Good morning,

Yesterday we asked about the GOP primary ballot language on border security, and my email BLEW UP with responses. You'll find a sampling from those emails, and the results of the survey, at the end of today's Texas Minute.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Wednesday, January 26, 2022
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Eliminate The Property Tax Problem? Yes, Texas Can

• Texans are being crushed by rising property taxes, but a conservative think tank has a plan to eliminate most property taxes—something Republican primary voters will weigh in on next month. Erin Anderson has the details.
      

• James Quintero of the Texas Public Policy Foundation said property taxes are skyrocketing. The organization's chief economist, Vance Ginn, found property taxes were up 181 percent over the last 20 years, far exceeding the combined rates of population and inflation.
      

• Ginn and Quintero are co-authors of TPPF’s Lower Taxes, Better Texas plan to phase out most property taxes by 2033. It starts with limiting spending.
    

• Under TPPF’s plan, surplus state revenue above the new spending cap would then be used to reduce local school maintenance and operations (M&O) taxes, which are essentially statewide property taxes. Over 10 years, school operations – which currently account for more than half of the property tax bill – would be funded by state-generated revenue.

Masking Students, Unmasking Schools

• Despite warnings from health experts and contradictory data, school officials are again forcibly masking children in Texas — with Gov. Greg Abbott and other elected officials just ignoring it. Jacob Asmussen has the latest.
       

• Over the past several weeks, public school districts across the state—including those in Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, Austin, and in South Texas—have either continued or reinstated mask mandates on school campuses.
      

• The fight over forced face coverings in schools is currently tied up in court and traces back to last year, when Gov. Abbott and local officials began feuding over who has authority to impose such orders. Abbott, who had previously enacted executive orders to force masks and shut down businesses, flipped last July and proclaimed a new executive order prohibiting mask mandates.

       

• Local officials across Texas disregarded Abbott's order, enacted their own rules, and sued the governor. Earlier this month, the Democrat-majority 3rd Court of Appeals was the latest to side against Abbott, but the case is being appealed to the Texas Supreme Court. In the meantime, school administrators are doing as they wish.

      
• The Office of the Attorney General is maintaining a list of schools violating the order, but A.G. Ken Paxton's staff did not return calls inquiring what else he is doing on the issue to protect families and students from the controversial mandates.
      

• Observers note Gov. Abbott and the Republican-controlled state legislature could have resolved the issue a year ago by passing a state law to ban mask mandates. Lawmakers declined to act, and Abbott has repeatedly refused to add the issue to a special legislative session agenda.

      
• “Children should not wear face masks, no. They don’t need it for their own protection, and they don’t need it for protecting other people, either,” said Dr. Martin Kulldorff, a biostatistician, epidemiologist, and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.
       
• Internationally, the Irish Health Authority, after conducting a report on the subject last year, even called the forced masking of kids “child abuse.”

Texas v California: COMING HOME

• In this week's episode of the Luke Macias Show, Luke interviews social media star Kambree Nelson. She's a native Texan who moved to California a decade ago... then returned home to a Texas she barely recognized.

Conservative Leaders Want Families Protected

• “Texans are among the most family-oriented Americans in the country. And yet, as the woke left has ramped up its attacks on the family, Texas Republican leaders have not stepped up to the challenge,” said Terry Schilling, president of pro-family nonprofit American Principles Project. “This has left Texas families tragically vulnerable. But it doesn’t have to be this way.”
      
• Katy Drollinger reports APP joined with more than 150 conservative leaders in Texas to send Gov. Greg Abbott a public letter highlighting untouched family and GOP priorities.
      

• The letter references their desire for Texas to ban child gender mutilation procedures, prevent biological males from intruding on women’s collegiate sports, and require internet service providers to block pornographic material as a default setting. The signers want Abbott to reconvene the state legislature for a special session combating what they call the “woke agenda.”
     

• "This is an incredible opportunity, and we hope Gov. Abbott will take advantage of it. Pro-family Texans expect nothing less." – Terry Schilling

'Job Interview' For Governor

• Topics ranged from the Texas National Guard and DPS on the border, to private land annexation, and the fulfillment of judicial vacancies. Sydnie Henry has the details.

Abbott Endorses House's Most Liberal Republican

• When Democrats fled Texas to break quorum last year in a bid to obstruct election security measures, State Rep. Kyle Kacal (R-Bryan) called immediately for a compromise and urged that they be given “a victory or two."
     

• First elected to the Texas House in 2012, Kacal has opposed conservative reforms and sided with Democrats to grow government. After the most recent legislative session, Kacal earned a dismal 28 of 100 on the Fiscal Responsibility Index – the lowest rating of any Republican in the chamber. Likewise, Kacal was ranked at the bottom of Republicans in the Young Conservatives of Texas’ legislative ratings.
      

• Now, reports Brandon Waltens, Kacal has the endorsement of Gov. Greg Abbott.

      

• Mr. Kacal is being challenged in the Republican primary by Ben Bius and Joshua Hamm.

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Y'All Answered

The March 1, 2022, GOP primary ballot will feature a series of policy-related statements placed there by the State Republican Executive Committee. Yesterday, we asked how readers would respond on this GOP ballot statement: “In light of the federal government’s refusal to defend the southern border, Texas should immediately deploy the National Guard, Texas Military Forces, and necessary state law enforcement to seal the border, enforce immigration laws, and deport illegal aliens.”

To that statement, 98.64 percent of readers said “yes” in agreement with the statement while just 1.36 percent answered “no.”

• "Texas security is the responsibility of Texans." – Bathsheba Campbell
       
• "Thousands of troops have been put on alert for the Russian situation in Ukraine.  We send money overseas to build border walls.  The fact that we don't use our own money and troops to seal our own borders is insane!" – Lisa Buck
      
• "The Federal Government has abdicated their responsibility, therefore the state of Texas has been given no other choice." – David Clark
      
• "Texas needs to step up and take control where the feds failed us." – Danny Thompson
     
• "The federal government's job is to protect us from foreign invasion. They have abdicated their duties and it is past time for Texas to take care of Texas!" – Dawn Martin
      
• "The Democrats seem obsessed with allowing countries to be overrun by foreign invaders. Afghanistan, Ukraine, and America. They have abandoned Texans just like American citizens in those other countries. Seal the damn border, Texas!" – Robert Dunlap
      
• "Any effort to have Texas law officers close the border or deport aliens will be quickly blocked by federal courts. That has already been adjudicated as exclusively a federal function." – Jerry Harban
      
• "I replied 'Yes' to 'should Texas walk illegal aliens back across the border where they illegally entered the US' because it is constitutional when the federal government refuses to protect its citizens from foreign invasion.  What is wrong with Gov Abbot and why does he refuse to act constitutionally to protect Texans by not sending these illegal aliens back to Mexico?" – Robert Mounts
      
• "I responded 'NO' on this. Texas needs to first assert her independence and then take control of the border." – Mike Tayloe