Summary: The TX Lt. Governor has power over the finances, security, and education of you and your family -- some say more than the TX Governor -- and sometimes it feels like more than individual TX citizens. The TX Lt. Governor is often regarded as the most powerful statewide elected office, because it presides over the Texas Senate and wields tremendous influence over legislation and is also in charge of setting the Senate’s agenda and standing committees.
Latest Update: Friday, 17 February, 2023
Original 30 November 2022 post below, Lt. Governor Dan Patrick during 88th Tx Legislative Session
Select #Tags for additional articles: #StateLegislation #PropertyTax
Lt. Gov. Patrick's official list of TX Senate legislative priorities
The TX Lt. Governor has power over the finances, security, and education of you and your family -- some say more than the TX Governor -- and sometimes it feels like more than individual TX citizens.
The TX Lt. Governor is often regarded as the most powerful statewide elected office, because it presides over the Texas Senate and wields tremendous influence over legislation and is also in charge of setting the Senate’s agenda and standing committees.
Lt. Governor Dan Patrick was re-elected soundly in the November 2022 election. Since 2017, Patrick is considered "one of the strongest lieutenant governors in modern Texas history." So Patrick's list of Senate legislative properties is of paramount importance to Willow Park citizens.
• Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick Releases 30 Legislative Priorities for the Texas Senate, The Texan 13 February 2023, Excerpts. Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has announced 30 priorities that will be taken up by the Senate this session, touching on a wide range of issues that include not only issues specific to his campaign but many priorities for the state GOP as well.
The list of priority legislation includes:
Senate Bill 1 – State Budget
Senate Bill 2 – Restoring Voter Fraud to a Felony
Senate Bill 3 – Increasing the Homestead Exemption to $70,000
Senate Bill 4 – Adding Additional Property Tax Relief
Senate Bill 5 – Increasing the Business Personal Property Tax Exemption
Senate Bill 6 – Adding New Natural Gas Plants
Senate Bill 7 – Continuing to Improve the Texas Grid
Senate Bill 8 – Empowering Parental Rights – Including School Choice
Senate Bill 9 – Empowering Teacher Rights – Teacher Pay Raise
Senate Bill 10 – Adding 13th Checks for Retired Teachers
Senate Bill 11 – Keeping Our Schools Safe and Secure
Senate Bill 12 – Banning Children’s Exposure to Drag Shows
Senate Bill 13 – Protecting Children from Obscene Books in Libraries
Senate Bill 14 – Ending Child Gender Modification
Senate Bill 15 – Protecting Women’s College Sports
Senate Bill 16 – Banning Critical Race Theory (CRT) in Higher Education
Senate Bill 17 – Banning Discriminatory “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion” (DEI) Policies in Higher Education
Senate Bill 18 – Eliminating Tenure at General Academic Institutions
Senate Bill 19 – Creating A New Higher Education Endowment Fund
Senate Bill 20 – Removing District Attorneys Who Refuse to Follow Texas Law
Senate Bill 21 – Removing Judges Who Refuse to Follow Texas Law
Senate Bill 22 – Assisting Rural Law Enforcement Funding – Increasing Pay and Needed Equipment
Senate Bill 23 – Creating A Mandatory 10-Year Prison Sentence for Criminals Committing Gun Crime
Senate Bill 24 – Expanding Alternatives to Abortion
Senate Bill 25 – Creating New Scholarships for Registered Nurses
Senate Bill 26 – Expanding Mental Health Care Beds Across Texas – Focus on Rural Counties
Senate Bill 27 – Creating A New Business Specialty Court
Senate Bill 28 – Addressing Texas’ Future Water Needs
Senate Bill 29 – Banning Local COVID-19 Mandates
Senate Bill 30 – Supplemental Budget
• Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s priority bills signal another swing at pushing Texas to the right, The Texas Tribune, 13 February 2023, Excerpts. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick announced a list Monday of 30 wide-ranging bills that he has designated his legislative priorities, including providing property tax relief and increasing natural gas plants to improve the reliability of the state’s power grid. He also detailed more specifically his plans to push a socially conservative agenda that would ban certain books in schools, restrict transgender student athlete participation in collegiate sports and end gender-transition treatment for young people.
In a statement announcing his priority bills, Patrick said he believed Texans largely supported his proposals because they “largely reflect the policies supported by the conservative majority of Texans.”
Traditionally, the lieutenant governor, who presides over the Senate, and the House speaker, who presides over the lower chamber of the Legislature, unveil 20 bills with low bill numbers near the start of each legislative session to indicate their priorities. Since 2017, Patrick, who is seen as one of the strongest lieutenant governors in modern Texas history, has expanded his priority list to 30.
Patrick, who has a Republican majority in the Senate, should have an easy time passing his priorities through the upper chamber despite what is expected to be strong opposition from advocacy groups on issues around LGBTQ rights, education and civil liberties. But the bills must pass through both chambers of the Legislature and then be signed by the governor to become law.
• Lt. Gov. announces 30 legislative priorities for 2023 session, excludes border security, The Center Square, 15 February 2023, Excerpts. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick announced 30 legislative priorities for the 2023 legislative session. He said, “I believe Texans support our priorities because they largely reflect the policies supported by the conservative majority of Texans,” and that most of the bills he’s supporting “will pass with bipartisan support.”
He also added that just because a bill didn’t make his priority list doesn’t mean it’s “not a priority for me or the Senate.” / “We will pass over 600 bills this session,” he added.
Noticeably not on the list is border security, although there are some bills addressing border security being filed, they just haven’t been filed yet, The Center Square has learned.
Patrick addressed the issue by saying border security was already prioritized in the proposed state budget instead of in a specific bill. / “Several of our policy initiatives are already addressed in the budget as opposed to specific bills,” he said. “One example is Texas border security funding. Since President Biden took office and implemented his open border policies, Texas has stepped into the breach. Texas should not have to use our tax dollars to do the Federal Government’s job, but it is vitally important that we maintain our law enforcement and National Guard presence. If we do not, the border crisis will get much worse.”
Original Post 30 November 2022
Lt. Governor Dan Patrick during 88th Tx Legislative Session
Lt. Governor Unveils Broad 2023 Priorities, Constitutional Amendment Maneuver to Avoid Busting Spending Cap, The Texan, 30 November 2022, Excerpts
Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick unveiled a broad list of his 2023 legislative priorities, many of which depend on spending portions of the projected $27 billionsurplus.
Patrick made clear that the Legislature will not spend all of it, choosing to leave some aside for a rainy day.
Property tax relief is atop Patrick’s priority list, he said Wednesday. He laid out a couple items to accomplish that, along with a broader list of priorities. That list includes:
Raise the standard homestead exemption again, raised last year to $40,000
Expand the business personal property tax exemption to at least $100,000
Build more natural gas power plants for the state’s main power grid
Level the financial playing field between renewable and thermal sources of electricity generation
Establish a Rural Law Enforcement Fund to buttress local budgets in low-population counties
Provide a pay enhancement for sheriff’s offices
Create a 10-year minimum sentence for those who use a firearm in a crime
Codify a mechanism to recall district attorneys and judges who facilitate the release of a criminal on bond who then goes on to commit another crime
Add more funding for border security
Invest more in additional mental health facilities
Finish restoration of the Alamo
Trim debt where possible
Create a university-subsidization fund for institutions other than the University of Texas and Texas A&M University
Expand scholarship opportunities for teachers and law enforcement
Increase teacher salaries
Issue a “13th Check” or a cost-of-living adjustment for retired teachers
“Empower parents by giving them a voice in their children’s education”
Add to school safety funding
Reform tenure in higher education institutions
Restore the penalty for voter fraud to a felony
“Ensure timely counting of votes and review of machines”
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick prioritizes property tax relief, electric grid fixes and border security for 2023 legislative session, The Texas Tribune, 30 November 2022, Excerpts
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick on Wednesday unveiled a list of 21 legislative priorities including property tax relief, improving the reliability of the electric grid and continuing to spend money on border security funding.
Patrick, who presides over the Senate and wields tremendous power over legislation, also said he will focus on issues like boosting border security, law enforcement, state investment in mental health facilities, restoration of the Alamo, education, school security and tightening the state’s election laws.
But at the top of the priority list is addressing ballooning property taxes for homeowners. Patrick said lawmakers have an “extraordinary opportunity” to shape the future of Texas at the start of the next legislative session, which begins Jan. 10, because they’re expected to have a $27 billion budget surplus to spend on state projects.
Patrick said he would prioritize spending some of that surplus on property tax relief in the form of increasing the homestead exemptions for homeowners. In a break with Gov. Greg Abbott, Patrick said half of the surplus could not be used for property tax relief efforts — which was a promise Abbott made on the campaign trail this year — without breaking a constitutional spending cap set on Wednesday by the Legislative Budget Board, which Patrick co-chairs with House Speaker Dade Phelan. To address that, Patrick said state Sen. Charles Schwertner, R-Georgetown, would propose a bill this upcoming session that would allow lawmakers to save more money in the state’s rainy day fund.
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