The package could land on Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk by the end of the week. Voters must pass the plan in a constitutional election in November for it to take effect in the 2023 tax year.
Karen Brooks Harper
Karen Brooks Harper reported on the state budget and health and human services from 2020 to 2024. An alumna of the Missouri School of Journalism, Karen arrived in Texas in 1995 to join the Corpus Christi Caller-Times, spent several years in Laredo and Mexico covering immigration and the drug war for Knight-Ridder newspapers, and has covered Texas politics for more than two decades for news organizations including the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, the Dallas Morning News and Reuters.
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Texas Legislature 2023
Some conservatives’ long-term goal in property tax fight: get rid of school taxes altogether
Gov. Greg Abbott has thrown his weight behind the idea being pushed by an influential conservative think tank. Many school leaders are worried.
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Texas Legislature 2023
Texas comptroller certifies new $321.3 billion state spending plan, sends to Abbott’s desk
Before Abbott can review the budget that will direct the state’s spending for the next two years, the comptroller has to certify that it doesn’t spend more money than the state expects to bring in.
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Texas Legislature 2023
Late deal sends new economic incentives for businesses to governor
After the previous, widely criticized program expired in December, lawmakers worked hard to craft a plan that won overwhelming support in both chambers.
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Texas Legislature 2023
Historic $321.3 billion Texas state budget heads to comptroller
About $17 billion worth of commitments lawmakers made in the new budget were snagged in policy fights between the Texas House and Senate on Saturday night.
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Texas Legislature 2023
Texas Senate passes new economic incentive program to lure businesses to the state
Lawmakers hope to hammer out a program to replace the embattled Chapter 313 program before the legislative session ends Monday.
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Texas Legislature 2023
Economic incentives clear Senate committee as negotiations continue
Lawmakers are trying hard to come up with an agreement on how to replace an embattled 20-year tax abatement program for big companies that expired in December.
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Economy
Texas leaders want a new way to attract businesses here. But they can’t agree on how to do it.
The two chambers have 10 days to cut a deal before the end of the legislative session, and they are miles apart on some of the very foundations of a corporate tax-abatement bill considered to be a priority for Republican state leaders.
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Texas Legislature 2023
State budget leaders adopt some spending plans for 2024-25 but still no compromise on property taxes, power plants
With two weeks to go before the legislative session adjourns, chief budget writers still have not announced compromises on some of the largest fights facing the Texas Legislature.
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Economy
Texas House passes sweeping border funding bill, guts proposed policing unit
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle threw their support behind a new requirement that the unit use only commissioned peace officers for enforcement actions.