Good morning, 

Thank you to everyone who pointed out that yesterday's Texas Minute was missing a quote of the day. To make it up to you, today's will have two!

But first, here is the Texas Minute for Wednesday, March 16, 2022.

– Brandon Waltens 

Educrats Hold SXSW Panel on How to Confuse Voters and Pass Bonds

• Shaken by a drop in the pass rate for school bond propositions, to an all-time low of 61 percent last November, Texas educrats got “artful” advice last week on ways to overcome voters’ resistance to approving big bonds that are paid for with property taxes. One of the strategies proposed: confuse voters about property tax increases—by increasing tax rates.
   
• Erin Anderson reports the comments came during a panel called The Art & Science Behind Passing a Bond Election, one of dozens of panels at last week’s SXSW EDU, an education conference that’s an offshoot of the South by Southwest festival in Austin.
   
• The comments reveal a disconnect between the people who promote school bonds and the voters who are taxed to pay for them—with some being taxed out of their homes.
   

• “This November was a wake-up call that said things you’re doing aren’t working,” said panelist Chris Huckabee, CEO of Huckabee, Inc., an architecture firm that specializes in designing bond-financed school projects.
   

• School district officials routinely tell voters that school bonds will not raise their property taxes because the district doesn’t plan to raise the tax rate. But a 2019 law (House Bill 3) now requires every school bond proposition to include language on the ballot stating, “This is a property tax increase.” 
   

• Huckabee blamed the new law, along with angry parents and uneducated voters who go to the polls in November elections, as the reason fewer school bonds are passing.  
   

• Another example of educrats viewing taxpayers as hindrances and voter approval as an obstacle to the otherwise unobstructed flow of tax dollars. 

Austin Wants Even More Money to Combat Homeless Crisis

• At another South by Southwest event, Austin Mayor Steve Adler said the city still needs $100 million before it can begin work on a new homeless housing project to alleviate Austin’s ongoing homelessness crisis. Katy Drollinger has the details. 
   

• The new project, often referred to as the Homeless Summit, proposes spending $515 million on 3,000 homeless housing units—a total of $176,00 per person.  Although the city already has more than three-quarters of the funds necessary, Adler has so far refused to begin work on the plan until all of the $515 million has been secured.
   

• This new summit project comes on the heels of a multi-year homelessness crisis in the city of Austin. In 2019, the Austin City Council voted to repeal a law that prevented the homeless from camping in public spaces.
   
• After a surge in crime, more than 58 percent of Austin residents voted to restore the law and prevent the homeless community from camping on city streets. But the law has largely gone unenforced, and the homeless crisis continues.

Beto Backtracking from Past Liberal Statements

• As the Democrat Party has not won a statewide office in more than 20 years, Sydnie Henry reports Democrat gubernatorial candidate Robert “Beto” O’Rourke has recently been walking back some of the hard-left positions that served him well on the national stage but not as well in Texas.
   

• O’Rourke famously proclaimed in the 2019 Democratic presidential primary debate in Houston, “Hell, yes, we’re going to take your AR-15, your AK-47,” in support of mandatory gun buyback programs that would essentially confiscate currently legally owned military-style rifles.
   

• However, at a campaign event in Tyler last month, O’Rourke told reporters, “I’m not interested in taking anything from anyone. What I want to make sure that we do is defend the Second Amendment.”
   

• In a similar appeal to moderate voters Friday night, O’Rourke distanced himself from critical race theory, a hot topic in parental rights and public education. After once again dodging the question of whether he supported the racist ideology in public schools, O’Rourke eventually answered, saying, “No, I don’t think [CRT] should be taught in our schools.”

Disgraced Elections Admin To Be Honored at Dinner

• Last week, following the Harris County primary election—where thousands of ballots went uncounted, polling places were improperly supplied and staffed, and results were reported an unprecedented day later than state law requires—Harris County Elections Administrator Isabel Longoria resigned. 
   

• Nevertheless, Sydnie Henry reports, the League of Women Voters of Texas will be honoring Longoria as the keynote speaker at their “Making Democracy Work” dinner next month.
   

• Houston talk radio host Kenny Webster posted the LWVTX advertisement for the dinner on Twitter with the caption, “This years theme: how to (not) get away with fraud.”

Your Federal & State Lawmakers

The districts displayed here should reflect those recently redrawn by the Legislature. Though the new lines do not take representational effect until 2023, they will appear on the 2022 ballot. Please note that your incumbent legislator and/or district numbers may have changed.