Senate
After gaveling in at noon and shortly recessing, the Senate introduced, referred, and set a hearing for SB 1/SJR 1 (Bettencourt) which would compress school property tax rates and increase the homestead exemption. The Senate then recessed for both bills to be heard in Senate Finance. The Senate reconvened around 2:00 PM and voted out SB 1/SJR 1 (Bettencourt) unanimously. They then recessed 10:00 AM Friday, June 2.
House
After gaveling in at noon, the House introduced, referred, and set formal hearings for HB 1 (Meyer) relating to property tax compression, HJR 1 (Meyer) a constitutional spending limit exemption for ad valorem resolution, and HB 2 (Guillen) relating to human trafficking. The House then adjourned for 40 minutes while House Ways & Means and House State Affairs met briefly to vote the bills out of committee.
The House reconvened at roughly 1:40 pm to begin a new legislative day and Rep. Geren moved to set all bills as a special order for consideration at 4:00 pm.
In a response to questions by Rep. Geren on the Senate bill package and homestead exemptions, Speaker Phelan noted that the Governor’s call only pertained to tax compression and stated that only bills that strictly follow the call would be admitted for first reading in the House.
HB 1, HJR 1, and HB 2 were passed later this evening and the House adjourned sine die pending administrative tasks, concluding the 1st Called Special Session for the House.