef up state oversight and avert deadly disasters like the 2013 West fertilizer plant explosion have been “not entirely adequate,” the federal Chemical Safety Board says in its final report on the disaster.

The 265-page report, released Thursday, describes in extensive detail every misstep leading to the disaster nearly three years ago that killed 15 people — mostly first responders — and injured more than 260 in the tiny, Czech-settled town of West. The accompanying list of recommendations — targeting agencies at every level of government along with professional organizations and the fertilizer plant owners — is extensive and reveals that any inaction to prevent future ammonium nitrate-related catastrophes has not been limited to the state Capitol. 

Many of the safety board's recommendations are for federal agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, despite an executive order already issued by President Obama that such entities improve safety at facilities handling the explosive material. 

The West disaster "is one of the most destructive explosions ever investigated by the CSB,” safety board chairwoman Vanessa Allen Sutherland said in a statement. The safety board “found that limited regulatory oversight, poor hazard awareness, inadequate emergency planning, and the proximity of the facility to nearby homes and other buildings all led to the incident’s severity.”

Whether the report will result in any changes is questionable, however. The safety board has the power to investigate chemical accidents but has no enforcement authority.

The report found that 83 percent of the 40 facilities in Texas that store fertilizer grade ammonium nitrate still are located within a quarter mile of a residence. The statistics are similar for other states, it noted, warning of future disasters across the nation absent further action.

The April 17, 2013 catastrophe in West began with a fire at the locally owned Adair Grain and West Fertilizer Company and ended with a massive explosion that leveled a substantial portion of the small town 18 miles north of Waco on Interstate 35. Dozens of homes, an apartment complex, a nursing home, the town’s intermediate school and the fertilizer depot itself were destroyed or severely damaged.

Volunteer firefighters responding to the blaze were unaware that the ammonium nitrate stored inside could explode, and lacked training on how to handle such hazardous materials, the safety board report concluded, going on to recommend further training. If the incident had occurred during the day, when school was in session, hundreds of people likely would have died, the safety board found.

The exact cause of the explosion was never identified, although state fire investigators pinpointed either arson or faulty electrical systems. Several lawsuits against the plant are still pending. 

Despite the death and devastation, Republican state lawmakers have been skeptical of imposing additional regulations on the fertilizer industry or making other changes to protect the public.

After West, some legislation passed authorizing fire officials to inspect ammonium nitrate facilities and fine them as much as a few thousand dollars if they found hazards. But more substantial bills filed by Democrats never gained traction, including one that would have imposed penalties for improper storage of ammonium nitrate and created a rule-making authority on ammonium nitrate facilities. 

The changes to state law so far are “important first steps in recognizing the potential catastrophic hazards of (fertilizer grade ammonium nitrate) under certain conditions,” the safety board report says. “However, they are not entirely adequate.”

One bill passed last year, House Bill 942, “simply codified existing state hazardous chemical reporting requirements," rather than strengthening them, according to the report, which is dedicated to the 15 people who died in the West explosion.

State agencies and entities targeted in the report include the Texas Department of Insurance, the Texas Commission on Fire Protection, the State Firefighters’ and the Fire Marshals’ Association of Texas. 

The safety board will present its finding to the public Thursday evening in Waco. 

TxDOT Planning $1.3 Billion to Reduce Traffic in Largest Cities

 By Madlin Mekelburg, The Texas Tribune

 January 27, 2016

The Texas Transportation Commission unveiled a $1.3 billion plan Wednesday targeted at reducing traffic congestion on some of the most clogged Texas roadways. 

 The plan calls for the Texas Department of Transportation to direct funds for 14 roadway projects specifically designed to relieve gridlock around the state's five largest cities: Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, Austin and Fort Worth. 

 “On average, Texas drivers are losing about 52 hours annually and over $1,200 annually,”  said J. Bruce Bugg Jr.,  a member of the Texas Transportation Commission. “In order to tackle this, what we decided to do is focus on the five major metropolitan areas." 

In September, Gov. Greg Abbott called on the commission to develop a plan to address traffic congestion, citing the potential for "business growth and job creation" if roadways were less crowded.  

The largest amount of state funding — $262 million — is going toward relieving congestion on parts of I-35 and U.S. 67 in Dallas. Another $210 million is also going toward I-10 in Houston. 

The proposal also allocates $148.6 million toward three different projects on I-35 in Austin, a portion of which topped TxDOT's most recent annual list of the 100 most congested roadways in the state. 

While TxDOT regularly allocates funding for road projects around the state, the size of Wednesday's announcement and the focus on the state's five largest cities was unusual.  

Bugg said the agency is focusing on cities because they are home to two-thirds of the state's total population, which means they also possess some of the most jam-packed roads.  

"Kind of a corollary of being home to two-thirds of the Texas population, those five major metropolitan areas are also home to 99 percent of Texas’ top 100 congested roads," Bugg said.  

Bugg said Wednesday's proposal is only the initial phase of a larger effort by TxDOT to clear Texas roads, something that would require further funding down the line.  

"Our goal and objective of this initial phase of funding is to get projects working as soon as possible so that Texas taxpayers that get behind the wheel of their car everyday will understand that we’re serious about showing Texas taxpayers congestion relief as soon as possible," he said. 

State lawmakers have taken multiple steps since 2013 to address a shortfall in funding for road construction and maintenance, collectively adding billions annually to the state's highway fund. The most recent change came in November, when Texas voters overwhelmingly approved a change to the state’s Constitution to direct some of the taxes collected on car sales to road construction and maintenance. 

 This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at http://www.texastribune.org/2016/01/27/commissioner-unveils-anti-congestion-initiative/.