Good morning!

Yesterday, we asked readers about the property tax "relief" proposals in the Texas Legislature. Y'all most definitely have opinions about those...

You'll find the results of the survey and a sampling of the responses at the conclusion of today's Texas Minute.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan
Tuesday, May 2, 2023 

Paxton Announces Investigation Into COVID-19 Vax Manufacturers

• Big pharmaceutical companies are going under the microscope. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced yesterday that his office is launching an investigation into Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson for potentially engaging in gain-of-function research and misleading the public about doing so. Brandon Waltens has the story.

        

• Paxton said he is investigating whether those companies violated the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act by misrepresenting their efficacy.

        
• “The development of the COVID-19 vaccine, and the representations made by and knowledge of Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson, are of profound interest to the public’s health and welfare. This investigation aims to discover the truth,” explained Paxton.

City of El Paso Declares State of Emergency Ahead of Illegal Alien Surge

• With the final vestiges of Donald Trump's border policies ending on May 12, El Paso is preparing for thousands of illegal aliens to surge across the southern border. Katy Marshall has the details.

      

• El Paso's mayor said he issued the declaration in anticipation of Title 42 expiring under the Biden administration. Title 42 is a public health order from the Trump administration that has allowed federal officials to send illegal aliens from “COVID-19 impacted” areas back across the border without processing them through the federal court system.

      
• There are estimates that between 10,000 and 35,000 illegal aliens are in the Mexican city of Juarez waiting to cross the border on May 12.
      
• “They have come in, really, with a false pretense that there will be open borders starting on May 11, and anyone that’s already in the United States will no longer be required to have proper documentation, and that is an untrue statement,” said El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser.
       

• Leeser reported that El Paso’s emergency dispatches received five calls over the weekend involving drug use and the exploitation of women at illegal alien campsites.
      

• Despite illegal aliens’ disproportionate association with criminal activity, El Paso’s city manager said local law enforcement will not enforce immigration law or detain illegal aliens.

Abbott Offers Reward For Info on Fugitive Illegal Alien

• Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has offered a $50,000 reward for any information leading to the arrest of an illegal alien who allegedly shot and killed five people over the weekend. Soli Rice has the story.

      

• The San Jacinto County Sheriff’s Office was the first of several law enforcement agencies to respond to a call regarding a mass shooter in Cleveland, Texas, on Friday. All the victims were murdered “execution-style,” according to law enforcement reports.

     
• The victims are all from Honduras. The suspect is from Mexico and is in the country illegally.

Ban On Taxpayer-Funded Lobbying Is Going Nowhere In House

• Legislation to ban the practice of taxpayer-funded lobbying appears to have stalled in the Texas House, reports Darrell Frost. 

     
• As the chairman of the powerful House Committee on State Affairs, State Rep. Todd Hunter (R–Corpus Christi) – one of House Speaker Dade Phelan's top lieutenants – is preventing the legislation from advancing.
     
• The Texas Senate passed a ban on taxpayer-funded lobbying (Senate Bill 175) on April 6, and it was sent by Phelan to Hunter’s committee a week later. He has yet to schedule it for a hearing.
      
• Polls consistently show a ban on taxpayer-funded lobbying is popular with Texans... but not with the lobbyists in Austin who have the ear of legislators eager to be wined and dined by anyone footing the bill. 

Rural School District Promoted LGBTQ 'Chat Rooms' For Students

• Think being "rural" means school districts aren't promoting leftist claptrap? Think again...
     

• Charlotte Independent School District’s counseling department featured a separate web page dedicated to mental health resources that promoted LGBTQ ideology and contained links to LGBTQ chat rooms. As Emily Wilkerson reports, these websites encouraged students to seek advice from strangers about their gender identity and other issues pertaining to the LGBTQ community.

      
• Among the linked chat rooms were the sites "Q Chat Space" and "LGBTQ Youth Chatrooms," where young teenagers could interact with adults. Both websites feature a "quick escape" button that shuts the page down instantly so parents can not see their minor children engaging in sexualized conversations with strangers.
       
• After the district's links were exposed, Charlotte ISD placed blame on a "previous employee" and took the links offline. District officials say they are reviewing all linked pages and resources associated with the former employee.

Texas Church Invites Children to Attend Drag Event

• While some churches are putting their faith in woke politics, yet another is organizing a drag show and calling it “family friendly.” As Soli Rice reports, at least one of the performers slated to be in New Braunfels later this week goes with a demonic theme.
        

• On May 6, Faith United Church in New Braunfels will host an event where men will parade around in front of children while dressed in women’s lingerie, short dresses, fishnet tights, and – as mentioned – demon-themed costumes.

       
• If it sounds like symbolically sacrificing children to a false god, it is...

Y'All Answered

Three "plans"  have been floated to deal with Texans' horrible property tax problem: one by Gov. Greg Abbott, one by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, and one by House Speaker Dade Phelan. The Patrick and Phelan plans are actually in motion, with Abbott offering praise for both. After describing the three plans, we asked readers which one they preferred.

Here is a sample of the responses I received in my inbox...

• “I’ve realized that buying a home and retiring in Texas is not attainable, so I’m moving out of Texas in June. Sadly!” – Kim Moore
      

• “I would call the first choice the ‘Abbott's finger-in-the-wind plan,’ since I seriously doubt his sincerity on the plan itself. But it is one of those rare occasions where his (consultants?) read on public opinion was pretty near perfect. It really amazes me the extent to which our legislators are completely deaf to their constituencies.” – Kevin Wade
      

• “Something has to give! I am 73 years old. I do not have children in the system and never have. My appraisal went up $90,000 for 2023. The school tax is 50% of my tax bill. When will I have paid enough? Why is being taxed on unrealized gain considered fair? Why not tax at the purchase price each time a property is sold... THEN pay tax on real gain.” – Diana Firestone
      

• “Of the three, I like Patrick's plan the most, but it just doesn't go far enough.” – Patrick Bell
      

• “I don't like ANY of these plans. They are all band-aids to the problem, not fixes! Don Huffines has a 10-year plan that would ELIMINATE property taxes. We need THAT!” – Dawn Martin
     

• “It doesn't seem like any of the choices have a real plan, they are mostly gimmicks. We citizens want the elimination of property taxes, period. Most of us realize until the taxes are gone we are just renting our paid-for property from the state. There is obviously plenty of revenue coming in to run the state operations.” – Eric Knutson
      

• “Patrick’s plan is the best of a poor selection. The Legislature does not represent the people of Texas!” – H. J. Bronson
      

• “None of the above.  Like all things that come out of Austin, these are just more attempts to use a band-aid to fix a severed limb.  We don’t need property tax ‘relief’ or ‘reform,’ we need to ‘eliminate’ the property tax. Period!” – Bill Parks
      

• “Taxation is theft.  Property tax is property theft.” – Thomas Williams
      

• “We continue to play around the edges with property tax relief, and taxes just continue to escalate. They need to be eliminated (and there are plans out there that would do that if our legislators had the courage to adopt them). Right now, we are continually taxed on ‘unrealized capital gains’ on a property that is of no value to the property owner, only to local taxing entities. It is sad that we can never own our property unless and until property taxes are eliminated.” – Richard Heizer
      

• “No plan is going to work if they don’t get the appraisals under control. A 300+% increase in three years is ridiculous.” – Michael Kinzie
       

• “When ISDs stop blowing money on $100 million high school football stadiums and cut the administrative staff to less than the number of classroom teachers at each campus, and then if they still need more money, let them ask. Until then, our money is being wasted.” – Jim Pikl
      

• “Same old BS…..big talk but little action, particularly in the House.  As a senior, there is little benefit to any of the plans.  They just want to grow the state government in spite of the Republican priorities!” – George McClure
      

• “California Phelan is exactly that… As long as the GOP continues to allow Democrat jackasses to run as Republicans, this is what you get. If they were sincere about the chosen platform they supposedly support, California Phelan would not be running the Austin Circus.” – Jane Kappes
      

• “The problem with Patrick's plan is that it would essentially not lower your property taxes with the 10% cap in place. Consider a property valued at $300K for 2023; withthe current $40K homestead exemption, the taxable amount would be $260K.  The following year (2024), if the homeowner commits the unpardonable sin of mowing the grass and raking leaves in the fall, the appraisal district will raise the value of the property by 10% to $330K for 2024; with the new $70K homestead exemption, the new taxable value will be....wait for it....$260K, same as the previous year. No tax savings at all. The current system of appraisal districts placing phony baloney values on properties and raising them 10% each year is corrupt to its core and needs to be eliminated.” – Gordon James
      

• “I really prefer eliminating the property tax because it is evil.  I think we saw from ballot propositions that Texans are serious about eliminating the property tax, but none of these politicians intend on listening.” – Cody Berry

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