Good morning –

Empower Texans exists to serve the grassroots, amplifying the voice of citizens over the entrenched special interests without regard to the sensitivities of politicians or their political narratives. We seek to inspire Texans to exercise effective citizenship so they may reclaim the founding concept of self-governance.

Today's Texas Minute looks unflinchingly at the actual results of the 2019 legislative session.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Monday, November 18, 2019
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• The 2019 Activist Report of the 86th Legislative Session by Cary Cheshire is designed to provide an overview of the results of the legislative session. In addition, the team and others have helped prepare specific “autopsy” reports on critical legislative issues.
          
• Ending Forced Annexation: In a clear-cut conservative win, lawmakers and grassroots activists working together succeeded in extending property rights protection to all Texans.
       

• Property Taxes: Texans were finally victorious on property tax reform, which will let them vote on annual city and county tax increases of 3.5% or more. Although it passed in time to impact 2019 tax bills, the law was delayed taking effect by lawmakers until 2020. The “maintenance and operation” portion of school property tax bills were held roughly flat for many Texans in 2019, thanks to $5 billion in tax relief. Future school tax hikes are now limited to 2.5% per year, beginning in 2020.
     

• Spending Limits: For years, Texas Republicans have campaigned on the popular idea of limiting the growth of government. Yet as the case has been for several sessions, the measure was passed by the Texas Senate but never even given a hearing in the House.
      
• Protecting Free Markets: With cities routinely hyper-regulating businesses, Texans expected lawmakers would tackle out-of-control local government. Measures doing so passed out of the Senate, but were killed by the Texas House leadership.
      
• Stopping A Tax Hike: Think one man can’t make a difference? No one told State Sen. Paul Bettencourt. The Houston Republican’s commitment to real tax relief ended a rash scheme to raise taxes on 75 percent of Texans.
      
• Taxpayer-Funded Lobbying: A ban on the repugnant practice of local governments using tax dollars to lobby against their own residents’ interests made it through the Senate. The House’s own version was stalled out, and the Senate version was killed on the House floor.
      
• Monuments and Memorials: While Senators moved to provide protection to historic monuments and memorials, the effort was stymied in the Texas House.
      
• 2nd Amendment: Despite calls for Texans to enjoy the same gun rights as those in most other states, bills doing so went nowhere.
      
• Protecting The Pre-Born: While other states rushed to pass big life-saving legislation this spring, Texas did not. Neither the “abolish abortion” nor the “heartbeat bill” efforts received a vote in either chamber. Meanwhile, PreNDA – the “Pre-Born Non-Discrimination Act” – passed the Senate but was killed by House leadership.
      
• Election Integrity: From mail-in ballot fraud to non-citizens voting to the use of public resources subsidizing campaigns, Texas faces a wide range of issues undermining the integrity of our elections. The Senate passsed a comprehensive measure that was killed in the House Elections Committee.

WILL YOU BE THERE?

• December 7, 2019: The Conservative Leaders Gala will take place in Irving. This annual event celebrates the grassroots leaders who have been fighting for liberty on the front lines of Texas politics. RSVP today!