Please send emails to Governor Abbott encouraging him to sign into law H.B. 21. H.B. 21 will reform the housing finance corporation program to ensure that these projects (1) provide actual public benefits, and (2) pay their fair share for the infrastructure and services they rely upon. Without this bill, other MUD taxpayers are forced to pick up the tab for a private apartment developer’s abuse of a property tax loophole. Please send emails to: Daniel.mittnacht@gov.texas.gov; Austin.holder@gov.texas.gov; and Robert.black@gov.texas.gov. mail to: The Honorable Greg Abbott Governor of the State of Texas P.O. Box 12428 Austin, TX 78711-2428 Below is an example. Please use your own words. Please add your personal experiences.   Re: H.B. 21   Dear Governor Abbott and Staff,   As a homeowner and taxpayer, I encourage you to sign H.B. 21 by Representative Gates and Senator Bettencourt into law.   This bill closes the housing finance corporation’s property tax loophole. This abusive practice causes millions of dollars to be removed from property tax rolls, increasing the burden on taxpayers like myself to fund and maintain the infrastructure and services provided to these developments. We need the reforms in H.B. 21 to protect all taxpayers and ensure that housing finance corporations truly provide affordable housing before receiving a tax exemption.   We appreciate all that you do, and your support of this important legislation is much appreciated. God Bless Texas!

Please send e-mails in opposition to HB 638 by Rep. Tepper.

• HB 638 would require all water districts to record meetings of its board of directors and make available two years of meetings on the Internet.
• Districts located in counties with populations less than 125,000 would be required to make audio recordings.
• Districts located in counties with populations more than 125,000 would be required to make audio and video recordings.
• The bill will be referred to the Senate Local Government Committee, chaired by Senator Bettencourt.
• Senator Bettencourt is a friend and an advocate for water districts. He is not promoting this bill. As Chairman of the committee, he is essentially the judge.
• Your tone in communication with Sen. Bettencourt needs to be friendly and respectful, even though you are opposing another legislator’s bill.
• Consider that you are respectfully appealing to a judge for a particular outcome.
• Senator Bettencourt is particularly mindful of careful use of taxpayer dollars. This is a subject he is very interested in.
• If you are a constituent of Senator Bettencourt, or even of Harris and Montgomery counties which he represents, include that information in your letter. It will be important to him that his constituents are opposed.
• Even if your district already records its board meetings, this law is unnecessary. It makes mandatory something that is already optional. The requirement impacts districts differently but will be unduly burdensome for many districts.
• Below is an example.
  Please use your own words. Please add your personal experiences.
   
  Send your letter by email to: Senator Paul Bettencourt: paul.bettencourt@senate.texas.gov
   
  
  Dear Senator Bettencourt and Committee:
  Please oppose HB 638 by Tepper which puts big government, red tape, bureaucracy, and waste of taxpayers’ dollars ahead of taxpayer interests.
  HB 638 would require all water districts in the state to record their board of directors meeting, even though cities, counties, and school districts do not have that same requirement. HB 638 targets water districts out of all types of local governments for this added burden. Why should my water district be subject to a requirement that my city, county, and school district is not? Cities, counties, and school districts are all in a better position to record the meetings of their governing bodies. HB 638 seems punitive.
  Water districts are well run by elected boards of directors. Water districts are the most local of all local governments. Neighbors know their neighbors whom they elect to the board. We see each other at church, the grocery store, youth sporting events, and the pick-up line at school.
  I am a water district director and my neighbors know me. They communicate with me and I keep them informed. None of them have ever requested a recording of a board meeting.
  HB 638 would require my water district to spend our taxpayer dollars on a program that no taxpayer in my district has ever requested. My fellow board members and I take pride in our fiscal conservativism and careful stewardship of district dollars. We do not know the exact costs to comply with HB 638, but even one wasted taxpayer dollar for an unwanted program is too much! HB 638 is an unwanted government intervention and an unfunded state government mandate.