Texans approve most amendments, but reject raising retirement age for state justices and judges
HARRIS COUNTY, Texas (KTRK) -- Texans overwhelmingly voted to increase the homestead exemption for property owners but rejected raising the mandatory retirement age for state justices and judges.
In a statewide election with a low voter turnout, less than 18% in Harris County, every ballot in Texas contained 14 numbered propositions, all of which would permanently alter the state's Constitution.
The propositions deal with everything from water infrastructure and farming to property taxes, and the mandatory retirement age for state judges.
ABC13 divided the propositions into four categories to make them easier to understand.
- Fund-related props would supply money for a variety of issues.
There is a university fund for research at four Texas colleges, including the University of Houston. It passed, giving money to four state universities, including UH, for billions of dollars in research.
And there are funds for water, energy, and broadband infrastructure. There is also one to maintain and develop state parks. Voters voted in favor of all of them.
- There are the props that relate to taxes.
One would give exemptions to daycare properties or land used by medical or biomedical companies. And there is the big one: the increase in homestead exemption from $40,000 to $100,000 per year, which passed overwhelmingly.
- The political props would ensure the right to use the land for farming or ranching, would prohibit a wealth or net worth tax - which doesn't exist in Texas, would give a cost of living adjustment to the pensions of retired Texas teachers, and would increase the mandatory retirement age for state justices and judges.
- And there are two single-county issues that don't impact the vast majority of the state. One would allow for legislative land conservation in El Paso County, and the other would abolish the Galveston County treasurer's position.
As of late Tuesday, the El Paso amendment passed, but Galveston's was too close to call.
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There is no formal opposition to any of the propositions on the ballot. And Houstonians likely played a large role in their outcomes.
"Turnouts gonna be very low," Rice University Baker Institute Political Science Fellow Mark Jones said. "And that's actually where the City of Houston is gonna play a predominant role, our very powerful role in the overall statewide vote, because, while not much is going on throughout the state, since we have a competitive mayoral election, Houston voters are going to count for little over, probably between 10 or 15% of overall state voters."
One of the propositions that polled lower than it performed was Prop 5. It's the Texas University Fund. Its language is vague, but essentially, it would help fund research in schools not named the University of Texas or Texas A&M.
Rohit Shajan, a UH student who works with a pro-Prop 5 PAC, said the fund, which includes no new tax dollars, would directly benefit research at UH, Texas Tech, Texas State, and North Texas.
"It gives a $3.9 billion endowment fund to four eligible universities," Shajan told ABC13. "With more research universities, with more top-ranked research, university cities will be able to retain students. And it's gonna help our state's economy. And it's gonna help the economies of cities like Houston."
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