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Be prepared for Tuesday voting
By Mark Homer
Contributor
Published November 2, 2009
Editor’s note: State Rep. Mark Homer, D-Paris, continues his evaluation of the proposed Texas Constitutional amendments on the ballot in Tuesday’s election.)
AMENDMENT 5:
Consolidating Adjoining Appraisal Districts
Allows adjoining appraisal districts to choose to consolidate their appraisal review boards.
Key Terms to Look For on the Ballot:
•Board of equalization: The constitutional language for an appraisal review board, which reviews appraisal decisions if an appraisal is protested by the property owner.
•Consolidated equalizations: The combination of territory covered by two or more appraisal districts under one appraisal review board.
AMENDMENT 6:
Helping Veterans Obtain Land and Mortgages
Authorizes the Veterans’ Land Board to issue general obligation bonds to sell land to Texans veterans or provide them home or land mortgage loans.
Key Terms to Look For on the Ballot:
•Veterans’ Land Board: A state board that provides mortgage and housing assistance to Texas veterans.
•General obligation bonds: Debt used by the Veterans’ Land Board to finance its programs.
The previous ceiling for outstanding Veterans’ Land Board bonds was $500 million. This amendment would allow the board to issue new bonds in place of those already issued and then retired or redeemed up to the total amount of bonds previously authorized by the voters and the legislature. To date, voters have approved $4 billion in various Veterans’ Land Board bonds, about $2 billion of which have already been issued and then retired or redeemed.
AMENDMENT 7: Dual Offices for State Military Members
Authorizes Texas State Guard or other state military members to hold civil offices and permits civil officers to participate in state military service.
Key Terms to Look For on the Ballot:
•Civil offices: Paid civil service positions, including elected political office. This spans a wide range of positions from the state legislature to county commissioners, justices of the peace, appraisal review boards, groundwater conservation districts, and more.
AMENDMENT 8: State Fund for Veterans Hospitals
Authorizes the state to contribute money, property and other resource for veterans hospitals in Texas.
AMENDMENT 9: Public Access to Beaches
Establishes that the public has unrestricted right to access and use of a public beach, even when storm surges alter lines on properties considered private.
AMENDMENT 10: Four Year Terms for Emergency Service District Boards
Limits the terms of state-elected emergency service districts’ governing boards to four years, instead of two years.
Key Terms to Look For:
•Emergency services districts: Districts that are taxed to provide fire, ambulance, and emergency services in areas that are not part of a municipality. Inside municipalities, the city fire department is responsible for fire and emergency services.
AMENDMENT 11: Eminent Domain Restrictions
Restricts the state’s ability to take private property for public use unless for specific purposes and uses, and excludes eminent domain authority for the primary purpose of economic development or increased tax revenue.
Key Terms to Look For on the Ballot:
•Political subdivisions: Local governments created by the states to help fulfill their obligations. Political subdivisions include counties, cities, towns, villages, and special districts.
The proposed amendment is an important first step in accomplishing the eminent domain reform that is needed in Texas. It would enhance the property protections by placing in the Texas Constitution clear restrictions on the use of eminent domain and by specifying that “public use” excludes the taking of property for the primary purpose of economic development or enhancement of tax revenues.
If you have not already voted during early voting, I hope you will take the time out of your day on Tuesday to participate in this important step to improving the great state we live in. Personally, after reviewing all eleven propositions and analyzing their effects on the economy and Texans’ way of life, I have chosen to vote “yes” on all of them. Whether you vote yes or no, I do hope you will choose to have your voice heard during this constitutional election.
District 3 state Rep. Mark Homer represents Delta, Franklin, Hopkins, Lamar, Red River and Titus counties in the Texas Legislature.
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