The Texan Podcast - Daily Rundown - May 20, 2025

Starting point is 00:00:00 Howdy folks, today is Tuesday, May 20th and you're listening to the Texans Daily Rundown. I'm the Texans Assistant Editor Rob Lauschus and here is the rundown of today's news in Texas politics. First up, the second half of the 89th legislative session's property tax deal cleared its secondary hurdle on Tuesday as the Texas House approved increases to both the standard and elderly homestead exemptions. Under the bills passed by the lower chamber, the standard homestead exemption would rise from $100,000 to $140,000 and the additional exemption for over 65 and disabled homeowners would rise from $10,000 to $60,000.

Starting point is 00:00:46 For elderly homeowners, that would bring the total homestead exemption to $200,000, which is intended to virtually eliminate property tax bills for many of that class of homeowners, whose tax bills are already frozen. This blueprint was one half of the deal struck between the chambers, the other part of which increased the business personal property tax exemption, a tax on inventory and other income producing property for businesses, from $2,500 to $125,000. The rest of the property tax relief package must be hashed out between the chambers in the form of rate compression, the direct buydown of school district rates with state dollars. Next, federal legislation authored by Senator Ted Cruz cracking down on revenge pornography content was signed into law by President Donald Trump on Monday afternoon.

Starting point is 00:01:38 The Tools to Address Known Exploitation by Immobilizing Technological Deepfakes on Websites and Networks, or or Take It Down Act, criminalizes the non-consensual dissemination of intimate imagery, also requiring websites to remove such content once given notice within 48 hours. It was carried through Congress by Cruz and Senator Amy Klobuchar, garnering particular support from First Lady Melania Trump, who made her first public speaking appearance since Trump's inauguration to emphasize her desire to see the bill's passage. Also hosting multiple victims of AI-generated deepfake revenge pornography to share their

Starting point is 00:02:17 stories. Trump himself spoke on the Take It Down Act during his joint address to Congress, saying, quote, I look forward to signing it into law. In other news, the Uvalde Strong Act cleared the second of three hurdles toward becoming law on Monday when the Texas Senate passed it unanimously. House Bill 33, authored by State Representative Don McLaughlin and sponsored by State Senator Pete Flores, requires the Texas Department of Emergency Management to establish a uniform chain of command tree for active shooter episodes. Flores said on Monday in laying out the

Starting point is 00:02:52 bill, quote, on May 24th, 2022, the Uvalde community tragically lost 19 students and two teachers during a school shooting at Robb Elementary. This tragedy has exposed critical failures in law enforcement preparedness, response coordination, school safety protocols, making it clear that Texas must take action to address our current shortcomings and future readiness for active shooter situations. Also, landowners are praising a bill that would require more transparency from high-speed rail projects in Texas, including the proposed project between Dallas and Houston. That legislation has passed both houses of the Texas Legislature. On May 19th, the Senate voted to pass House Bill 2003, authored by Representative Cody Harris and sponsored by Senator Lois Kolkhorst on both second and

Starting point is 00:03:42 third reading. The measure passed 23 to eight. The bill would require the project, which is part of the Texas rail plan, to submit an annual disclosure to the Texas Department of Transportation about its proposed method of financing and its availability, its recent balance sheet, the estimated full cost of the project, and more.

Starting point is 00:04:03 Last but not least, the legislative fight over a prospective ban on tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, has made for strange lobbying bedfellows, uniting beer distributors, grassroots conservative groups, and law enforcement on one side, and veterans, cake shop entrepreneurs, progressive activists, and libertarians on the other, with liquor stores somewhere in between. Legislators have three options in front of them. Ban

Starting point is 00:04:30 the production and sale of virtually all THC products, ban most of them, particularly the synthetic variety, but ride out things like beverages, or kill either of the proposals and keep things as they are. Visit thetexan.news to read senior reporter Brad Johnson's breakdown of the lobby fight behind the floor fight regarding THC in Texas. 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.

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The Texan Podcast - Daily Rundown - May 20, 2025

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