AUSTIN, Texas — The 86th Texas Legislative Session began Tuesday, Jan. 8. And the Texas Public Policy Foundation hosted its annual Policy Orientation to discuss the issues before lawmakers this session.
In this edition of Texas This Week, Ashley Goudeau sat down with former Dripping Springs state representative and now senior manager and Distinguished Fellow for the TPPF, Jason Issac.
Ashley Goudeau: For our viewers who aren't too familiar with the Texas Public Policy Foundation, let's start by telling them exactly what TTPF is.
Jason Issac: "So TTPF is a think-tank that has been around Austin, we have over 100 employees that are based -- most of them -- based in Austin. We actually have an office in Washington D.C. and around the country working on limited government policies, conservative policies to enhance liberty for individuals not only throughout Texas, but this country."
Goudeau: And while there is no official party affiliation, the TTPF is conservative in its thought processes.
Issac: "Yes, conservative-liberty minded organization, we're a 501 C3 non for-profit organization, so no, no party affiliation, no partisan politics. We don't get involved in campaigns, we get involved in policy."
Goudeau: Policy orientation has been around for quite some time now. Talk to us about what exactly happens and the importance of this.
Issac: "So this is our seventeenth annual policy orientation. We believe that this is the largest of its type in the nation. A gathering to discuss policy that will be addressed in this legislative session, here in the tenth largest economy in the world in Texas. We are now into the first week of legislative session, so we are discussing the policies and the issues and the priorities that are going to be before the legislature this year."
Goudeau: For TTPF what do you feel are the big issues that the legislature should tackle within this session?
Issac: "It's not only for TTPF, it's also for Texans, it's for the governor, lieutenant governor and the speaker of the house. And those big issues are school finance reform, property tax reform -- those are clearly the top two issues that we're hearing from all three of our heads of the legislative process."
Goudeau: I do want to talk a little bit about that, because you brought up all three of our heads, earlier this week the governor, the lieutenant governor and the newly elected speaker of the house, all got together, called a joint news conference on the front lawn of the Governor's Mansion.
Issac: "With dogs and all."
Goudeau: With dogs and all, Pancake and Peaches were there. This is not something that we've seen recently, this type of collaboration between the big three.
Issac: "No, and it's very nice to see they're working well, they're getting along and they're collaborating. And that's the word that I keep hearing is 'collaboration.' That we're going to sit down and they're going to have weekly meetings, if not more often, to discuss the issues and the process for getting those issues passed and into law to deliver true tax cut, property tax cut legislation to Texans that deal with school finance reform as well."
Goudeau: As a former member of the House, what does it say to you about the tone that's set for this session when you know that instead of it being the lieutenant governor versus the speaker, which is kind of what it felt like in the 2017 session to know that they're all together?
Issac: "Yeah my last legislative session, last session it was interesting because our understanding was they weren't having weekly meetings and breakfasts like had been the tradition for years past, so it is refreshing to see leadership actually sitting down and having a conversation, discussing the issues that are important to Texans. So it's nice. It sends a clearer sign, and from what I'm hearing from my former colleagues that are in the Texas House and the Senate, that they're excited about the process moving forward and that the leaders are actually meeting and discussing the issues."
Goudeau: So let's talk a little about school finance. They keep saying that is the issue of this session. It's more though than just fixing recapture, fixing or increasing the allotments, talk to me on your thoughts about how they can really reform our school finance system.
Issac: "Well there's ways to do it where you've got to fix the outcomes and it has to be outcome-driven. And one thing that we need to see is we need to see clear, transparent goals with the schools of how children are reading, and that's by far the most important aspect that we don't see today. So by third grade you should know and every school in the State of Texas, we should know how many students are reading at a third grade level and how many are not. And those schools that are doing well should receive some incentive. There's already talk about possibly a $1,000 to $3,000 incentive per student on a school district that has their students reading on level. It's not law yet, it's policy, it's a proposal, but that would be great to improve the outcomes and that's what we have to do. We have adequate funding now for our public education and we can move some money around to improve outcomes. And that's got to be the biggest thing. We've got to look at reading, we've got to have these clear goals on reading and math and make sure that our students are performing on level."
Goudeau: The biennial revenue estimate was promising. It was eight percent more than it had been two years before, and that's good news when we're talking about putting more money into schools, but there's a lot of strains on the Texas budget. And so there's this thought process that unless you create some new revenue, you're really not going to have enough money to really inject and make a difference in the schools. What are your thoughts?
Issac: "So we have to keep in mind that 100 percent of the funding comes from us, the tax payers. We can talk about local tax, we can talk about state tax dollars, we can talk about the state contributing 50 percent; it's 100 percent tax payer dollars, our money. And what we're seeing in Texas now is an eight percent increase in the biennial revenue estimate. That means, that we have contributed more money to the Texas economy, tax payers have so the state has more money. This gives us a great opportunity to buy down local property taxes. So TTPF, if you go to TexasPolicy.com and look for our property tax cut calculator, you can actually go in and enter what you're paying in property taxes now and see what your property taxes will get cut by using our proposal. And that's where we freeze property taxes for the school, M&O, freeze that rate. Which allows them to grow in revenues a little bit coming from the state and then the state continues to use some of this additional four percent of the increase, basically fifty percent of the increase in biennial revenue estimate money, that new money that you talked about, to buy down local tax rates. So you'll actually see a tax cut under our proposal with more money going into public education. And so this is a win-win for Texans, it's a win-win for schools, they're going to get more money but property tax payers are going to pay less which is a good thing. Again go to TexasPolicy.com and look for our property tax cut calculator and look how much you're going to save over the next 12 years. And that's probably the number one thing thatI know our Lieutenant Governor, prior Senator Patrick has been advocating since before 2005, of how can we cut property taxes. And our plan what we think is the best plan out there that actually delivers a tax cut, it increases revenue to our public schools and also sets a revenue cap and spending cap for local governments at two-and-a-half percent which would then trigger an election, it's a rollback rate at two-and-a-half percent. So our property tax cut plan will deliver more money to the tax payers which is a great thing."
Goudeau: That two-and-a-half percent rollback rate, so reducing it from eight percent, what it is now, to two-and-a-half percent, that's also something that the governor has said he's interested in. But last session you had the House at six percent, the Senate at four percent, couldn't come to an agreement over those numbers so how in the world are you going to get to two-point-five?
Issac: "Just persuasion. And you've got to let people know that this is the issue that Texans are most concerned about is you're hearing about people getting taxed out of their home, these are true stories. People are getting taxed out of their homes. Now you're hearing about businesses. Thirty-five years in business here in Austin. Threadgills closing down because they can no longer afford the property taxes. Those ultimately get passed on to the consumer, they impact the least among us more than anyone else. So if we're truly concerned about ending poverty, we've got to start with a cut to our property taxes. And so two-and-a-half percent is just a rollback trigger which triggers an election. And so if you're a local elected official, keep in mind a subdivision of the State of Texas. So we talk about local control, keep in mind these are subdivisions of the state of Texas. So if you can't convince your voters that you need to go above two-and-a-half percent, then you really shouldn't get above two-and-a-half percent. I'd love to see the effective tax rate at zero, if you need more than that go out and continue to get your voters to support you and increase their taxes."
Goudeau: Now that's going to be a tough sell for cities and counties. I mean they fought the six percent and the four percent. You heard cries that we're not going to be able to fund the police department, the fire department; we're not going to have parks and pools and libraries anymore, this is going to be a tough sell.
Jason: "How many really really nice things do we need? What's the limit on emergency service vehicles that we need? So we need some of these armored vehicles or can we borrow them from other departments? Is there a way to collaborate and save money? You know the town that I live in, Dripping Springs, we do not have a police force. We rely on the county elected sheriff and the sheriff's office to provide us with our law enforcement. So we just got to be mindful and truly constrain the growth of governments, so that the taxpayers can keep more of their money. There's an endless supply of things that government can provide for people, it's just we've gotten out of the role of government. We need to have a limited government, so that we can have more freedom and keep our hard earned money."
Goudeau: Final thoughts on Policy Orientation and this upcoming session.
Issac: "Policy Orientation was a great success. Over 11-hundred people attended, it's our largest so far. And I'm sure next year will be even bigger. But it was just a great success to get some people together of differing views and have conversations so that we can actually come to solutions so that we can collaborate as Texans like our big three are going to collaborate. It was very exciting. I will tell you though that I know your father was concerned about an issue I was working on last legislative session with Daylight Savings Time, I don't think that's going to be a top political issue this session, so I know he's going to be upset. My apologies to your dad. Daylight Savings Time is still going to be around for a time to come. I wish it would go away."
Goudeau: There are a lot of people. He got my grandmother on board with the bill and there are going to be a lot of people disappointed.
Issac: "About half the Texans are going to be disappointed we're not going to end Daylight Savings Time this legislative session."