From new funding to state intervention in elections, this year’s legislative session left big stamp on Houston

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For Sen. Carol Alvarado, a Houston Democrat, and Taylor Landin, chief policy officer of the Greater Houston Partnership, this year’s legislative session will have big repercussions for the city.

The two took part Thursday in a discussion with Texas Tribune Chief Executive Officer Sonal Shah in Houston to talk about their views on the Texas Legislature’s 88th session, particularly on the topics of property taxes, the relationship between the state and big cities, education, pro-business legislation, voting and other issues.

Here’s what they had to say about the impact of the session on Houston.

A mixed bag for Houston

Landin said this year’s regular legislative session did amazing things for the Houston area, pointing specifically to the approval of funding for flood mitigation; property tax exemptions on equipment and inventory manufactured by medical or biomedical companies; and the addition of six criminal courts in Harris County.

He also applauded state Sen. John Whitmire, a Democrat running for Houston mayor, for legislation to help revitalize the city’s downtown, specifically the George R. Brown Convention Center. The convention center will be getting a $2 billion infusion over the next three decades.

“These will make us more competitive against states like North Carolina that compete heavily with those life sciences opportunities, and will put us front and center in hosting world sporting events,” Landin said. “It helps for long-term economic development here.”

On a different note, Alvarado expressed displeasure with election bills that passed this session, which specifically targeted Houston and Harris County. Senate Bill 1933 grants the Texas secretary of state the authority to investigate election “irregularities” after complaints are filed — but only in counties with more than 4 million people. As of now, that category includes only Harris County. Another bill, Senate Bill 1750, abolishes the election administrator position in Harris County.

“Cities make our state great,” Alvarado said. “Boosting economic development, a lot of this is done by our cities and their local governments. We need to let them do their job.”

Alvarado criticized the passage of House Bill 2127, which prohibits cities and counties from creating local ordinances on a broad swath of areas — from natural resources to labor and finance — that go beyond what state law requires. She called the new law “extreme” and believes it will severely limit local government’s ability to respond to problems in their own backyards.

“I’ve been telling my colleagues [in the Legislature]: ‘if you want to be in charge of all that, go be in local office,’” she said.

Frustration over property tax cuts

The Texas House and Senate have been in a monthslong standoff on how to spend more than $12 billion to lower property taxes for land-owning Texans. As things stand, the more business-friendly House plan, supported by Gov. Greg Abbott and House Speaker Dade Phelan, would send all of that money to school districts to lower their tax cuts through a method known as “compression.” The plan has put them at odds with Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who leads the Senate and supports a proposal that would devote most of the funds to compression but would use some to raise the state’s homestead exemption, the portion of a home’s value that can’t be taxed to pay for public schools.

Alvarado expressed exasperation with Republican infighting on the issue, which has kept the Legislature from reaching an agreement.

“Everything is controlled by one party and we still can’t get one thing done,” she said. Abbott, Patrick and Phelan “really have to do a better job of communicating with each other. If there was at least one woman in that group, we wouldn’t be in this mess.”

That said, Alvarado stated she believes the plan put forward by her chamber is better. With the special session coming to an end Tuesday, she predicted that it will take another special session for the House and Senate to reach an agreement on property tax cuts.

“It’s not a Democrat-Republican issue — the Senate is very united on this issue,” Alvarado said. “We believe that our plan is the best thing for homeowners.”

New incentives to help businesses and Latino communities

Both Shah and community members asked questions about House Bill 5, which creates a new economic incentives package in an attempt to lure large companies to the state.

Landin stated that the Senate improved the bill with the inclusion of opportunity zones, which give an additional incentive for companies to place their projects in certain parts of the state.

“It’s an example of how you can craft policy to help disadvantaged communities,” Landin said.

Alvarado believes these opportunity zones will be incredibly useful in getting jobs to the Latino community, who now officially make up the biggest share of Texas’ population.

“Doing subtle things like that benefit our communities,” Alvarado said. “It’s the workforce that drives our economy here, and that’s made up of our Latino community.”

Education changes

Landin said the discussion around education this legislative session got muddled, adding he wished it had been more focused on children.

State lawmakers failed to approve any new funding to help schools raise teacher salaries or balance their budgets amid an ongoing debate over school vouchers.

“There's two things that work: kids have to read on grade level by the third grade, and you have to get your best teachers in the most challenging classrooms,” he said. “If you can do those two things, you at least give kids a fighting chance at contributing to their community.”

Separately, Alvarado expressed excitement over the $700 million invested in state funding for public universities other than the state’s two flagships, Texas A&M and the University of Texas at Austin. The money will be used to create a new fund that will benefit the University of Houston, along with Texas Tech University, the University of North Texas and Texas State University.

“It is long overdue that our other colleges and universities get funding as well,” she said.

Politics and hot-button issues

Alvarado said some of the more divisive topics this session — like guns and proposals targeting LGBTQ+ Texans — were decided based on partisanship and party lines rather than policy.

She lamented that a bill that would raise the age to buy semi-automatic rifles from 18 to 21 did not pass, even though the families of several of the children killed during the Uvalde mass shooting last year ardently advocated for the measure.

“Unfortunately, even with the Uvalde community members there in the Capitol every week, we couldn’t get anywhere on it,” she said.

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