Early voting underway for November election Early voting began Monday across Texas with voters deciding the fate of 17 proposed amendments to the Texas Constitution, as well as local races for city and school board, bond measures, and tax proposals. The Houston Chronicle reported that many of the propositions intend to lower property taxes for homeowners and businesses. There are two proposed changes to the homestead exemption.
Prop 13 would raise the exemption from $100,000 to $140,000 for all homeowners. The amendment’s authors say that it would save homeowners an average of $363 annually. Prop 11 would raise the tax exemption for disabled Texans and those 65 and older from the current $10,000 to $60,000, bringing their total homestead exemption to $200,000.
The additional property tax exemptions would cost the state $4 billion in property tax revenue over the next two years.
Prop 9 would raise the tax exemption for businesses’ personal property from $2,500 to $125,000. Other propositions include small property tax cuts for specific groups, such as surviving spouses of deceased veterans.
Prop 4 would create a $1 billion annual fund for water infrastructure projects, financed by state sales tax revenue. Half of the money, if it passes, would go for new water projects. The other half would go to fix deteriorating infrastructure.
A non-partisan explanation of all 17 propositions provided by the Texas Legislative Council can be found at https://tinyurl. com/mt3yjwfd.
Parental rights law leaves families, school nurses confused A new form required after passage of the state’s new education law has left both parents and school nurses confused, the Texas Standard reported. Senate Bill 12, which was billed as a parental rights law, requires parental permission before a school employee can provide physical or mental health care.
Unclear wording in a few paragraphs is being blamed by some for the confusion. School nurses worry they might unknowingly break the new law, according to Becca Harkleroad, executive director of the Texas School Nurses Organization.
“The law was very clear that if you provided any services without written consent, disciplinary action was coming your way,” she said. “So that gave a lot of people pause.”
The bill’s authors, state Rep. Jeff Leach, R-Plano, and former state Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, acknowledged the confusion and urged educators “not to suspend common sense when it comes to providing basic care for the children at their schools.”
Leach and Creighton have asked the Texas Education Agency to provide “consistent and clear guidance” to schools on how to implement the law. That guidance was released last month, but Jack Frazee with the Texas Nurses Association said he is awaiting additional details from TEAto provide more clarity.
Texas continues to rank tops in trade With 32 official ports of entry and two intermodal logistics facilities to connect different modes of transport, Texas continues to lead the nation in overall value of trade commodities, according to the comptroller’s office.
The state’s trade value fell to $634.6 billion during the 2020 COVID pandemic but has increased by 67.6% since then, to $1.1 trillion.
Port Laredo leads the country in total trade with $339.5 billion of commodities coming through that port of entry. Port Houston ranks first in the nation in exports flowing out of the port at $129.9 billion.
Another dry, hot October for most of Texas This month is shaping up to be a repeat of last October, with much of the state staying both drier and warmer than average, according to Dr. Mark Wentzel, hydrologist with the Texas Water Development Board. By the end of September, 24% of the state was in drought, up four percentage points from late August.
While a very wet July slowed down the expansion of drought conditions, soil moisture across the state has been much reduced since. With 40% of the state now classified as abnormally dry, the National Weather Service is predicting drought conditions to expand to cover most of Texas. The next few months are expected to be warmer and drier than normal in the state.
Those dry conditions are increasing the chances of wildfires The forest service now classifies Texas at Level 3 in what it calls Wildland Fire Preparedness Levels, with wildfire activity affecting several regions. Level 5 is the highest level.
As of Sunday, there were three active wildfires in Texas, the largest being the 195-acre Bronco Creek fire in Wheeler County in the Panhandle. It was 75% contained.
Gary Borders is a veteran award-winning Texas journalist. He published a number of community newspapers in Texas during a 30-year span, including in Longview, Fort Stockton, Nacogdoches, Lufkin and Cedar Park. Email: gborders@texaspress. com.