I wish I had a better report. The Texas House conspired against us yesterday.
Rick Cunningham and I were in the Texas Capitol to meet with House Reps. Drew Springer and Matt Shaheen. But unexpectedly, the House called members into an unscheduled session at 11:00. We had no other choice but to cancel our 11:30 visit with Rep. Springer.
We still kept our meeting with Rep. Matt Shaheen at 1:00. But a late start squeezed us down to 30 minutes (hey, we were on time!) because the House reconvening at 2:00.
Rep. Shaheen assured us that he wanted to Eliminate Property Tax. Well, that was good to hear him say. But there just wasn’t enough time to have a decent discussion.
Our best conversation came afterward (in a hallway, no less) with Andrew Hendrickson, Senator Zaffirini’s Legislative Aide. He participated in our meeting with Rep. Shaheen. Andrew gave us some candid feedback on how he thought best for us to proceed, which I again took as a positive signal of his (and Zaffirini’s) support. Anyway, bottom line: We have to try again.
Although I had left home for Houston, Rick was able to later meet Vance Ginn at Texas Public Policy Foundation. Vance messaged me afterward to say, “Had a great conversation with Rick. Thanks for connecting us.” That was good to hear.
Rick followed up later with an IM to tell me,
“I had a great conversation with Vance today at his office. I’m going to reach out also to the folks at Bush [School of Government and Public Service] at Texas A&M.
From my side, I think the best thing to do strategically is to start building bridges and developing common ground with like-minded policy analysts who are active in this area and have a voice in the Capitol. If you or your other group members know of some, in particular, let me know.
Vance also directed me to a study bill that was submitted in the last session. I’m going to try to find it, dust it off, and polish it up to see if we can’t offer it as a suggested action item for this session. Nobody, it seems, doesn’t like a fun study bill.”
What did Rick mean by a study bill?
We discussed this both before and after these meetings. Legislators want assurances that a solution will succeed. Otherwise, they just won’t support it. We understood that. And that has always been our objective this session. But it needs to take the form of a simple bill (i.e. easy to read/comprehend) only proposing a “study” of replacing property tax with a 7% consumption tax (HB3742). That would be a “first step” more easily advanced.
I’m working now to re-schedule with Rep. Springer and follow up with a reply to Rep. Shaheen on the information he requested.
No Relief. No Reform. #EliminatePropertyTax