DALLAS — When the 88th Texas legislature convenes, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick says there are many ways lawmakers can help Texans.
He says his biggest priority will be lowering their property taxes.
The Republican wants to raise the homestead exemption for Texas homeowners from $40,000 to $60,000, maybe even higher.
“If you can get it to 70, 80, 90, $100,000 over the next couple of years, you’re talking about taking a third off the top. So, that would be a $3,000 saving,” Patrick told us on Inside Texas Politics.
Patrick’s other priorities include promoting school choice, or what he calls “parental freedom.”
“Parents deserve to have the freedom to decide where their kids go to school,” he said.
The Lieutenant Governor also supports a mandatory 10-year sentence if someone commits a crime with a gun.
One topic the Republican doesn’t think will be addressed during the upcoming session is the state’s abortion law, even after a couple of lawmakers, including Republican State Sen. Robert Nichols, said they would support adding abortion exceptions for rape or incest.
In our wide ranging interview with the Republican leader, he also flat out told us he thinks election officials in Harris County are either corrupt or incompetent.
He says it’s still not known how many folks couldn’t vote because of a lack of paper ballots at dozens of voting locations in Harris County during the Nov. 8 election.
Patrick tells us lawmakers may look to add more penalties to the law when mistakes are made during elections, whether on purpose or because of a lack of experience.
“I’m not blaming all Democrats because in some of our big Democratic counties, we didn’t have this problem. But Harris County has been a problem ever since the Democrats took over. Every election. I mean, we’re still counting votes from the 2020 and ’18 election we can’t catch up with.”
The 88th Texas Legislative Session begins Jan. 10, 2023.