Texas Senate passes new property tax bill

The Texas Senate passed a property tax bill, which happened after a flurry of vetoes from Governor Abbott. Travis County Republican Party chairman Matt Mackowiak joined FOX 7 Austin's Mike Warren to discuss.

AUSTIN, Texas - The Texas Senate passed a property tax bill Tuesday, June 20, which happened after a flurry of vetoes from Governor Abbott.

So did the governor help motivate lawmakers? Or is this going to create a greater divide?

Travis County Republican Party chairman Matt Mackowiak joined FOX 7 Austin's Mike Warren to discuss.

Abbott vetos dozens of Texas bills

In just the past week, Abbott has killed more than 70 bills sent to his desk by Texas lawmakers. Nearly 30 vetoes came on Sunday alone, the deadline for the governor to sign or veto bills from the regular session.

MIKE WARREN: Matt, first, what the Senate passed today. Is that going to help with the impasse?

MATT MACKOWIAK: Well, I think if you look at this closely, it was the Senate plan moved slightly in the House's direction by making some of the targeted tax cuts towards businesses, particularly in this case franchise tax, sweeter and more generous. I do think it's powerful to see all 31 senators at a press conference having voted for this. All of them are 100% behind this $100,000 homestead exemption, which is something the House does apparently not want to agree to, even though they voted for previously. You have all those Republicans and all those Democrats who don't agree on a lot of things, but have them all they're standing by. Lieutenant governor, I think is a powerful signal. The governor's office did have a statement today. Didn't really. It kind of offered some flexibility to the governor, I think made clear he's going to support anything that holds a second both agree on so that the hope is this is the first step that can lead to increased negotiations between House and Senate leadership to get to an outcome.

MIKE WARREN: The governor's veto of all these bills in the last few days. Did this have an effect?

MATT MACKOWIAK: Well, certainly leading up to Sunday's veto deadline, you know, there was a lot of attention on the bills he was vetoing. Some of them were fiscal related to fiscal issues. Some of them were some of them were irrelevant. And certainly the governor has the power to veto any bill he wants to the legislature wants to get around that veto. They have to pass a bill early enough that they can hold an override before the session ends. So they really have only themselves to blame for taking as long as they did on passing these kinds of bills. Now, that said, the governor did veto more bills this session than he ever has before. I think he got close to Governor Perry's record. He clearly was trying to get the attention of the legislature. I do think he got their attention. There's going to be some frustration, frustration among members, particularly those who think their bills had nothing to do with property taxes. But the governor is trying to focus the legislature on the task at hand. And I think he's done that.

MIKE WARREN: The way he's doing it by vetoing so many of these bills, is that going to hurt him or help him in the long run?

MATT MACKOWIAK: Yeah, it may fray some relationships in the short term here, but ultimately, I think things will get put back together. Look, as long as they get an outcome on property taxes, then they'll have another week or so until the current special session ends. And then I think September, you'll see them do a special session on school choice if they get successful outcomes on both of those, I think a lot of this is going to be forgotten and people will look back at this legislative session, including the special sessions, as a success.

MIKE WARREN: And could property tax reform still get done? The House adjourned. Can they come back really quickly and finally pass something this session?

MATT MACKOWIAK: They can. Their adjournment has not taken effect because the Senate hasn't agreed. Both houses have to agree for one House two to adjourn. So they're going to have to maybe talk their table, train their legs and come back. I know they don't want to do that. They feel like they passed a bill which responds directly to the governor's special session call. But just because the House agrees on something doesn't mean that the Senate is going to agree. And so they obviously have to get together. The House seems to take up the Senate bill. If they want to make changes, they can, they should do it early enough that the Senate can consider those changes, or they can get to a conference committee and get it done.

MIKE WARREN: Okay, we're out of time. But a real yes or no question, will they, by the end of this special session, will there be something on property tax reform?

MATT MACKOWIAK: I think 75% chance, yes.