State of Texas: ‘We are not backing down,’ Patrick digs in for special session property tax fight
AUSTIN (Nexstar) — Nearly two weeks into the first of a promised several special sessions by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, there are no signs of breaking the impasse on property taxes. In fact, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick appears to be digging in.
“That's a negotiation that we are not backing down from ever,” said Patrick at a news conference he called to mark a week into the special session.
The same day, at a separate event, Abbott reiterated his commitment to his competing plan, the same plan supported by Speaker of the House Dade Phelan. The House passed it, and immediately adjourned from the special session a day after the Governor called everyone back.
Abbott wants the legislature to spend $17.6 billion on lowering school district property tax rates, “solely by reducing the school district maximum compressed tax rate.” That strategy, known as compression, simply gives school districts more money in return for lower tax rates.
“If you’re going to eliminate all property taxes, you have no money left to do anything,” Patrick told reporters earlier in the week. “There would be no funding for education, no funding for health care, no funding for law enforcement.”
At his event, Patrick shared data from the Legislative Budget Board showing the state would need to make up for more than $73 billion per year in other revenue sources without school district property taxes. Alternate sources of revenue for the state come mostly from sales tax revenue, along with streams coming from the oil production taxes, motor vehicle sales, insurance taxes and more. He also invited Abbott to a “Lincoln-Douglas” style debate.
The plan Patrick champions in the Senate would prioritize homeowners over business property. He wants to offer some tax compression in addition to raising the homestead exemption to $100,000. The homestead exemption refers to the amount of your home’s value you can deduct from the taxable value.
“I'll call special session after special session after special session until the solution is reached,” Abbott said.
For now, when the next special session call will be released, seems to depend on the man holding the gavel in the Senate.
Paxton legal team publicly attacks impeachment process
The court of public opinion now has the opening statements from the defense team of impeached Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. His team, headlined by prominent Houston attorney Tony Buzbee, chose to make their statement from the Republican Party of Texas’ Austin headquarters.
“What can be described as only a drive-by shooting, on a holiday weekend, to politically assassinate one of the leading conservative voices not only in Texas, but the United States," said Buzbee. “The impeachment articles that have been laid out by the House are baloney.”
“There was no due process before the House,” Cogdell said.
The pair called it rushed and secretive. Lawmakers allied with Paxton mounted similar complaints in May. However, 60 of the House’s 85 Republicans, including Speaker Dade Phelan, voted to impeach. The full vote was 121-23. This marked only the third time a state official faced impeachment in Texas history.
Catch up on our coverage:
- House impeachment managers name attorneys for Paxton trial
- Attorney: ‘Ken Paxton will never, never be convicted’ in Senate impeachment trial
- Potential impeachment looms over AG Ken Paxton after investigative hearing
- What we know about possible impeachment against Attorney General Ken Paxton
- What do the 20 Articles of Impeachment against Ken Paxton mean?
- How does the impeachment process work in Texas?
The impeachment trial in the Texas Senate is set to begin no later than Aug. 28.
“If we're really going to have a trial, it's going to take a lot longer than that,” Buzbee said.
The trial date start, as well as a June 20 Senate meeting to consider trial rules, were set by a Senate vote.
Paxton has been under FBI investigation for years over accusations by members of his own staff that he used his office to help a donor. He was separately indicted on securities fraud charges in 2015, though he has yet to stand trial. Paxton has denied the allegations against him.
The Texas House retained Dick DeGuerin and Rusty Hardin to present the impeachment case in the Senate trial. Both have become practically as recognizable in courtrooms as the politicians and famous figures they have represented over decades in Texas.
“We've each prosecuted Republicans, we have each defended Republicans, we've prosecuted Democrats, we have defended Democrats,” said Hardin, speaking to State of Texas correspondents. ”I think we go where the evidence takes us and where we have a client that we want to represent, in this case [it] is the state of Texas House of Representatives. And I think we owe that to the community at large to when somebody in public service like that calls, I think we should always find time to step in.”
“This is not a criminal trial,” said DeGuerin. “This is a trial to assure the people of Texas have an honest Attorney General.”
Potentially coloring the case further, is the arrest of Austin real estate developer, Nate Paul.
Paul is at the center of the allegations against Paxton, including claims he bribed the attorney general by paying for renovations to his Austin home. He has also denied the allegations against him. But the day after Paxton’s legal defense team first held a news conference, Paul was booked into the Travis County jail on a hold for the FBI.
Lawyers for Paul did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The FBI declined comment as well.
LBJ’s family reflects on Voting Rights Act legacy
The historic events of August 6, 1965, remains burned clearly in the mind of Luci Baines Johnson.
“I saw some of the great civil rights leaders of my time standing around a very small desk,” said Johnson. “And I saw some of the leaders of the Congress standing there, too. And I knew in my youth this was a moment of all moments, and I should take it and treasure it.”
She recounted that day recently, while sitting at the Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library in Austin, Texas. On that day in 1965, she accompanied her father, President Lyndon Baines Johnson (LBJ), to Congress for the signing of the Voting Rights Act. She called “daddy duty,” meaning “I was supposed to accompany him to important occasions.”
Knowing a trip to Capitol Hill would take more time than she anticipated, she asked why.
“‘We are going to Congress because there are going to be some courageous men and women who may not be returning to Congress because of the stand they have taken on voting rights,’” she recalled her father telling her. ”‘And there are going to be some extraordinary men and women who will be able to come to the Congress because of this great day. That’s why we’re going to Congress.’”
It would become one of LBJ’s defining moments and acts of his presidency. Now decades later, she fears what will happen to that law. Johnson said she was saddened in 2013 when the Supreme Court released its ruling in Shelby County v. Holder, which essentially ended a provision of the Voting Rights Act mandating the way states were included on the list of those needing to get advance approval for voting-related changes.
“I cried because I knew what was coming. I knew that there were parts of this country, including my home state, my father’s home state, that would take advantage of the fact that there would no longer be an opportunity to have the federal government ensure that everyone in the community had the right and equal access to the voting booth,” she said.
Her interview took place before the Supreme Court issued a ruling on another core provision of the Voting Rights Act. A 5-4 court majority sided with plaintiffs who had argued that Alabama's congressional maps diluted the influence of Black voters.
Johnson said she wants to continue fighting to protect voting rights and maintain her father’s legacy.
“I don’t want to get to heaven one day, and I hope I do, and have to say to my father, it was gutted to death on my watch,” she said.
New border laws, defenses, and realities along the Rio Grande
While the special session ground to a halt when the Texas House of Representatives decided to adjourn early, the state is not waiting for the next session to beef up security along the Mexican border.
In fact, Abbott used a bill signing this week to float an idea to Texans many had probably never even thought of to stop illegal crossings of the Rio Grande.
Abbott said a “new, water-based barrier of buoys” will be installed at the Texas border immediately.
“These buoys will allow us to prevent people from even getting to the border,” Abbott said.
Images of the concept were displayed on each side of a table where Abbott sat. Colonel Steven McCraw, Director of the Department of Public Safety, and Adjutant General of Texas Thomas Suelzer, joined him at the press conference. One image showed someone attempting to get over the barriers.
“The bottom line is [Texas] Border Patrol is already working on this. This was something that border patrol had already looked at, designed and even tested,” McCraw said.
McCraw also revealed the state will deploy the first 1,000 feet of buoys in Maverick County’s Eagle Pass in July. McCraw added the buoys can be deployed quickly and are movable. 1,000 feet of these buoys costs a little under $1 million.
The governor’s proclamation for the Special Session included “Legislation solely for the purpose of increasing or enhancing the penalties for certain criminal conduct involving the smuggling of persons or the operation of a stash house.”
However, with only the Senate currently in session, there’s no chance of movement on that agenda item at the moment. It was a keynote legislation he called for during his State of the State address. The main border security proposal Abbott had mentioned was creating a “mandatory minimum jail sentence of at least 10 years for anyone caught smuggling illegal immigrants in Texas.”
Lawmakers set aside more than $5 billion for border security in the regular session, in part for Operation Lone Star. Abbott used his event this week to sign six bills related to border security and training passed in the 88th Legislature. These included giving the Texas military department full authority to use drones at the border.
“Texas is no longer ground zero. For this crisis, Texas is a stronghold,” said Suelzer.