Latest news with #SB23
Yahoo
30-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Two bills that could raise homestead tax exemptions head to the governor's desk
TYLER, Texas (KETK)- Two bills raising homestead exemptions are headed to Governor Abbott's desk and to voters this November. 'This is real relief for working families, every Texas homeowner will see their exemption raised dramatically,' State Sen. Carol Alvarado (D), Houston, said. Senate Bill 4 is set to increase the homestead exemption from $100,000 to $140,000 for all Texas homeowners. 'So everybody can get a $40,000 extra exemption,' Smith County Tax Assessor-Collector Gary Barber said. Longtime federal prosecutor named acting U.S. Attorney for Eastern District of Texas Barber explains it could mean more savings for East Texans' property tax bills. 'If you're in Tyler Independent School District and we're using last year's tax rate, see last year's value, a $40,000 increase in the exemption would save you $364 on your tax bill,' Barber said. The rise in the exemption will be applied to the portion of the bill that goes to local school districts. 'This is only for the schools, the ISD portion of the tax bill, but it just increases that exemption given another additional $40,000,' Smith County Appraisal District, chief appraiser, Carol Ncneil said. SB 23 is also up for a signature and an election, it would raise the homestead exemption for the disabled and seniors from $10,000 to $60,000. 'Property owners will see an additional exemption come off for the over 65 as well,' Ncneil said City of Tyler approves ordinance to decrease hazards near airport Local realtor Dee Martin reacts, she believes this will be great for both homeowners and those looking to buy a house. 'That's going to help,' Realtor Dee Martin said. 'It'll enable people to, you know, be able to get into a home maybe that might not be able to otherwise.' While most are supportive of tax relief for homeowners, some lawmakers think they could have done more. 'Because by only increasing exemptions, it actually puts inflationary pressure on property tax rates,' Rep. Brian Harrison (R), Waxahachie, said. Next, the bills will be reviewed by the Texas governor. Voters will be asked in November to approve those amendments. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Down to the wire: A look at some of the late-session action in the Texas Capitol
As the Texas legislative session heads into its final two-week sprint, the House and Senate are accelerating the passage of bills as several procedural deadlines loom. Here's a look at some of the action in the Capitol on Tuesday. The House advanced legislation to cut property taxes by raising the homestead exemption to a record $140,000 — or $150,000 for senior citizens — which would be deducted from the taxable value of an owner's property when calculating school district property taxes. The lower chamber slightly modified Senate Bill 4, meaning it must be returned to the upper chamber after it clears the House on final reading Wednesday before it can be sent to the governor's desk. The vote in both chambers was unanimous. A companion measure, Senate Joint Resolution 2, also passed, meaning Texas voters will approve or reject the tax cuts in a constitutional amendment election in November. Separate legislation, SB 23, which passed the House without a dissenting vote, would raise the homestead exemption by an additional $60,000 for homeowners who are 65 and older or are disabled. Despite a fervent plea from Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, the Republican who presides over the Senate, the House delayed taking action on legislation to ban products containing THC, the intoxicating element in marijuana. More: As heat turns up in Texas Legislature, here's how a senior Houston lawmaker keeps the House cool The Senate has already passed its version of the measure, Senate Bill 3, but a House committee has approved legislation that would instead add more regulations. The night before the House was set to vote, Patrick posted an 8-minute video on social media targeting grassroots Republicans to pressure lawmakers into strengthening the bill. "We must ban THC," Patrick said in the video posted to X on Monday night. "We can regulate it. We don't have enough police to check every store when there are 8-9,000 of them. 'I've been here for 17 years at the Texas Capitol, 10 years as your lieutenant governor, and I've never been more passionate about anything. I'm not going to leave Austin until we get this done.' The House postponed consideration of SB 3 as an amendment circulated that would have brought its version of the proposal closer to Patrick's liking several times Tuesday, before recessing for the day without calling the legislation to the floor for debate. It remains unclear when the bill will be considered Senate Bill 3070, which would dissolve the Texas Lottery Commission but keep the games running under new management, won passage in the House State Affairs Committee. More: Senate OKs bill to overhaul embattled Texas lottery: 'They have a two-year lease on life' The lottery, which would be overseen by the Texas Commission on Licensing and Regulation under SB 3070, has been in the Legislature's crosshairs for much of the year over its "under the radar" acceptance of third-party brokers that sell game tickets through smartphone apps. Patrick had threatened to offer legislation to outright abolish the enterprise that brings about $2 billion a year to state coffers, but he decided to back the games' proposed overhaul instead. A measure that would provide student loan repayments for qualifying mental health professionals prompted a debate over whether the state would be underwriting gender-affirming care that ended up delaying a vote. The bill, SB 646, passed the Republican-controlled Senate by a 28-8 vote, but several House Republicans asserted that some mental health professionals support gender-affirming care for minors. The bill makes no mention of the controversial topic. "There are many school counselors that are preying on our children," said Rep. Brent Money, R-Greenville. Democratic Rep. Mary Gonzalez of El Paso, however, countered that public schools are having difficulty recruiting and retaining counselors, and suggested that a loan-forgiveness program could prompt more students to enter the profession. "If you agree there's a crisis, let's solve this crisis," Gonzalez said. The House reconvenes at 10 a.m. Wednesday. The Senate comes back at 11 a.m. The 2025 Legislature will finally adjourn June 2. This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Here's a look at some of the late-session action in the Texas Capitol
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Property tax cuts for homeowners set for Texas House vote
AUSTIN (Nexstar) – Lawmakers in the Texas House are set to vote on a package of legislation that aims to cut property taxes for homeowners in the state. The House calendar calls for votes on two bills and two constitutional amendments to increase the state's homestead exemption, which is the amount of a home's value that is not subject to property taxes. House members will consider Senate Bill 4, which calls for raising the homestead exemption for all homeowners from $100,000 to $140,000. Supporters of SB 4 said the increase could save the average Texas homeowner nearly $500 annually in taxes. Senate approves $140K homestead exemption to increase property tax relief The House is also scheduled to take up Senate Bill 23, which would provide an additional raise to the homestead exemption for those 65 and older. It would raise the additional homestead exemption for elderly and disabled homeowners from $10,000 to $60,000. That's on top of the current $100,000 exemption for Texas homeowners. Both SB 4 and SB 23 require amendments to the Texas Constitution to take effect. The House is also scheduled to vote on corresponding resolutions to put the issues before Texas voters in November. If SB 23 passes in tandem with SB 4, the total homestead exemption for elderly and disabled homeowners would rise to $200,000. Bill author Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston estimates that the increased exemption will save the average over-65 or disabled homeowner more than $950 annually in property taxes. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
House rejects stiffening penalties for child endangerment
In a surprise move, the New Hampshire House of Representatives killed a Senate-passed bill (SB 23) stiffening criminal penalties for child welfare endangerment after critics claimed it could have held parents liable for injuries suffered during physical activity. The legislation would have made putting a child at imminent risk of serious health risk or death willful endangerment — up to a Class A felony — punishable by up to 7½ to 15 years in state prison. Currently, the crime is a Class A misdemeanor that carries up to a year in county jail. State Rep. Jack Flanagan, R-Brookline, led the opposition to the legislation that had the unanimous support of the House Children and Family Law Committee. 'If you read the wording of this bill, the parents who allowed them to get injured or die, they could be in jail,' Flanagan charged. 'If you had a swing set and they went too high and got hurt, they could be in jail.' Rep. Alicia Gregg, D-Nashua, denied that was the case and said this was a 'long overdue update' of the state child endangerment statute that local law enforcement had asked the Legislature to consider. 'Let me be absolutely clear. This bill does not criminalize reasonable parenting decisions,' Gregg said. 'We are not creating a nanny state. We are not undermining parental actions. We are targeting reckless, extreme, inappropriate criminal behavior.' The House voted 190-144 Thursday to kill the bill. There were five House Democrats who backed the move to kill it, while seven House Republicans had opposed that option and wanted to keep it alive. Misled by testimony Rep. David Love, R-Derry, admitted he had been misled to back the measure in committee after hearing 'harrowing' stories by local police about deplorable conditions in which they had found children. 'After some serious reflection … I realized this legislation was too broadly written and could make parents vulnerable for arrest for having parents engaging in physical sports,' Love said. Sen. Patrick Long, D-Manchester, had sponsored the measure and said he saw the need for the change while working on juvenile justice issues for the Manchester Police Dept. for 15 years. 'The crime of endangering (the welfare of a child) is only a misdemeanor and does not address the endangerment in the home or a person who has the duty of care that is mistreating the child,' Long said during a Senate hearing on his bill. 'The bill's language provides more appropriate felony options that more closely align with the many cases police have seen throughout the years.' Manchester Police Lt. Nicholas Georgoulis said the bill does allow for both Class A or Class B felony options depending on the circumstances. A Class B felony would carry a 3½- to 7-year state prison term. 'This proposal will protect children and help the victims most hurt in our community,' testified Georgoulis, who heads up his agency's domestic and sexual violence unit. Love gave the example of Alycia Neely, a Manchester mother who lost her state job at the Sununu Youth Services Center after police in 2017 pulled her over and found a loaded gun in her glovebox while there was a young child in the front seat. Manchester Police dropped the charges. 'This could also be weaponized against someone in a child custody case,' Love warned. What's Next: With the bill's death, the Senate's only remaining option is to try and revive it by attaching it to another House bill such as the trailer legislation that accompanies the state budget. Prospects: Such a strong vote in the House means the legislation is unlikely to be successfully revived later this year. klandrigan@
Yahoo
21-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Committee advances trio of health care bills for state Senate action
Entrance to Senate Chambers in the Wisconsin State Capitol. (Photo by Baylor Spears/Wisconsin Examiner) The state Senate Health Committee cleared three bills Thursday, two of them on bipartisan votes, advancing them to the full Senate for consideration. SB 4 allows direct primary care doctors, who charge patients on a monthly subscription, to practice without being regulated as part of the insurance industry. The bill passed 3-2, with the Senate committee's two Democrats, Sens. Jeff Smith and Dora Drake, voting against recommending it for passage. Drake said she voted against the measure because it lacked non-discrimination language that had been included in a previous version of the bill. The bill from the 2023-24 legislative session included a non-discrimination section listing a series of civil-rights protections for patients. One of those items, forbidding discrimination on the basis of 'gender identity,' led two organizations, Wisconsin Family Action and the Wisconsin Catholic Conference, to oppose the legislation. Although the legislation passed the Assembly on a voice vote in 2024 and was unanimously endorsed by both the Assembly and Senate health committees, it died after the state Senate failed to take it up. The current bill states that direct primary care providers 'may not decline to enter into or terminate a direct primary care agreement with a patient solely because of the patient's health status.' It has replaced language enumerating specific civil rights protections with a more general stipulation that it 'shall not be construed to limit the application' of Wisconsin's civil rights statute to a health care provider's practice. The civil rights law bars discrimination based on race, sex and sexual orientation, but is silent on gender identity. 'As Chair of the Legislative Black Caucus, I refuse to support a new version of a bill that doesn't provide protections for Wisconsinites that prevents discrimination from healthcare providers,' Drake told the Wisconsin Examiner via email. The committee voted unanimously Thursday to recommend the other two bills. SB 23 would make it possible for women who are covered by Medicaid in childbirth to maintain that coverage for a full year after the child is born. The postpartum Medicaid legislation has broad bipartisan support, but Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) has opposed extending the coverage, claiming it would expand 'welfare.' SB 14 requires health care providers to obtain a patient's consent when they teach medical students how to do pelvic exams by having them practice on women under anesthesia. Authors of the bill and advocates have reported that some providers have a history of training students on the procedure with unconscious patients who have not been informed or given consent. The committee also added a requirement that hospitals institute written policies for informed consent relating to pelvic exams under anesthesia. The amendment replaces language requiring an administrative rule implementing the requirement. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
