June 17, 2011 TTARA Update from the Tax Front With only 12 days remaining in the Special Session, conference committees on major bills have been appointed and the work to reconcile differences between the House and Senate will begin in earnest next week. Listed below is the status of the bills TTARA is following. SB…

TTARA Tax and Legislative Wrap-Up Meetings: ● June 22 (NEW): Legislative Wrap-Up meeting ( 9:30am Wells Fargo Bank Building 3rd Floor Auditorium in Austin—approximately 2 hours). ● June 30 (NEW AND TENTATIVE): TTARA Legislative Webcast Wrap-Up (one hour starting at 10:00am) In the event a second special session relating to school finance and fiscal issues…

Expectations for the Special Session Though only a few failed, but critical, issues linger from the regular session, hopes for a short special session have been dashed, with many now anticipating the session may extend another two weeks. There are a few bills of key interest to TTARA: ●HB 1/SB 1: the “fiscal matters” bill,…

May 30, 2011 Sine Dead: Bizarre End to a Bizarre Session George Christian (the elder), one of the founders of the Texas Association of Taxpayers and former press secretary to President Johnson, used to say, “Just when you think you’ve seen it all, they rear back and show you something new.” This was such a…

Budget Update The House-Senate conference committee on the state budget appears to be nearing completion on most of the budget, although major differences remain with regard to funding public and higher education. Conferees will need to complete their work next week if a budget is to be completed in the regular session. Conferees have yet…