After weeks of no progress, movement could be coming to Texas property tax relief bill

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- ABC13 is waiting to find out if a face-to-face meeting between Texas lawmakers will bring movement to the stalled property tax relief fight.

If you're hoping to pay less money on your property taxes, what happens over the next month in Austin will be critical.

"It would start to get really tricky if they were unable to pass it out in the second special session and had to go to a third special session in late July or early August," Mark Jones, a political science professor at Rice University, explained. "At that point, they might be able to do it, but the clock would be ticking."

Jones said there's a deadline because if voters need to approve property tax relief in the upcoming election, lawmakers would have to get it done in August. With the deadline looming, it appears there could be a compromise coming.

"In my discussions with members, there is an urgency to get this done," State Representative Armando Walle said, adding that House Speaker Dade Phelan and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick are meeting face-to-face for the first time in a month on Wednesday.

Both sides want to provide billions of dollars in property tax relief, but they can't agree on how to do it.

The House's plan would give relief to homeowners and businesses by sending billions to schools so that districts would lower taxes. The Senate primarily focuses on homeowners by increasing the homestead exemption to $100,000.

Senate leaders say their plan gives homeowners double the amount in savings at $1,400 a year.

RELATED: Property tax deal eludes TX lawmakers; Here's where things stand at start of another special session

"Patrick's plan without question saves the average homeowner more money than the House's plan and Governor Abbott's plan," Jones said. "Governor Abbott's and the House's plan benefits businesses in the way the Senate's plan does not."

The House's plan, though, could help renters because landlords would get relief.

Walle said he wants measures to make sure landlords give relief if they save money in property taxes. These are triggers he says aren't in the proposed bill.

"You want to see some savings from a property owner, from a small business owner, but at the same time, we have to understand that there's a lot of hardworking people that don't own a home that are also contributing," Walle said.

Both the House and Senate returned to Austin Wednesday. Neither one discussed property taxes in the chambers.

"If they can't get it done in a second special session, then they look incompetent," Jones said.

It's a debate that could be coming soon after the two sides met on Wednesday.

For updates on this story, follow Nick Natario on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.