Early voting is on for the Constitutional Amendments election. Today and tomorrow, Burnt Orange Report will be providing some information about the 11 propositions on the ballot. Our aim is to give a broad sense of how different Texas entities perceive these amendments. In the table below, we've compiled their yea, nay, or no-endorse. Sources are all linked at the bottom. Friday, BOR will issue our official endorsements on some or all of these amendments. For more on the Amendment process, see the post on Amendment 1.
Proposition 3: Allowing State Enforcement of Uniform Property Appraisal Standards
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"This proposition would ... require that administrative and judicial enforcement of uniform standards and procedures for proerty tax appraisal be rprescribed by general law enacted by the Texas Legislature. It would delete the existing requirement that enforcement of these appraisal procedures originate in the county where the tax is imposed." --League of Women Voters Guide
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| Source: | Endorsement: |
| Austin Chronicle: | YES. "but trivial. If constitutional authorization is needed for uniform standards, the government's doing it wrong." |
| El Paso Times: | YES. "Prop. 3 would establish uniform appraisal standards statewide." |
| Fort Worth Star-Telegram: | NO. "Call this one the Big Government Amendment. Prop 3 says that the mostly county-based central appraisal districts have not done a good job and that the Legislature should take over. As if letting lawmakers big-foot their way through it every two years would solve any problems that the current system has." |
| Houston Tea Party Patriots: | YES. "It would allow appraisal standards to be enforced by direct action against appraisal districts, rather than relying on penalties against school districts. Since state funding to school districts is partially based on local property value, it's unfair to allow values to be determined differently in different counties." |
| Sen. Kirk Watson's "Watson Wire:" | YES. "Hopefully, this will reduce the wide variations in the way appraisal districts set property tax values." |
These posts will continue throughout today and tomorrow. Endorsements by the Burnt Orange Report staff will follow on Friday.
Sources:
League of Women Voters Guide (PDF)
Austin Chronicle Endorsements, October 16, 2009
El Paso Times, October 18, 2009
Fort Worth Star-Telegram Endorsements, October 16, 2009
Houston Tea Party Patriots, October 15, 2009
Sen. Kirk Watson's Watson Wire, October 12, 2009
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