Another off-year local and Texas Constitutional Amendment election has snuck up again, and early voting for it started today.
Let’s take a look at those amendments and whether you should vote for or against them. And, what do you know, Texas Scorecard has already done a roundup incorporating analysis from of Texans for Fiscal Responsibility, True Texas Project, Texas Policy Research, and Texas Eagle Forum. There’s a lot of unanimity, with a few notable exceptions. Scorecard’s links are to the bill’s legislative tracking page, but I’ve drilled down slightly deeper to link to the actual text of the bills in question.
Proposition 1 (SJR 59): Creating funds to support the capital needs of educational programs offered by the Texas State Technical College System.
TFR: Oppose
TTP: Oppose
TPR: Oppose
TEF: Oppose
My analysis: Texas higher education has done a poor job with the money they’ve already been allotted, and shouldn’t get big new piles of it, especially until the taint of social justice has been completely eradicated from the system. My recommendation: Oppose.
Proposition 2 (SJR 18): Banning taxes on the realized or unrealized capital gains of an individual, family, estate, or trust.
TFR: Support
TTP: Support
TPR: Support
TEF: Support
My analysis: This is a preemptive strike against the loony left idea of taxing unrealized capital gains, an absolutely insane idea guaranteed to discourage investment and destroy the economy. My recommendation: Support.
Proposition 3 (SJR 5): Denying bail under certain circumstances to persons accused of certain offenses punishable as a felony.
TFR: Neutral
TTP: Support
TPR: Oppose
TEF: Oppose
My analysis: This amendment has the most split verdict of any of them. Conservatives see law and order breaking down in blue cities thanks to Democrat judges letting repeat felons out on trivial bonds. Libertarians see this measure as possibly violating due process rights. But the problem we’re seeing on places like Harris County stem from letting criminals walk rather than too many innocent citizens being denied bail. My recommendation: Support, but I expect any gains in keeping more dangerous repeat offenders off the streets will be minimal as long as those same (frequently Soros-backed) Democrat judges are in office.
Proposition 4 (HJR 7, enabling legislation HB 16): Dedicating a portion of state sales and use tax revenues to the Texas water fund and to provide for the allocation and use of that revenue.
TFR: Oppose
TTP: Oppose
TPR: Oppose
TEF: Oppose
My analysis: Water is a largely local issue, and should be handled at the local level, not using a statewide slush fund. My recommendation: Oppose.
Proposition 5 (HJR 99, enabling legislation HB 1399): Exempting from ad valorem taxation tangible personal property consisting of animal feed held by the owner of the property for sale at retail.
TFR: Support
TTP: Support
TPR: Support
TEF: Support
My analysis: For those outside of Texas, most food you buy in a grocery store here isn’t taxed (save junk food like candy, etc.). This adds animal feed to the sales tax exemption list, which will help out Texas farmers. My recommendation: Support.
Proposition 6 (HJR 4): Prohibits the Legislature from imposing an occupation tax on certain entities that enter into transactions conveying securities or imposing a tax on certain securities transactions.
TFR: Support
TTP: Support
TPR: Support
TEF: Support
My analysis: This makes sure that security trading venues like the new Dallas Stock Exchange don’t get hit with transaction taxes that would drive them away. My recommendation: Support.
Proposition 7 (HJR 133): Providing 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 to have been service-connected.
TFR: Support
TTP: Oppose
TPR: Support
TEF: Neutral
My analysis: Another split decision. While theoretically an extension of the war widow exemption, it gets off into the weeds, especially when it specifies that the surviving spouse cannot have remarried. My recommendation: Neutral.
Proposition 8 (HJR 2): Prohibiting the Legislature from imposing death taxes applicable to a decedent’s property or the transfer of an estate, inheritance, legacy, succession, or gift.
TFR: Support
TTP: Support
TPR: Support
TEF: Support
My analysis: If we could fund the entire government off death and land taxes instead of income taxes, I could get behind that. But that’s not the world we live in. Texas doesn’t have an estate or inheritance tax, and doesn’t need one, and that fact provides incentive for wealthy individuals in state that do have those (New York and Illinois among them) to move here. My recommendation: Support.
Proposition 9 (HJR 1, enabling legislation HB 9): Exempting 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.
TFR: Support
TTP: Support
TPR: Support
TEF: Support
My analysis: This is a big, welcome jump from the current $2,500 exemption, and will help small businesses keep more of their own money. My recommendation: Support.
Proposition 10 (SJR 84): Providing 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.
TFR: Support
TTP: Support
TPR: Support
TEF: Support
My analysis: Stands to reason you shouldn’t be taxed for property that burned down, but this seems oddly specific. Maybe it’s a result of the screwage that California property owners are getting after the Pacific Palisades fire. My recommendation: Support.
Proposition 11 (SJR 85): Increasing 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.
TFR: Neutral
TTP: Oppose
TPR: Oppose
TEF: Oppose
My analysis: Interestingly, the institutes oppose this because it isn’t broad-based tax reform. True, but I favor it because you can’t let the best slay the better, and because I’ll be eligible for it entirely too soon. My recommendation: Support.
Proposition 12 (SJR 27, enabling legislation SB 293): Relating to the authority of the State Commission on Judicial Conduct, the tribunal, and the Texas Supreme Court to more effectively sanction judges and justices for judicial misconduct.
TFR: Neutral
TTP: Support
TPR: Support
TEF: Support
My analysis: This effectively removes two seats appointed by the Texas State Bar Association and replaces adds those seats to those appointed by the governor. Bar Associations all across the country have been infected by social justice, and this removes another potential infection vector. My recommendation: Support.
Proposition 13 (SJR 2, enabling legislation SB 4): Raising the exemption of residence homesteads from ad valorem taxation by a school district from $100,000 to $140,000.
TFR: Support
TTP: Reluctantly Support
TPR: Support
TEF: Reluctantly Support
My analysis: Once again the think tanks are bellyaching that this isn’t the broad-based elimination of the property tax they wanted. Get over it, and don’t let the best slay the better. And this one will benefit me personally. My recommendation: Support.
Proposition 14 (SJR 3, enabling legislation SB 5): Creating 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.
TFR: Oppose
TTP: Oppose
TPR: Oppose
TEF: Oppose
My analysis: Important cause, but let individual institutions and foundations pay for the research on this, not create a state-run slush-fund for the connected. My recommendation: Oppose.
Proposition 15 (SJR 34): Parents are the primary decision makers for their children.
TFR: Support
TTP: Oppose
TPR: Support
TEF: Support
My analysis: This is to head off those radical leftists that declare that children belong to the state, and those states using that power to oppose transsexual madness on children behind parent’s backs. True Texas Project opposes it because it doesn’t think it should even have to be stated, but a lot of obvious things now have to be spelled out thanks to the madness of social justice here in the crazy years. My recommendation: Support.
Proposition 16 (SJR 37): Voters must be United States citizens.
TFR: Support
TTP: Support
TPR: Support
TEF: Support
My analysis: Like this. This shouldn’t even have to be spelled out, except that places like Minnesota are handing out driver’s licenses to illegal aliens, and then using them as an excuse to let them vote. My recommendation: Support.
Proposition 17 (HJR 34, enabling legislation HB 247): Providing 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.
TFR: Support
TTP: Support
TPR: Support
TEF: Support
My analysis: This just means that property owners can’t be taxed extra for the border wall. My recommendation: Support.
Williamson County early voting locations.
Travis County early voting locations.
Be sure to locate your voter registration card, get out and vote!
Tags: 2025 Elections, Addie Hovland, Alzheimer's, Border Controls, Budget, Crime, Elections, Social Justice Warriors, Texans for Fiscal Responsibility, Texas, Texas Constitutional Amendment, Texas Eagle Forum, Texas Policy Research, Texas Scorecard, Travis County, True Texas Project, Williamson County
THanks for the input and education. We agree on all these.
Prop; 15 and 16 seem like no-brainers that don’t need to be codified into law, except for the fact there are too many things thought of as no-brainers in the past that ended up slipping away because they were not codified into law when it was easily possible.
I agree with you on all but the first proposed amendment. The funding is for the Texas State TECHNICAL College system which is: “a state-supported, two-year public institution of higher education in Texas, dedicated to providing technical and vocational training to prepare students for high-demand careers in industries such as manufacturing, energy, healthcare, aviation, information technology, and more.”
Since this money would go to support practical education and NOT the wacky higher-ed behemoth, I’m in favor of it.
T Migratorious, I’m inclined to agree, but I can’t but be reminded of Milton Friedman’s apocryphal dictum that if you put the state in charge of training students for manufacturing, energy, healthcare, aviation, and information technology, in fifty years you’ll have a shortage of manufacturing, energy, healthcare, aviation, and information technology. And students.
Thanks for the cheat sheet, very helpful analysis.
Keep up the great work, much appreciated.
I hope you soon find a job with a corner office, blonde bimbo wenches to handle your administrative needs, massive salary, and all the attendant perks you have coming…
[…] Here’s my analysis of those constitutional amendments. […]
Nearly identical, and the one we differ on isn’t a big deal. What I’m really paying attention to is the stupid Austin Prop Q that had better go down in flames.