Talking Purple - Making Sense Common Again!

In our latest episode for Talking Purple we are covering the Texas Constitutional amendments for 2025 that are to be voted on.  I also am covering CD18, Shelia Jackson Lee’s old district as well as this At Large Houston City Council Seat.  Thanks to my friend Pat Morlan for helping me compile the list for today. 

Proposition 1 – SJR 59: “The constitutional amendment providing for the creation of the permanent technical institution infrastructure fund and the available workforce education fund to support the capital needs of educational programs offered by the Texas State Technical College System.”

Oppose: This amendment sets up a fund outside state budget and legislative oversight. Putting spending into the constitution, which creates ongoing expenditure without legislative control

Proposition 2 – SJR 18: “The constitutional amendment prohibiting the imposition of a tax on the realized or unrealized capital gains of an individual, family, estate, or trust.”

Support: Comment: This proposition prevents future legislatures from taxing capital gains, aligning with TTP’s principles of limited government and personal responsibility

Proposition 3 – SJR 5: “The constitutional amendment requiring the denial of bail under certain circumstances to people accused of violent crimes.

Support: Comment: This amendment would allow officials to deny bail under certain extraordinary circumstances by changing Article I, Section 11 of the State Constitution. Magistrates could deny bail to those accused of first-degree felony sexual offenses, violent offenses as defined in the Texas Constitution, or continuous trafficking of persons. The amendment aims to address concerns about public safety and the release of violent offenders.

Proposition 4 – HJR 7: The constitutional amendment to dedicate a portion of the revenue derived from state sales and use taxes to the Texas water fund and to provide for the allocation and use of that revenue

Oppose: Comment: This amendment allocates $1 billion per year from sales tax revenue to a water fund for infrastructure projects until at least 2035, with possible extension by the legislature. While water infrastructure is important, embedding this funding in the Constitution limits fiscal flexibility and accountability.

Proposition 5 – HJR 99: “The constitutional amendment authorizing the legislature to exempt from ad valorem taxation tangible personal property consisting of animal feed held by the owner of the property for sale at retail.”

Support: Comment: We generally oppose amendments that grant additional exemptions from property taxes, because it puts an additional burden on the rest of the property taxpayers. This one is fairly benign, and it does not require exemption, but permits future legislation to implement it should they choose to do so.

Proposition 6 – HJR 4 “The constitutional amendment prohibiting the legislature from enacting a law imposing an occupation tax on certain entities that enter into transactions conveying securities or imposing a tax on certain securities transactions.”

Support: Comment: As with Proposition 2, this amendment binds future legislatures from imposing taxes on securities transactions or creating new occupation taxes on financial market operators.

Proposition 7 – HJR 133: “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 veteran who died as a result of a condition or disease that is presumed under federal law to have been service-connected.”

Support: No fiscal implication to the state is anticipated, other than the cost of publication. The cost to the state for publication of the resolution is $191,689

Proposition 8 – HJR 2: “The constitutional amendment to prohibit the legislature from imposing death taxes applicable to a decedent’s property or the transfer of an estate, inheritance, legacy, succession, or gift.”

Support: Comment: This is another amendment that seeks to bind future legislatures from imposing an estate or inheritance tax.

Proposition 9 – HJR 1: “The constitutional amendment to authorize the legislature to exempt from ad valorem taxation a portion of the market value of tangible personal property a person owns that is held or used for the production of income.”

Support: Comment: This amendment authorizes businesses to exempt up to $250,000 of market value of income generating property (like equipment, tools, etc). The current exemption is $2,500. Consider it comparable to the homestead exemptions on homeowners’ primary residence.

Proposition 10 – SJR 84; “The constitutional amendment to authorize the legislature to provide for a temporary exemption from ad valorem taxation of the appraised value of an improvement to a residence homestead that is completely destroyed by a fire.”

Support: Comment: We support this “temporary” homestead exemption for fire damaged property. People who have lost everything in a fire. They should not be taxed on the full value of what they used to own but own no longer. This is one of those “compelling reasons” to have tax exemptions. We would love to see this for Flood victims as well, but they did not raise appraisal rates for two years after Harvey

Proposition 11 – SJR 85: “The constitutional amendment authorizing the legislature to increase the amount of the exemption from ad valorem taxation by a school district of the market value of the residence homestead of a person who is elderly or disabled.” 

Neutral

Oppose: It is a carve out for a specific group of people elderly & Disabled and it will have a negative impact of $1.2T through the biennium.

Support: because the school tax and MUD taxes are the highest Taxes on your Tax bill even when frozen for age or reduced in the MUD cases for disabled and the elderly. It would be wonderful to eliminate property taxes but that will not happen anytime soon so why not do what we can to help those who need it the most.

Proposition 12 – SJR 27: “The constitutional amendment regarding the membership of the State Commission on Judicial Conduct, the membership of the tribunal to review the commission’s recommendations, and the authority of the commission, the tribunal, and the Texas Supreme Court to more effectively sanction judges and justices for judicial misconduct.”

Support: Comment: This amendment expands and restructures the State Commission on Judicial Conduct. The changes seem to be positive in giving more public representation on the committee and enhancing ability to sanction judges.

Proposition 13 – SJR 2: “The constitutional amendment to increase the amount of the exemption of residence homesteads from ad valorem taxation by a school district from $100,000 to $140,000.”

Support: Comment: Proposition 13 aims to provide property tax relief

Proposition 14 – SJR 3: “The constitutional amendment providing for the establishment of the Dementia Prevention and Research Institute of Texas, establishing the Dementia Prevention and Research Fund to provide money for research on and prevention and treatment of dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and related disorders in this state, and transferring to that fund $3 billion from state general revenue.”

Oppose/ Support Texas is renowned for its cutting edge on Cancer research Dementia has affected just about every family in the world it is time the US steps up and starts to fight this disease why not TX be the place to do it. This is one of those personal issues you must make the choice on.

Proposition 15 – SJR 34: “The constitutional amendment affirming that parents are the primary decision makers for their children.”

Oppose (as unnecessary because this is a right already established by God)

Support: Prop 15 I wish we did not need this amendment, but we have seen the schools and the federal government strip parents of their parental rights over and over again this amendment is needed.

Proposition 16 – SJR 37: “The constitutional amendment clarifying that a voter must be a United States citizen.”

Support: Comment: This amendment prevents cities and other political subdivisions from allowing non-citizens to vote (like we’ve seen in San Francisco, and other cities). We believe that only Texas citizens (and therefore US citizens) should vote in Texas elections, and we support this amendment to ensure that is the case for all Texans.

Proposition 17 – HJR 34:“The constitutional amendment to authorize the legislature to provide for an exemption from ad valorem taxation of the amount of the market value of real property located in a county that borders the United Mexican States that arises from the installation or construction on the property of border security infrastructure and related improvements. “Support This is not a tax exemption, but exempts added border security infrastructure from property appraisal increases.

There is a lot of talk these days about what the government should be paying for and the costs that will rise if it does. But to me, it begs the question, how does stuff get paid for? If you’re a household, it often is covered by your paycheck. If you’re the government, most of the time it comes from the people through tax money. Sales tax, income tax, property tax, and gas tax are parts of a very long list of taxes we pay in every facet of our lives. And as we talk through this government shutdown, there are a lot of facts and figures that are missing.

There is a full-court press to disassociate the fact of how we are getting from those taxes. On a local level, we see our police and fire. On a national level, we see our military and security mechanisms. We don’t often have the thought that each and every government worker works for us, not us subservient to them.

So let’s talk about the government shutdown. How it works and who is responsible. for it and why. So here is a brief civics lesson without the background music of Schoolhouse Rock.

In a broad sense, the Senate and its cloture rule is at the root of the government shutdown. Historically, a filibuster is not part of the Constitution. Rather, it is a rule created by the Senate and one that can be changed at any time. In modern applications, in this hyper-partisan era we are living in, it basically empowers the minority party to stop bills it does not want passing in the Senate.

The filibuster in the early days of the country was interesting. It forced people to just talk until they could talk no more and the vote would then take place. In 1917, the Senate got tired of legislation just dying because people would talk it to death, and they invented the cloture rule, which required 2/3 of the present senators to invoke cloture and force a vote. But in 1975, they lowered the threshold to 3/5 or the present day 60 votes.

The present shutdown is really nothing more than the Democrats filibustering the continuing resolution, a stopgap funding mechanism that helps the government function until Congress can pass an appropriations bill.

So every time you hear the Republicans are the cause of the shutdown, understand that the real sentence is, the Democrats are filibustering until they get what they want. It is them who are not providing the balance of 60 votes to stop the debate and hold a vote. There are not 60 Republicans, so it requires at least five democrats to end the debate. So the government has no choice but to shut down.

The first reason is that two provisions from the COVID-19 era were added to the Affordable Care Act (ACA). First was a change in the Premium Tax Credit (PTCs) that helped subsidize premiums, which completely lifted the cap of 400% of the Federal Poverty Level. For example, a family of two making $100,000 could now qualify for premium subsidies in the form of a PTC. And the second provisional change was made in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act bill, which saw an 8.5% in your income for medical premiums if you were an ACA participant. So no matter what you made, your medical premium on Obamacare could not exceed 8.5% of your household income.

Without congressional intervention to codify those changes into law, premiums for the ACA will rise dramatically. But exactly how many people use Obamacare? Presently, less than 8% of Americans get their insurance from the ACA. The rise in premiums only applies to ACA participants. The other 93% with private insurance or other programs like Medicare may see premiums rise

The next reason is that the democrats are attempting to roll back cuts that were made in the Big Beautiful Bill (BBB) that just passed in July. These primarily focus on work requirements for people who receive Medicaid. This provision in the BBB is reminiscent of the 1996 law signed by Democratic President Bill Clinton, which introduced work requirements for welfare recipients and subsequently led to a reduction in the welfare rolls. The present provision requires able-bodied adults to work, train or volunteer part-time (80 hours per month) to qualify.

In addition, this is where the healthcare for illegals comes in. Although federal money cannot pay for illegal aliens’ healthcare, the loophole is to subsidize the states, giving them approximately $638B. This loophole was closed in the BBB, and Democrats want it reinstated.

The problem is, as it always is, that neither side’s base hears both sides of this discussion. But make no mistake, the Democrats are filibustering, and that is why the government is shut down.

In the same vein of how stuff gets paid for, Steve Toth has changed his explanation of why he voted against the dredging bill, therefore increasing the likelihood of my neighborhood flooding.

After meeting with people in town who had explained adnausium that their houses would have flooded in May 2024 had it not been for the dredging effort paid for with federal dollars and by the efforts of our sitting congress critter, Dan Crenshaw, the new reason Mr. Toth voted against it was that it had no taxing authority.

Before addressing the taxes, the firing of Jace Houston isn’t even a concern. In the end, Mr. Houston didn’t even get fired. Instead, he stepped down and got a very nice severance package. If you don’t know what happened, then this answer is plausible, but for those of us in Kingwood, we know what happened, and this unvarnished truth is so far from the reality that most Kingwood residents live under. We do not have PTSD from Harvey, and Harvey was not a one-time event, yet this is what we keep hearing. Again, I ask, do we need a Congress person who doesn’t take the time to find out the situation?

So let’s talk about the no-taxing authority portion of this. First, a program that does not require tax dollars is innovative and attractive. But let’s see how this is being accomplished. The dredging bill is funded by the sale of aggregate that will be dredged out of the lake, and it will fund the program as a self-funded program. It solves the issue for the residents of Lake Houston, all while doing it in a manner that does not put the financial burden on taxpayers.

We have already seen programs like this work, as demonstrated by the Woodridge property that flooded Elm Grove. The 15 feet of dirt put on that property to elevate 300 acres was removed similarly. Instead of Harris County Flood Control paying to have it removed, they sold the dirt to the contractors, who then removed it without any charge to the taxpayer. So we have a similar program that shows that self-funded programs can work.

However, if it does not self-fund, the program will be funded through the water program provided by the city of Houston. This means a dredging fee will be added to the water bill each month for the city’s 6 million residents who receive water from Lake Houston, likely amounting to just pennies monthly.

These are two entirely different approaches to problems and their solutions. The reality is that government subsidies never work because they disrupt the capitalist principles on which the free market is built. Obamacare needs to be retooled to work correctly. There is a place for it for sure, as it helps fill a need. But there are a few issues with it, most of all, it is enriching insurance companies at the expense of taxpayers, of whom 80% are paying for their own premiums.

And lastly, tomorrow is “No Kings Day.” I keep trying to find some reason to understand why these folks are coming out and protesting. I continue to attribute some of this to the fact that we live in siloed echo chambers, hearing only our own viewpoints. As long as social media is filled with untruthful posts that go unchecked, this is the world we will live in, making shows like this all the more relevant. The irony of it all to me is that for every quote I see, I can make the argument that the left also participates in the exact thing they are protesting, but it’s done on a leadership level and therefore the rank and file only get the tweets and affirmation from their own side and don’t see it. The funny thing is, Trump was an authoritarian as the far left claims, the 2500 planned protests would not be happening.

When someone tells you who they are, believe them, and that is the case with Texas House Representative for District 15, Steve Toth. It is abundantly clear that Mr. Toth has no idea about flooding and its impact on the region, but what is worse is that rather than learn about flooding and its issues, he would rather talk over with constituents who try to educate him on the matter, going as far as to delete their posts that explain the situation to him.

He speaks on the issue as it is a one-time event. He casts aspersions on the people who have worked for years to stop the loss of life and property due to flooding.

Toth claims to be conservative, but his voting record and his behavior are anything but. Here is an initial list, and unfortunately, it gets worse every day.

There is a deep divide between Kingwood, a North Harris County Houston Suburb, the Lake Houston watershed, and its neighbor to the north, Montgomery County, concerning the causality of flooding issues in the region.

This story begins on the Harris County side in 1953 with the completion of Lake Houston Reservoir, which became the primary water source for the growing city of Houston. It sits approximately 4 miles north of Sheldon, which was the previous reservoir for Houston.

There was a concrete dam and spillway built as part of the Lake Houston project in 1953, which met the necessary specifications. It was built for 10,000 cubic feet per second. For 2025, however, the current flow rate of about 65,0000 cubic feet per second is inadequate. [1]

There is a plan in the process of being approved that will see 11 gates added adjacent to the present structure, whereas it cannot be added on to safely. And thanks to the efforts of Congressman Dan Crenshaw, he has been working with the city to fund this project since he won the seat after Ted Poe decided not to seek re-election.

At the epicenter of the issues is Kingwood, a master planned community developed by Friendswood Development Corporation, a then division of ExxonMobil Corporation, in 1972. It sits in the northeast corner of Harris County, which borders Montgomery County and on the banks of Lake Houston, where the east and west forks of the San Jacinto River converge. It is approximately 10 miles from George Bush Airport. It has an approximate population of 60,000 and was annexed by Houston in 1994.

Kingwood continues to be one of Harris County’s premier communities to live. With its historically great schools and low crime, it has always been a great place to raise a family, and many residents age in place within the community.

Montgomery County’s population in 1953 was approximately 24,000 people, and by 1970, the population had grown to 45,000 as the Houston suburbs began to form.

Conroe was a small lumber community founded in the 1880s, that grew to approximately 7,000 residents in the 1970s. In 1968, the City of Houston contracted to have Lake Conroe built as a response to the 1950s droughts and to add a secondary reservoir to its system to help protect the growing population of Houston. The lake was completed in 1973 and became an economic draw to the community of Conroe, to Montgomery County as a whole. Although Houston owns Lake Conroe, it has been allowed to be used for recreational purposes. In 2025, Conroe is home to 120,000 people, who believe that Lake Conroe is theirs for recreational purposes first, creating a great divide with their neighbors to the south in Kingwood.

In 1974, George P. Mitchell changed the trajectory of Montgomery County by founding The Woodlands as another master planned community that at the time rivaled Kingwood as a premier place to live. This, along with Lake Conroe, has led to a meteoric rise in Montgomery County’s population to 750,000 in 2024, as well as significant economic contributions. It is deemed the reddest county in Texas and home to many high-profile politicians and celebrities.

Started in 1937 for agricultural management, the role of the SJRA morphed into an agency to help protect water resources after the 7-year drought of the 1950s. It has overseen the construction of many reservoir lakes throughout Texas, including Lake Conroe, which was built in collaboration with the City of Houston and the Texas Water Development Board. And, the SJRA continues to manage Lake Conroe, its tide pools, and its water releases, which flow down to the East and West Forks of the San Jacinto River and directly into Lake Houston. It now stores 430,000 acre-feet and maintains a 201-foot pool elevation.

In 1994, right after the opening of West Lake Houston Parkway to the South of Kingwood Drive, a large flood occurred. Water encroached into Kingwood through the Forest Cove section and reached as far as Kingwood Drive via the new section of West Lake Houston Parkway. Lower-lying homes that were adjacent to the lake flooded. Although much of Forset Cove was flooded, most of Kingwood itself was not.

This flood was random, and no one had ever seen an event like this. As government officials investigated the matter, it was determined that the SJRA had released too much water too quickly from Lake Conroe, causing it to flow down the San Jacinto River to Lake Houston faster than it could be released from Lake Houston. And thus began the fight between Kingwood and Lake Conroe.

At the time, there was a gentleman’s agreement that would never be done again, and it held until Hurricane Harvey.

Hurricane Harvey brought an unprecedented amount of rainfall to the Houston area and Lake Conroe. In doing so, the water rose so quickly that they opened the gates on Lake Conroe, letting out 79,000 cfs, well above the 10,000 cfs that Lake Houston can release, causing catastrophic flood damage through Kingwood, with the water crossing over Kingwood Drive and going into homes and schools that had not seen water ever. The entire south side of Kingwood was flooded from the San Jacinto River to Rustic Wood Drive and all points in between. 50% of all the lives lost in Harvey were in Kingwood.

This flood event had nothing to do with the historical situation with the SJRA and Lake Conroe. Instead, this had everything to do with the lack of enforcement of laws by Montgomery County, as they turned a blind eye while Perry Homes came in and clear-cut 300 acres, using an inadequate drainage ditch that flooded 600 homes unnecessarily, not once but twice, within 4 months.

Flooding is a more recent issue because of Montgomery County’s over zealous building initatives. Their refusal to enforce laws create situations with homeowners that take years to manifest, only to allow the builders to walk away from projects before issues happen.

It seems all the elected officials in Montgomery County have little regard or understanding for the dymanics of this situation. Some take a position of neutrality and don’t vote for or against initiatives.

In the case of Steve Toth, he seems to be the worst of it, because he has not researched the issue enough to even have a solid conversation about it. But worse is that he doesn’t want to learn. He wants to try to tell the people on the front side of this we are wrong after so many have worked for years to bring about change that protects the ressidents of Kingwood. We can only hope this is arrogance that drives this rather than being in the tank for donors, which I have long felt was the case with many in Montgomery County. Builders are donors and there for we can only do what the donors say.

The problem is that people are getting killed because of these policies. When you tell them this happend, they tell you we are making it up yet we have a list of the people killed in Harvey. We have a list of the home owners in Elm Grove that lost their pets. We have a property damage report after property damage report.

But maybe the biggest issue of all is the not being willing to listen. To have so much huberis as to not want to hear about the struggles of the people you are wanting to represent. So when people tell you who they are believe them. And Steve Toth has told us who he is in actions, not in words. We have all been warned.