Texas Proposition 3, Temporary Property Tax Exemption for Disaster Areas Amendment (2019)

Texas Proposition 3
Election date November 5, 2019
Topic Taxes and Property
Status a Approved
Type Constitutional amendment	Origin State legislature
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Texas Proposition 3, the Temporary Property Tax Exemption for Disaster Areas Amendment, was on the ballot in Texas as a legislatively referred constitutional amendment on November 5, 2019. The measure was approved.

A "yes" vote supported this amendment to require political subdivisions to provide temporary property tax exemptions in areas that the governor declared as disaster areas.

A "no" vote opposed this amendment, thus continuing to allow property reappraisals following disasters but not tax exemptions.

Election results

Texas Proposition 3
Result		Votes	Percentage
Yes		1,679,049	85.09%
No		294,235	14.91%

Results are officially certified.

Source

Overview

What did Proposition 3 change?

As of 2019, local governments in Texas had the power to reappraise the value of properties located within a governor-declared disaster area and that were damaged in the disaster. Proposition 3 authorized the state legislature to require local governments to provide tax exemptions for properties in governor-declared disaster areas.

The state legislature also passed a bill, House Bill 492 (HB 492), to implement Proposition 3. HB 492 provided rules for when and how a local government can provide an exemption, the types of properties eligible for an exemption, and exemption rates. Properties that were made eligible under HB 492 included houses used as dwellings, improvements to real property, and tangible personal property used to produce income.

Read more about HB 492 and exemption rates here: House Bill 492 (2019)

Text of measure

Ballot title

The ballot title was as follows:

“

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.

”

Constitutional changes

See also: Article 8, Texas Constitution

The measure added a Section 2(e) to Article 8 of the Texas Constitution. The following underlined text was added:

Note: Use your mouse to scroll over the below text to see the full text.

(e) The Legislature by general law may provide that a person who owns property located in an area declared by the governor to be a disaster area following a disaster is entitled to a temporary exemption from ad valorem taxation by a political subdivision of a portion of the appraised value of that property. The general law may provide that if the governor first declares territory in the political subdivision to be a disaster area as a result of a disaster on or after the date the political subdivision adopts a tax rate for the tax year in which the declaration is issued, a person is entitled to the exemption authorized by this subsection for that tax year only if the exemption is adopted by the governing body of the political subdivision. The Legislature by general law may prescribe the method of determining the amount of the exemption authorized by this subsection and the duration of the exemption and may provide additional eligibility requirements for the exemption.

Readability score

See also: Ballot measure readability scores, 2019

Using the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level (FKGL and Flesch Reading Ease (FRE) formulas, Ballotpedia scored the readability of the ballot title and summary for this measure. Readability scores are designed to indicate the reading difficulty of text. The Flesch-Kincaid formulas account for the number of words, syllables, and sentences in a text; they do not account for the difficulty of the ideas in the text. The state legislature wrote the ballot language for this measure. The FKGL for the ballot title is grade level 20.5, and the FRE is 1.5. The word count for the ballot title is 30, and the estimated reading time is 8 seconds.

Support

Supporters

Officials

• Rep. Hugh Shine (R-55)
• Rep. Drew Darby (R-72)
• Rep. Phil Stephenson (R-85)

Organizations

• Progress Texas

Arguments

The League of Women Voters of Texas published arguments for and arguments against the ballot measure. The following is the argument in support:

“

In the event of environmental disasters, a tax exemption would bring quicker and easier relief to those affected. Proposition 3 would be easier and more affordable for the local government than the current property reassessment process, which is both lengthy and expensive.

”

Opposition

Arguments

The League of Women Voters of Texas published arguments for and arguments against the ballot measure. The following is the argument in opposition:

“

Since Proposition 3 relies on the local government to decide whether or not to adopt the tax exemption, it does not guarantee it will help as many people as intended. Any such relief should be mandatory. Though there would now be predetermined damage categories, the property may still have to undergo an extensive reappraisal process.

”

Campaign finance

Total campaign contributions:
Support:	$0.00
Opposition:	$0.00

See also: Campaign finance requirements for Texas ballot measures

There were no ballot measure committees registered in support of the measure or in opposition to the measure.

Media editorials

See also: 2019 ballot measure media endorsements

Support

• Austin American-Statesman: “Proposition 3 offers a simpler and cheaper alternative for disaster relief than the current practice in which local governments reappraise every damaged property to adjust values, a time-consuming process.”
• Corpus Christi Caller-Times: “Hurricane Harvey and other events have taught Texas a hard lesson. Currently a property stays on the tax rolls at pre-disaster valuation until the next valuation cycle. Imagine having your house wiped out and still having to pay its full value in property tax. This fixes that.”
• The Dallas Morning News: “Disasters can destroy property value, and the last thing owners need is to wrestle with new valuations. This proposition would authorize the legislature to provide temporary relief for ad valorem taxes on properties after a disaster. Approving it is the fair thing to do.”
• The Eagle: “Hopefully, none of The Eagle’s readers will be affected by a natural disaster, but too many of our fellow Texans are devastated by floods or fires or other natural disasters and we must do what we can to help them in their time of loss.”
• Fort Worth Star-Telegram: “This amendment would allow temporary property tax exemptions in areas hit by disasters. This is a compassionate idea for helping Texans at a time of crisis, but the Legislature should take care to ensure that local governments aren’t deprived of funding at a time that they need to foster recovery from storms and other tragedies.”
• Houston Chronicle: “This is a good idea, as it will get tangible relief to affected property owners more quickly than waiting for the government to reappraise the damaged property.”
• Longview News-Journal: “This amendment is not as good as it could be because, while the governor declares the disaster area, it is up to the local government to choose the percentage of exemption — 15%, 30%, 60% or 100% — and the length of time the exemption would last. Better would have been to set percentage and time with a process to renew in extreme cases. However, the problems are not severe enough to reject the amendment.”
• San Antonio Express-News: "This would provide taxpayers with important relief after a disaster."
• Waco Tribune-Herald: “With the increasing devastation of droughts and storms in Texas, this is a step in the right direction.”

Opposition

• The Austin Chronicle: “This post-Harvey disaster relief measure sounds wholesome but is messier than need be. The law it's tied to requires localities to grant tax exemptions (regardless of their post-disaster fiscal needs) to impacted properties until they next set their tax rates, after which the exemptions are optional. Is that better than the current law, under which ravaged properties are reappraised and adjusted in value? Only if you pretend that increasingly frequent and severe disaster is an unforeseeable act of fate.”

Overview of media editorials

The following table provides an overview of the positions that media editorial boards had taken on the Texas 2019 ballot measures:

Media	Prop. 1	Prop. 2	Prop. 3	Prop. 4	Prop. 5	Prop. 6	Prop. 7	Prop. 8	Prop. 9	Prop. 10
Austin American-Statesman	a	a	a	d	a	a	a	a	a	a
The Austin Chronicle	a	a	d	d	a	tc	a	a	d	a
Corpus Christi Caller-Times	a	a	a	d	a	a	a	a	a	a
The Dallas Morning News	a	a	a	d	d	a	a	a	d	a
The Eagle	a	a	a	d	a	a	a	a	a	a
Fort Worth Star-Telegram	a	a	a	a	a	a	a	a	d	a
Houston Chronicle	d	a	a	d	a	a	a	a	a	a
Longview News-Journal	a	a	a	d	a	a	a	a	a	a
San Antonio Express-News	d	a	a	d	a	a	a	a	a	a
Waco Tribune-Herald	a	a	a	d	a	a	a	a	d	a

Background

Reappraisals in disaster areas

As of 2019, local governments in Texas had the power to reappraise properties located within a governor-declared disaster area and that were damaged in the disaster. Governments could not provide tax exemptions for disaster-damaged properties. Residents who receive the post-disaster reappraisal were taxed based on their property's reappraised value.

House Bill 492 (2019)

The implementing legislation for the constitutional amendment was House Bill 492 (HB 492), which was signed into law on May 30, 2019. HB 492 provided specifics, including rules and regulations, for local governments to provide for tax exemptions in governor-declared disaster areas.

HB 492 allowed local governments to provide an exemption within 60 days after the governor declared an area to be a disaster. Properties that were eligible for an exemption are tangible personal property used for the production of income, an improvement to real property, or a manufactured home used as a dwelling.

Residents of the area would need to file an application for an exemption, and then the chief appraiser would need to determine the property's damage. The bill provided for assigning properties with damage ratings—Level I, Level II, Level III, or Level IV. The different levels were developed to provide for the size of the tax exemption. Exemptions were designed to expire the next time a property is reappraised, which, in Texas, must occur at least once every three years. The following chart illustrates each level's description and the corresponding tax exemption:

Damage rating	Exemption	Damage description
Level I	15 percent	appraiser determines property between 15 to 30 percent damaged, e.g. minimal damage and could be continued to be used as intended
Level II	30 percent	appraiser determines property between 30 to 60 percent damaged, e.g. nonstructural damage to the roof, walls, foundation, or mechanical components and/or the waterline is less than 18 inches above the floor
Level III	60 percent	appraiser determines property was more than 60 percent damaged but not a total loss, eg. significant structural damage requiring extensive repair and/or the waterline is 18 inches or higher above the floor
Level IV	100 percent	appraiser determines property was a total loss, e.g. repair is not feasible

Referred amendments on the ballot

See also: List of Texas ballot measures

The following statistics are based on ballot measures between 1995 and 2018 in Texas:

• Ballots featured 159 constitutional amendments.
• An average of 13 measures appeared on odd-year statewide ballots.
• The number of ballot measures on odd-year statewide ballots ranged from 7 to 22.
• Voters approved 91 percent (145 of 159) and rejected 9 percent (14 of 159) of the constitutional amendments.

Legislatively-referred constitutional amendments, 1995-2018
Total number	Approved	Percent approved	Defeated	Percent defeated	Odd-year average	Odd-year median	Odd-year minimum	Odd-year maximum
159	145	91.2%	14	8.8%	13.1	12.5	7	22

In 2019, 216 constitutional amendments had been filed in the Texas State Legislature. Legislators were permitted to file constitutional amendments through March 8, 2019, unless permission was given to introduce an amendment after the deadline. Between 2009 and 2017, an average of 187 constitutional amendments were filed during regular legislative sessions. The state legislature approved an average of nine constitutional amendments during regular legislative sessions. Therefore, the average rate of certification during regular legislative sessions was 4.7 percent. In 2019, 10 of the 216 proposed constitutional amendments were certified for the ballot, meaning the rate of certification was 4.6 percent.

Path to the ballot

See also: Amending the Texas Constitution

In Texas, a two-thirds vote is needed in each chamber of the Texas State Legislature to refer a constitutional amendment to the ballot for voter consideration.

The constitutional amendment was introduced into the state legislature as House Joint Resolution 34 (HJR 34) on December 7, 2018.

On April 17, 2019, the Texas House of Representatives passed HJR 34 in a vote of 145-0. However, the Texas State Senate voted to amend HJR 34, passing the modified bill in a vote of 31-0 on May 19, 2019. The state House refused to concur with the upper chamber's changes to HJR 34 and requested a conference committee. The state House appointed Hugh Shine (R-55), Dustin Burrows (R-83), Drew Darby (R-72), Trey Martinez Fischer (D-116), and Jim Murphy (R-133) to the conference committee. The state Senate appointed Paul Bettencourt (R-7), Brandon Creighton (R-4), Kelly Hancock (R-9), Juan Hinojosa (D-20), and Angela Paxton (R-8) to the conference committee. On May 25, 2019, the conference committee filed its version of HJR 34.

Both the state Senate and state House voted on the committee's HJR 34 on May 26. The state Senate passed HJR 34 in a vote of 31-0. The state House passed HJR 34 in a vote of 144-1.

Vote in the Texas State Senate May 26, 2019
Requirement: Two-thirds (66.67 percent) vote of all members in each chamber
Number of yes votes required: 21  a
	Yes	No	Not voting
Total	31	0	0
Total percent	100.00%	0.00%	0.00%
Democrat	12	0	0
Republican	19	0	0

Vote in the Texas House of Representatives May 26, 2019
Requirement: Two-thirds (66.67 percent) vote of all members in each chamber
Number of yes votes required: 100  a
	Yes	No	Not voting
Total	144	1	5
Total percent	96.00%	0.67%	3.33%
Democrat	66	0	1
Republican	78	1	4

How to cast a vote

See also: Voting in Texas

Poll times

In Texas, all polling places are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Central Time. An individual who is in line at the time polls close must be allowed to vote. Texas is divided between Central and Mountain time zones.

Registration Texas

Check your voter registration status here.

To register to vote in Texas, an applicant must be a United States citizen, a resident of the county in which he or she is registering, and at least 17 years and 10 months old.

The deadline to register to vote is 30 days before the election. Prospective voters can request a postage-paid voter registration form online or complete the form online and return it to the county voter registrar. Applications are also available at a variety of locations including the county voter registrar’s office, the secretary of state’s office, libraries, and high schools. Voter registration certificates are mailed to newly registered voters.

Automatic registration

Texas does not practice automatic voter registration.

Online registration

See also: Online voter registration

Texas does not permit online voter registration.

Same-day registration

Texas does not allow same-day voter registration.

Residency requirements

Prospective voters must reside in the county in which they are registering to vote.

Verification of citizenship

See also: Laws permitting noncitizens to vote in the United States

Texas does not require proof of citizenship for voter registration. Section 18.068 of the Texas Election Code says the following:

“	The secretary of state shall quarterly compare the information received under Section 16.001 of this code and Section 62.113, Government Code, to the statewide computerized voter registration list. If the secretary determines that a voter on the registration list is deceased or has been excused or disqualified from jury service because the voter is not a citizen, the secretary shall send notice of the determination to the voter registrar of the counties considered appropriate by the secretary.	”
—Section 18.068, Texas Election Code

In January 2019, the Texas secretary of state’s office announced that it would be providing local election officials with a list of registered voters who obtained driver’s licenses or IDs with documentation such as work visas or green cards. Counties would then be able to require voters on the list to provide proof of citizenship within 30 days. The review was halted by a federal judge in February 2019, and Secretary of State David Whitley rescinded the advisory in April. A news release from Whitley’s office stated that “... going forward, the Texas Secretary of State's office will send to county voter registrars only the matching records of individuals who registered to vote before identifying themselves as non-U.S. citizens to DPS when applying for a driver's license or personal identification card. This will ensure that naturalized U.S. citizens who lawfully registered to vote are not impacted by this voter registration list maintenance process.”

Verifying your registration

The Texas Secretary of State’s office allows residents to check their voter registration status online by visiting this website.

Voter ID requirements

Texas requires voters to present photo identification while voting.

The following list of accepted ID was current as of February 2023. Click here for the Texas Secretary of State's page on accepted ID to ensure you have the most current information.

• Texas driver’s license issued by the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS)
• Texas Election Identification Certificate issued by DPS
• Texas Personal Identification Card issued by DPS
• Texas handgun license issued by DPS
• United States Military Identification Card containing the person’s photograph
• United States Citizenship Certificate containing the person’s photograph
• United States passport (book or card)

Identification provided by voters aged 18-69 may be expired for no more than four years before the election date. Voters aged 70 and older can use an expired ID card regardless of how long ago the ID expired.

Voters who are unable to provide one of the ID options listed above can sign a Reasonable Impediment Declaration and provide one of the following supporting documents:

• Copy or original of a government document that shows the voter’s name and an address, including the voter’s voter registration certificate
• Copy of or original current utility bill
• Copy of or original bank statement
• Copy of or original government check
• Copy of or original paycheck
• Copy of or original of (a) a certified domestic (from a U.S. state or territory) birth certificate or (b) a document confirming birth admissible in a court of law which establishes the voter’s identity (which may include a foreign birth document)

The following voters are exempt from showing photo ID:

• Voters with a disability
  • Voters with a disability "may apply with the county voter registrar for a permanent exemption to presenting an acceptable photo identification or following the Reasonable Impediment Declaration procedure in the county."
• Voters who have a religious objection to being photographed

Voters who do not have a photo ID can obtain a Texas Election Identification Certificate (EIC) at any Texas driver’s license office during regular business hours. Voters can also obtain an Election Identification Certificate from a mobile station. Locations are listed here.

See also

2019 measures

• 2019 ballot measures
• Taxes on the ballot
• Property on the ballot
• 2019 legislative sessions

Texas

• Texas ballot measures
• Texas ballot measure laws

News and analysis

• Ballot measure lawsuits
• Ballot measure readability
• Ballot measure polls

External links

• House Joint Resolution 34 (2019)