Constitutional amendments proposed

On the Nov. 3 general election ballot, voters will consider seen proposed amendments to the Texas Constitution.
All statewide Texas ballot propositions are legislatively referred constitutional amendments, according to the Texas Legislative Council. They are referred to the ballot by the state legislature and, if approved by voters, become a part of the Texas State Constitution.
As a service to our readers, The Cameron Herald will publish analyses of the proposed amendments. Today’s segment is the first of a three-part series and includes the first to propositions on the ballot. The Information in the segments is from the Texas Legislative Council and the

Amendment No. 1 (S.J.R. 1)
The constitutional amendment increasing the amount of the residence homestead exemption from ad valorem taxation for public school purposes from $15,000 to $25,000, providing for a reduction of the limitation on the total amount of ad valorem taxes that may be imposed for those purposes on the homestead of an elderly or disabled person to reflect the increased exemption amount, authorizing the legislature to prohibit a political subdivision that has adopted an optional residence homestead exemption from ad valorem taxation from reducing the amount of or repealing the exemption, and prohibiting the enactment of a law that imposes a transfer tax on a transaction that conveys fee simple title to real property.

Summary: S.J.R. 1 proposes an amendment to the Texas Constitution to increase the portion of the market value of a residence homestead that is exempt from ad valorem taxation for public school purposes from $15,000 to $25,000.
In addition, the proposed amendment lowers the limitation on the total amount of ad valorem taxes that may be imposed for those purposes on the homestead of an elderly or disabled person to reflect the increased exemption amount. The proposed amendment also authorizes the legislature to prohibit the governing body of a political subdivision that has adopted an exemption from ad valorem taxation of a percentage of the market value of a residence homestead from reducing the amount of or repealing the exemption.
Finally, the proposed amendment prohibits the legislature from imposing a transfer tax on a transaction that conveys fee simple title to real property. The increase in the amount of the exemption to $25,000 takes effect for the tax year that began Jan. 1, 2015.
Enacted in 2015 by the Texas Legislature, S.B. 1 is the enabling legislation for the proposed amendment. S.B. 1 amends the Tax Code to provide for the $10,000 increase in the mandatory school district residence homestead exemption and to implement the required reduction of the limitation on the total amount of ad valorem taxes that may be imposed by a school district on the residence homestead of an elderly or disabled person and establishes the procedure for assessing and collecting school district taxes imposed for the 2015 tax year to implement the increased exemption and reduced limitation for that year’s taxes.
The bill, as permitted by the constitutional amendment, also prohibits the governing body of a school district, municipality, or county that adopted an optional residence homestead exemption for the 2014 tax year from reducing the amount of or repealing the exemption before the end of the 2019 tax year.
Finally, the bill provides for the reimbursement by the state of school districts for the revenue loss resulting from the $10,000 increase in the mandatory school district residence homestead exemption and the related reduction of the limitation on the total amount of ad valorem taxes that may be imposed by a school district on the residence homestead of an elderly or disabled person.

Amendment No. 2 (H.J.R. 75)
The constitutional amendment authorizing the legislature to provide for an exemption from ad valorem taxation of all or part of the market value of the residence homestead of the surviving spouse of a 100 percent or totally disabled veteran who died before the law authorizing a residence homestead exemption for such a veteran took effect.

Summary: Section 1-b, Article VIII, Texas Constitution, governs residence homestead exemptions from ad valorem taxation on property. A 2007 amendment that added Subsection (i) to Section 1-b allowed the legislature to provide a residence homestead exemption to a 100 percent or totally disabled veteran. The legislature enacted a law in 2009 to implement Subsection (i). In 2011, an amendment that added Subsection (j) to Section 1-b allowed the legislature to extend the exemption for 100 percent or totally disabled veterans to the surviving spouse of those veterans if the surviving spouse had not remarried since the death of the veteran and the property was the residence homestead of the surviving spouse when the veteran died and remains the homestead of the surviving spouse. However, current law has been construed to apply the exemption only to a surviving spouse of a veteran who died after the 2009 law took effect.
The constitutional amendment proposed by H.J.R. 75 amends Section 1-b by adding Subsection (j-1) to that section to allow the legislature to extend the residence homestead exemption to the surviving spouse of a disabled veteran who would have qualified for the exemption under the 2009 law but died before the law took effect under the same conditions as a surviving spouse of a disabled veteran who died after the 2009 law took effect. The proposed amendment also amends Section 1-b(k) of Article VIII to authorize the legislature to provide that a surviving spouse who receives an exemption under proposed Subsection (j-1) and who subsequently qualifies a different property as the surviving spouse’s residence homestead is entitled to an exemption from ad valorem taxation of the subsequently qualified residence homestead in an amount equal to the dollar amount of the exemption from ad valorem taxation of the former homestead in accordance with proposed Subsection (j-1) in the last year in which the surviving spouse received that exemption for that homestead if the surviving spouse has not remarried. The proposed amendment applies only to ad valorem taxes imposed for a tax year beginning on or after January 1, 2016.
Enacted in 2015 by the Texas Legislature, H.B. 992 is the enabling legislation for the proposed amendment. The bill provides that the surviving spouse of a disabled veteran who would have qualified for an exemption under that section if the section had been in effect on the date the disabled veteran died is entitled to receive the exemption provided by that section if the surviving spouse has not remarried since the death of the disabled veteran and the property was the residence homestead of the surviving spouse when the disabled veteran died and remains the residence homestead of the surviving spouse. The bill applies only to ad valorem taxes imposed for a tax year beginning on or after January 1, 2016, and takes effect only if the proposed amendment is approved by the voters.

The five other propositions will be covered in future segments of this series.
Early voting for the 2015 general elections opens Monday and runs through Oct. 30. Election Day is Nov. 3.