POLICY PROPOSITIONS
The Texas Constitution contains spending caps. Texas over-collects taxes. Rather than lowering various fees, state sales taxes, insurance taxes, etc. to help Texans afford the good life in Texas, many of our legislators look to spend excess proceeds. They use our Constitution to spend money outside of their budget cap. We want them to cut waste and any spending in areas not appropriate to the duty of government to make room for spending on the most important issues we face. For example, they budget nearly $2,000,000,000 on Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) in our public schools. SEL teaches children that they are victims, to rely on their emotions, and includes CRT concepts. Violence has increased since schools added a focus on SEL. Ending this spending could have made room for some of the costly initiatives that are now on our November ballot and outside our budget limits.
Proposition 1 (SJR 59)
"The constitutional amendment providing for the creation of the permanent technical institution infrastructure fund and the available workforce education fund to support the capital needs of educational programs offered by the Texas State Technical College System." $850,000,000.
TEF Position: NO
This type of spending should always be done within the regular state budget to provide transparency, oversight, and accountability. If it is needed, our legislators should cut waste to find the money within their constitutionally prescribed spending limits rather than add to our Constitution in order to overspend.
Proposition 2 (SJR 18)
"The constitutional amendment prohibiting the imposition of a tax on the realized or unrealized capital gains of an individual, family, estate, or trust."
TEF Position: YES
Texans should be constitutionally protected from the state someday deciding to tax capital gains, realized or unrealized. When we pay property taxes, if our home value has grown since we bought it, we are paying taxes on unrealized gain every year. Most of us hate this. We should protect ourselves in all areas that could be hit by this same costly scheme. This preserves our personal property.
Proposition 3 (SJR 5)
"The constitutional amendment requiring the denial of bail under certain circumstances to persons accused of certain offenses punishable as a felony."
TEF Position: NO
This is not the proper way to solve the issue of activist judges and DA’s who are happy to allow chaos in our streets and neighborhoods. Solutions for this type of issue are much better handled in statute instead of amending our Texas Constitution. Laws are more easily corrected or enhanced if they aren’t working to solve the issue of concern. It is much harder to re-address anything that is added to our Constitution when flaws or omissions are discovered. In the extensive language that Prop. 3 would add to our Constitution, we see ways that activist judges and DA’s can still get around the intent. We support bail reform when done properly and could support a perfected amendment in the future.
Proposition 4 (HJR 7) $1,000,000,000 per year
"The constitutional amendment to dedicate a portion of the revenue derived from state sales and use taxes to the Texas water fund and to provide for the allocation and use of that revenue."
TEF Position: NO
Texas does have a real water issue - therefore legislators should include this funding in the regular budget every session as one of their first priorities. Spending through the regular state budget provides transparency, oversight, and accountability and allows the taxpayer to weigh in with their elected officials. This funding method tosses out accountability and grows bureaucracy.
Proposition 5 (HJR 99)
"The constitutional amendment authorizing the legislature to exempt from ad valorem taxation tangible personal property consisting of animal feed held by the owner of the property for sale at retail."
TEF Position: YES
Prop. 5 will allow our Legislature to reduce the tax burden on agricultural retailers by preventing over-taxation on animal feed. This could benefit our farmers and ranchers through lower prices which in turn benefits all of us without any government spending.
Proposition 6 (HJR 4)
"The constitutional amendment prohibiting the legislature from enacting a law imposing an occupation tax on certain entities that enter into transactions conveying securities or imposing a tax on certain securities transactions."
TEF Position: YES
Any tax enacted on a business gets passed along to the investor/customer. Banning those taxes for certain investment institutions or the transactions they process will help people have the ability to save and invest more, with the goal to become or remain self-sustaining throughout their life.
Proposition 7 (HJR 133)
"The constitutional amendment authorizing the legislature to provide for an exemption from ad valorem taxation of all or part of the market value of the residence homestead of the surviving spouse of a veteran who died as a result of a condition or disease that is presumed under federal law to have been service-connected."
TEF Position: NEUTRAL
We love our veterans and appreciate their sacrifice and that of their family as well. We wish this proposed amendment had some “minimum years of marriage” associated with it. As many veterans tend to live near other veterans, we must consider who picks up the costs of running a city, county, local school district, hospital district, local college district when we exempt a special group from paying ad valorem taxes. In this case the enabling bill language (HB 2508) does not provide a method to keep other local taxpayers from covering the lost tax revenue. Do those who pay no property taxes at all pay attention to government spending and resulting tax rates for other local property owners? We would like to see the property tax burden reduced for all property owners – but that requires local spending cuts that only happen through intensive citizen engagement.
Proposition 8 (HJR 2)
"The constitutional amendment to prohibit the legislature from imposing death taxes applicable to a decedent's property or the transfer of an estate, inheritance, legacy, succession, or gift."
TEF Position: YES
Where there is not a tax, don’t add one. This amendment will constitutionally protect our ability to transfer wealth and possessions without paying a punitive state tax. This will make estate planning easier for Texans.
Proposition 9 (HJR 1)
"The constitutional amendment to authorize the legislature to exempt from ad valorem taxation a portion of the market value of tangible personal property a person owns that is held or used for the production of income."
TEF Position: YES
Prop. 9 will reduce the ad valorem taxes a business pays by allowing them an exemption of up to $125k on the value of their income generating property. This is good for our economy and a help to small business owners and entrepreneurs.
Proposition 10 (SJR 84)
"The constitutional amendment to authorize the legislature to provide for a temporary exemption from ad valorem taxation of the appraised value of an improvement to a residence homestead that is completely destroyed by a fire."
TEF Position: YES
This proposition will allow our Legislators to create a law to provide temporary property tax relief to Texans whose home no longer exists due to a fire.
Proposition 11 (SJR 85)
"The constitutional amendment authorizing the legislature to increase the amount of the exemption from ad valorem taxation by a school district of the market value of the residence homestead of a person who is elderly or disabled."
TEF Position: NO
We understand that our property taxes are too high but Prop. 11 will only help some Texans who own their home. It will definitely be appreciated by those over 65 or disabled Texans who have paid in to support their local public schools for many years. The enabling bill (SB23) makes up the difference with surplus (over-collected) revenue by the state rather than by other local taxpayers. We need a real solution to this issue that will treat all property owners equally.
Proposition 12 (SJR 27)
"The constitutional amendment regarding the membership of the State Commission on Judicial Conduct, the membership of the tribunal to review the commission's recommendations, and the authority of the commission, the tribunal, and the Texas Supreme Court to more effectively sanction judges and justices for judicial misconduct."
TEF Position: YES
We don’t claim to be experts in judicial issues but we like some of the changes this amendment makes to the SCJC including providing the commission the authority to suspend a judge upon indictment for certain crimes.
Proposition 13 (SJR 2)
"The constitutional amendment to increase the amount of the exemption of residence homesteads from ad valorem taxation by a school district from $100,000 to $140,000."
TEF Position: Reluctant YES
Prop. 13 applies to all primary-resident homeowners and only to ISD taxes. Renters do not get a break because rental property owners don't get one. While our property tax system needs a complete overhaul, this temporary reduction in a portion of our taxes is welcome relief for a large portion of Texas families. The state will use over-collected state revenue to reimburse ISD's for what they won't collect from homeowners due to the temporary increase in their exemption.
Proposition 14 (SJR 3)
"The constitutional amendment providing for the establishment of the Dementia Prevention and Research Institute of Texas, establishing the Dementia Prevention and Research Fund to provide money for research on and prevention and treatment of dementia, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and related disorders in this state, and transferring to that fund $3,000,000,000 from state general revenue."
TEF Position: NO
After studying the use of taxpayer money through our very similarly constructed Cancer Prevention and Research Institute, we are 100% against Prop. 14. These programs mean well but the private sector which is usually more innovative can get pushed out under these initiatives. In the Cancer prevention grants, we saw almost $500k granted to encourage public school girls (in 4 school districts), especially those over 18 who had previously refused the HPV vaccine as a minor, to take it at school. Our money undermined family decisions and supported big pharma. We found $46k given to a group to teach leaders at four LGBTQ centers how to better help “transgender” people quit smoking. Just a few examples of how this money gets “spent” by these institutes. Prop. 14 adds up to $300,000,000 more each year after passage.
Proposition 15 (SJR 34)
"The constitutional amendment affirming that parents are the primary decision makers for their children."
TEF Position: YES
Our Texas Constitution is the proper place to enshrine the fundamental right of parents to raise their children without unnecessary government interference. We like the way this is written. In the past we have not supported amendment or bill language that listed specific parental rights because any right not included in the list could be lost.
Proposition 16 (SJR 37)
"The constitutional amendment clarifying that a voter must be a United States citizen."
TEF Position: YES
Prop. 16 puts into our Texas Constitution our current law stating that persons who are not a citizen of the United States may not vote in Texas elections. This creates extra security for citizen-only voting and informs our judicial system of our sovereign constitutional position on this issue.
Proposition 17 (HJR 34)
"The constitutional amendment to authorize the legislature to provide for an exemption from ad valorem taxation of the amount of the market value of real property located in a county that borders the United Mexican States that arises from the installation or construction on the property of border security infrastructure and related improvements."
TEF Position: YES
Related to border security, Prop. 17 allows an exemption from the property taxes of the amount of the market value of real property located in a county that borders the United Mexican States that arises from the installation or construction on the property of border security infrastructure and related improvements.