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Now I know we're all excited and I hope as many of you as possible head out to early vote, BUT before you do - remember that Texas no longer allows you to vote by selecting an affiliated party. SO, in this post and one soon to follow, I will be giving you guys as comprehensive of a view as possible so that you can make a well informed decision.
Also, I've attached a printable note sheet for you to take in with you while you vote! You can't use your phone in the voting booth bc, you know, Russia, and we just can't have nice things... but anyways, fill it out! That way you aren't just randomly guessing when you get into the box. You can find the printable PDF under the Resources tab.
PRE VOTE CHECKLIST:
1) Did you register?
If you don’t know, look yourself up below
2) Where can you vote?
Early Voting: https://www.harrisvotes.com/EarlyVoting
General Election on November 5th: https://www.harrisvotes.com/PollLocations
3) What is your District?
4) Review the sample ballot and keep an eye out for your school district or home district for specific additional votes
If all 4 are good to go, PROCEED!
Harris General Election Propositions
Prop 1:
"The constitutional amendment permitting a person to hold more than one office as a municipal judge at the same time."
A municipal judge oversees small claims, misdemeanor, and pre-trail hearings. This prop would add them to Article 16, Section 40 of the Texas Constitution to the exclusions for an election official allowed to hold multiple positions.
For = Allows officials to be elected to more than one position. Small municipalities will have an easier time filling judgeships with better qualified candidates/ easier to obtain/streamline processes around search warrants, ordinance violations, misdemeanor offenses
Against = Officials can only be appointed to more than one position. Redundant. Judges can already be appointed to multiple positions – just not ELECTED into multiple judgeships. Why would someone want to vote for someone that doesn’t even live in their community?
Apparently received unanimous support from Reps and Dems present when voting to add this to the 2019 Legislative Session.
Prop 2:
"The constitutional amendment providing for the issuance of additional general obligation bonds by the Texas Water Development Board in an amount not to exceed $200 million to provide financial assistance for the development of certain projects in economically distressed areas."
$200 million in bonds will be given to the EDAP (creates water infrastructure projects for economically depressed areas).
For = Allows Water Dev. Board to issue bonds for water supply and sewer service. Everyone deserves clean water.
Against = No additional bonds for economically distressed areas. Yea, it packs a heavy punch. $3,375,000 through 2021 to be exact – and while it can be argued that this can be handled and funded locally – is it a realistic expectation for the families in immediate need?
This amendment was authored by a Democrat. Received divided support from Republicans but ultimately passed to make the ballot
Prop 3:
"The constitutional amendment authorizing the legislature to provide for a temporary exemption from ad valorem taxation of a portion of the appraised value of certain property damaged by a disaster."
Would allow Texas Legislature to provide property tax relief to governor-declared disaster areas; the exemption amount would be determined locally. Property would include houses, dwellings, improvements to property, and any personal property used to produce income.
For = Allows temporary tax exemptions for disaster relief. Tax relief to families after a natural disaster would be a cheaper alternative than the current reassessment process.
Against = Property reappraisal process remains, no tax exemptions. Relying on local government to decide to adopt the tax exemption doesn’t ensure that it’ll get done & the property may still have to undergo a reappraisal process.
Prop 4:
"The constitutional amendment prohibiting the imposition of an individual income tax, including a tax on an individual's share of partnership and unincorporated association income."
Plain and simple: this would stop the Texas Legislature from created a personal state income tax. We are one of 7 states without a personal income tax
For = Stop the state from adding a personal income tax. Alright, Texans hate taxes. Periodt. It can be argued that this low tax rate drives the states’ growth in population and economically and an increase in taxes would mean an increase in government to then mange those funds.
Against = Allows a referendum to take place in the future to see if tax can be imposed. The Texas Constitution prohibits the Legislature from creating any income taxes without a statewide referendum. BUT, any new revenue created would have to go towards education. This could offset some business tax (since the state would receive funds from individuals instead).
Prop 5:
"The constitutional amendment dedicating the revenue received from the existing state sales and use taxes that are imposed on sporting goods to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and the Texas Historical Commission to protect Texas' natural areas, water quality, and history by acquiring, managing, and improving state and local parks and historic sites while not increasing the rate of the state sales and use taxes."
Getting thrown in to close a loophole on a current law. MOST of the revenue of the above mentioned sales, goes to the TPWD – but for budget flexibility – sometimes not all of it does.
For = revenue from the sales taxes would go to the Parks and Wildlife Department. Government would now fully support TPWD – would create additional funds for parks and historic sites that need repair. Since language in this law is so vague, this measure would prohibit the legislature from decreasing the amount unless passed by a two thirds vote AND would set an absolute decrease of no more than 50%.
Against = Legislature would decide how much revenue is allocated to TPWD. A dedicated account eliminates budget flexibility and removes the opportunity of funding other accounts with any extra budgets in outside accounts.
Prop 6:
"The constitutional amendment authorizing the legislature to increase by $3 billion the maximum bond amount authorized for the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas."
CPRIT, the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas, is currently receiving $3 billion annually, until 2022. This would increase the budget to $6 million.
For = allows increase in bonds from $3 to $6 billion. Maintains Texas’ status as a hub for research and advancements in the field, creates jobs, and protects CPRIT’s future.
Against = keeps funding at $3 billion. Not urgent since funding ends in 2022; CPRIT’s sketchy history with mismanaging funds (restructured in 2013 due to scandals and has since been scandal-less [scandaloussss!!! lol sorry])
Prop 7:
"The constitutional amendment allowing increased distributions to the available school fund."
Bear with me here. The General Land Office manages over 13 million acres of land for the Permanent School Fund. The State Board of Education, can then make distributions from Permanent -> Available School Fund. That revenue is used to buy more real estate/make public education investments.
For = $600 million from Permanent fund would be transferred to the Available School Fund. Provides more public school funding and the schools would rely less on property tax money. The Texas Constitution has a cap on this today, keeping funds from public education.
Against = Keeps funding as is. School Land Board has made questionable investments in the past, and it’s already required to make a percentage based, biennial distribution to the Available School Fund. With less money in the Permanent fund, that could mean lower funds for the Available fund in the future.
Prop 8:
"The constitutional amendment providing for the creation of the flood infrastructure fund to assist in the financing of drainage, flood mitigation, and flood control projects."
Would create a Flood Infrastructure Fund from a one time distribution from the “rainy day fund” and the Texas Water Development Board would then distribute these funds throughout the state. This would also require the participation of all parties involved (local and state level).
For = creates FIF. Federal funds/grants usually require local governments to match the funds being allocated. A new fund would allow FIF to quickly provide local governments grants so they can match state funds. This is a one time event and would not deplete the rainy day fund. Can be argued that this is better than not having anything in place.
Against = no FIF. Local government could default on the loan, which could lead to taxpayers being ultimately responsible. Why would we do a one time funding for this project when disasters (like flooding after storms) is an ongoing occurrence?
Weird flex, but it received unanimous approval from Democrats and Republicans. The Prop 8 website states this will “prepare Texas for future flood without raising taxes.” Which makes sense because again, this is an ongoing problem…
Prop 9:
"The constitutional amendment authorizing the legislature to exempt from ad valorem taxation precious metal held in a precious metal depository located in this state."
So we have a precious metal depository, run by a private company, but overseen by the state. Currently, all precious metals are taxed at the time of purchase/exchange and this proposition would exclusively exempt taxes from metals held in a depository (currently, precious metals are considered property).
For = Allows metals in depositories to be exempt from taxation. Other states don’t tax precious metals, and the Texas depository could join COMEX since it’d be more competitive.
Against = Taxation of these metals continues. Those taxes are not enforced, and it gives precious metal investments a tax break over any other options.
Prop 10:
"The constitutional amendment to allow the transfer of a law enforcement animal to a qualified caretaker in certain circumstances."
Allows our patrol pups to retire and be adopted with no fee. As of now they can only be auctioned, donated, or destroyed (wtf Texas?).
For = I mean, I’m not explaining this. Tf? I don’t care how much state income comes from this.
But if you must hear pros and cons:
Sources:
Early Voting - Election Division, https://www.harrisvotes.com/EarlyVoting.
“Election Information.” MyLO, 23 Sept. 2019, https://my.lwv.org/texas/election-information.
Harris County Tax Office, https://www.hctax.net/Voter/VoterMaps.
Rich, Davis. “Early Voting in Texas' Constitutional Amendment Election Starts Monday. Here's What Voters Will Decide.” The Texas Tribune, Texas Tribune, 15 Oct. 2019, https://www.texastribune.org/2019/10/15/texas-2019-constitutional-amendments-what-voters-need-know/.
“Texas 2019 Ballot Measures.” Ballotpedia, https://ballotpedia.org/Texas_2019_ballot_measures.
