The Texan Podcast - Daily Rundown - August 14, 2024

Episode Date: August 14, 2024

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Howdy folks, today is Wednesday, August 14th, and you're listening to the Texans Daily Rundown. I'm the Texans Assistant Editor Rob Lausches, and here is the rundown of today's news in Texas politics. First up, the Office of the Attorney General has threatened to sue over the Texas State Fair's new policy prohibiting the carrying of firearms, and two lawmakers requested a legal opinion from the agency declaring such a ban illegitimate. The State Fair of Texas announced a new policy prohibiting license-to-carry holders from carrying firearms on the fairground's 277-acre premises during the 2024 event later this year. Last week, over 70 state lawmakers signed a letter calling on the State Fair's board to rescind the policy. It is the first time the

State Fair has implemented such a policy, and it sparked a recoil from Republicans across the state. The policy likely stems from the shooting at last year's event when three victims were shot by Cameron Turner. Next, former Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner will replace the late Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee as the Democratic nominee on the ballot after the party's district precinct chairs selected him on Tuesday night. 41 of the 80 Democratic precinct chairs voted for Turner in a runoff against Amanda Edwards to replace Jackson Lee on the ballot on Tuesday evening at Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church. Turner will run against Republican Lana Santonce in November, a race the Democrat is handily expected to win. According to the Texans' Texas Partisan Index, the 18th congressional district is rated D73%. Turner and the other candidates may also file for the seat's special election

that Governor Greg Abbott set for November 5th, the same day as the general election. The winner of that race would hold the seat for less than two months. In other news, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg announced Tuesday that a data analyst with the now defunct County Elections Administration

Office has been charged with six felonies in relation to the 2022 general election. Hired in April 2021, Darrell Blackburn oversaw allocation of resources, including the number of paper ballots provided to polling sites. But investigators say he took another full-time job in the oil and gas industry in October 2021. While submitting timesheets to the county claiming he was working from home, Blackburn was working at his other job during an overlap period of about 15 months. Blackburn has been charged with five counts of tampering with a government document and one charge of theft by a public official.

According to Michael Levine, chief Assistant District Attorney of Public Corruption, Blackburn earned $43 an hour for a total of $90,000 from the county, while drawing a salary of more than $250,000 at his other job. On election day 2022, Blackburn reported working 18 hours for Harris County, but also claimed to work eight hours for his other employer.

Also, on Friday, August 9th, the Tarrant Appraisal District Board approved a new reappraisal plan for the next two years that keeps residential properties with a homestead exemption at their current market value until they are reappraised in 2027. In July, the TAD Board directed Chief Appraiser Joe Don Bobbitt to create a reappraisal plan

that included the following guidance. Reappraisals of a property must consider prior appraisals, settlements, and reductions in value. Residential properties are only reappraised every two years rather than every year. Residential properties will not be reappraised in 2025, and if a reappraisal value on a residential property will increase by more than 5%, the district must provide clear

and convincing evidence of that increase. Board member Gloria Pena proposed that the reappraisal plan be adopted without the provision that properties won't be reappraised in 2025. She pointed to the concerns by area school districts that their property values could get out of sync with the state-required property value study, which might result in a loss of funding. Last but not least, both Dallas and Fort Worth introduced their city budgets for fiscal year 2025 with increased expenditures, but while Dallas is recommending a tax rate decrease,

Fort Worth is planning a tax rate increase. The overall recommended budget for Dallas is $5.1 billion, up from $4.97 billion in fiscal year 2024. The budget includes increases for public safety while proposing a tax rate cut. Fort Worth's budget will increase from $2.6 billion in fiscal year 2024 to $2.79 billion in fiscal year 2025, up 7.4 percent. It includes both water rate and development fee increases, along with a tax rate hike. Thanks for listening. To support The Texan, please be sure to visit thetexan.news and subscribe to get full access to all of our articles, newsletters, and podcasts.