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Good morning,
Here is the Texas Minute for Thursday, January 11, 2024.
– Brandon Waltens
Grassroots Fight Back Against Debt-Raising Constitutional Amendment
Grassroots organizations are continuing their fight [[link removed]] to strike down a constitutional amendment passed in 2021 that would allow counties to issue more taxpayer-backed debt.
Proposition 2, which passed with 63 percent of the vote, authorizes counties to issue bonds (debt) to fund infrastructure and transportation projects in underdeveloped, unproductive, or blighted areas.
A lawsuit alleges that the ballot language that was put before voters failed to comply with common law requirements and was substantially misleading due to an omission of the phrase “ad valorem tax increases.” Courts have previously ruled that ballot propositions be described with “such definiteness and certainty that the voters are not misled.”
In 2011, the same ballot proposition was put before voters with language noting the tax implications and failed to pass.
The lawsuit was brought by Texans Uniting for Reform and Freedom, Grassroots America – We The People, and the True Texas Project. While a lower court sided with those organizations, the state appealed the decision—leading to a hearing in the Seventh District Court of Appeals in Amarillo yesterday.
Terri Hall, the founder and director of TURF, says the groups brought the lawsuit forward because they believed the legislature was “intentionally trying to mislead voters” when they wrote the ballot language in 2021.
The state, meanwhile, has maintained that legislative immunity prohibits these kinds of lawsuits, and that voters should work through the political process if they have grievances. A decision is expected in the coming months.
Human Smuggler Causes $150K in Damage
As the border crisis continues, a smuggling chase over the weekend left destruction in its wake for property owners in Kinney County. Sydnie Henry has the details. [[link removed]]
The border county nestled between Del Rio and Eagle Pass—which both have legal ports of entry—has faced unprecedented chaos since the crisis began in 2021.
Late Saturday, a human smuggler with 12 passengers drove into a privately owned ranch after being pursued by Texas Department of Public Safety officers assigned to patrol the border.
According to Kinney County Attorney Brent Smith, “With no air assets available, the exact location of the vehicle on the ranch could not be determined immediately.”
“It was later discovered that the cartel operative continued driving cross country for 30 miles into numerous other ranches leaving a path of destruction and costly repairs,” explained Smith. “Within this single smuggling episode, it is estimated that 16 property owners suffered damages to their property in the amount of $150,000.”
The vehicle was eventually located in Real County, and 8 of the 12 occupants were apprehended, although the driver is still at large.
One of the property owners, Pam Schott, told Texas Scorecard that their exterior fence was cut and cattle were let out.
Since President Joe Biden took office, there have been more than 7 million encounters with illegal aliens along the southwest border. Of those encounters, 4.2 million have been with single adults.
Tarrant County Invites Skeptics to Test Voting Equipment
Tarrant County Elections Administrator Clint Ludwig is inviting voting machine skeptics to participate in pre-primary testing of vote tabulating equipment this morning.
As Erin Anderson reports [[link removed]], regular public testing of voting systems is a safeguard built into Texas election law.
Tarrant County hired Ludwig to head their Elections Administration office in June 2023 after the departure of Heider Garcia, who is now the elections administrator for Dallas County.
State law requires each county elections office to conduct “logic and accuracy” testing of its vote tabulating system three times during each election—twice before the election and once immediately after.
Test ballots are voted on the machines, and then the voted ballots are tabulated by both machine count and hand tally to ensure the results are identical.
The testing is open to the public, but Ludwig says he wants to offer added transparency for citizens who are skeptical of the process.
Candidates Debate Ahead of Special Election Runoff in East Texas
Citizens preparing to vote in the special election runoff [[link removed]] for an East Texas House seat had the chance to hear from both candidates and packed the room for the only slated debate before the election.
Encompassing Hunt, Van Zandt, and Hopkins counties, the House District 2 seat was vacated last May after State Rep. Bryan Slaton, a Republican from Royse City, was expelled from the House.
Brent Money, a local attorney, took the top spot in the first round of voting, with Republican businesswoman Jill Dutton coming in second place. Since neither candidate received more than 50 percent of the vote, a runoff election was scheduled.
The debate was hosted by the Farm Bureau in Canton, the seat of Van Zandt County.
When it comes to what legislation each would like to champion in their first session, Money said he would focus on the priorities of the Republican Party of Texas—specifically ending gender mutilation and abolishing abortion.
Dutton said her signature piece of legislation would be to eliminate and replace the STAAR test.
The special election is slated to take place on January 30.
Introducing…Texas Tomorrow Texas Scorecard is excited to announce the launch of our new show, Texas Tomorrow, with Charles Blain.
Each week Charles Blain will focus on the issues impacting urban and suburban communities now that will shape the future of Texas for years to come.
Check out the first episode here. [[link removed]] Today in History
On January 11, 1755, Alexander Hamilton, a Founding Father and the first Secretary of the Treasury, was born in Charlestown in the West Indies.
Quote-Unquote
“I think the first duty of society is justice.”
– Alexander Hamilton
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