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4 Document(s) [ Subject: Ballots ]

Committee:	Senate Local Government
Title:	Interim Report
Subjects:	Affordable housing | Appraisal review boards | Audits | Ballots | Bond elections | Election dates | Extraterritorial jurisdiction | Lobbyists | Low Income Housing Tax Credit program | Municipal annexation | Property taxes | Special taxing districts | Tax appraisals | Tax rollback elections | Texas constitutional amendments | Voter turnout |
Library Call Number:	L1836.87 L811
Session:	87th R.S. (2021)
Online version:	View report [96 pages  File size: 7,781 kb]
Charges:	This report should address the charges below.
1.	Property Tax Reform: Review the effect of SB 2, 86th R.S., the Texas Property Tax Reform and Transparency Act of 2019, and related legislation passed by the 87th Legislature. Make recommendations for further property tax reform and relief.
2.	Appraisal Reform: Review the implementation of SB 63, 87th R.S., HB 988, 87th R.S., and other related legislation passed by 87th Legislature. Make recommendations to ensure appraisal guidelines are effective and taxpayers have enforcement mechanisms.
3.	Special Purpose Districts: Perform a comprehensive study on the powers and purposes of various special purpose districts and their associated legislative templates. Make recommendations to improve public transparency in operations of special purpose districts and associated legislative templates.
4.	Affordable Housing: Study issues related to affordable housing, homelessness, and methods of providing and financing affordable housing. Make recommendations to improve transparency and accountability, as well as to better utilize existing federal, state, and local programs.
5.	Bond Elections: Review and report on voter participation and bond election result differences between November and May elections. Make recommendations for improved voter turnout, increased election efficiencies, and better accountability of local debt.
6.	Taxpayer Funded Lobbying: Study how governmental entities use public funds for political lobbying purposes. Examine what types of governmental entities use public funds for lobbying purposes and what level of transparency is available to the public. Make recommendations to protect taxpayers from paying for lobbyists who may not represent the taxpayers' interests.
7.	Efficiency Audits: Study the concept of efficiency audits for cities, counties and special purpose districts and under what circumstances they should be performed. Evaluate whether efficiency audits provide Texans tools to combat wasteful government spending and report whether they are needed before local government tax ratification elections.
8.	Extraterritorial Jurisdictions: Study issues related to municipal extraterritorial jurisdictions and annexation powers, including examining possible disannexation authority. Determine whether extraterritorial jurisdictions continue to provide value to their residents and make recommendations on equitable methods for disannexation.
9.	Ballot Language: Study the development of the language used for constitutional amendment and local ballot propositions. Recommend changes to make ballot propositions more easily understood by voters.
Committee:	Senate Intergovernmental Relations
Title:	Interim Report
Subjects:	Affordable housing | Ballots | Bond elections | Emergency management | Extraterritorial jurisdiction | Housing and Community Affairs, Texas Department of | Housing and Urban Development, U.S. Department of | Initiative and referendum | Local government debt | Municipal annexation | Municipal government | Municipalities | Public improvement districts | Public notices | Racial discrimination | Supreme Court arguments and decisions, U.S. |
Library Call Number:	L1836.84 L786
Session:	84th R.S. (2015)
Online version:	View report [31 pages]
Charges:	This report should address the charges below.
1.	Annexation: Identify areas of concern in regards to statutory extraterritorial jurisdiction expansion and the processes used by municipalities for annexation, specifically reviewing whether existing statute strikes the appropriate balance between safeguarding private property rights and encouraging orderly growth and economic development. Make recommendations for legislative action, if necessary.
2.	Local Ordinance Integrity: Examine the processes used by home rule municipalities to adopt ordinances, rules, and regulations, including those initiated by petition and voter referendum. Determine if additional statutory safeguards are necessary to ensure that ballot language accurately describes proposed initiatives. Identify ways to improve transparency and make recommendations, if needed, to ensure that local propositions and the means by which they are put forth to voters, conform with existing state law.
3.	Disaster Preparedness Planning and Coordination: Review natural disaster preparedness planning and coordination in the wake of a growing range of threats. Evaluate whether existing processes maximize regional cooperation to rebuild housing and infrastructure, and allow for the timely dissemination of funds to units of local governments for reconstruction following a federal declaration. Develop recommendations, if necessary, to improve the efficiency of disaster recovery efforts, incorporating best practices identified from other states, as well as lessons-learned from past reconstruction efforts in Texas.
4.	Municipal Management Districts: Study the means by which the Texas Legislature reviews the creation of municipal management districts (MMDs) by special law to determine if different processes should be used to evaluate new MMDs created within populated or developed areas from those created over undeveloped areas. Identify ways to better assess how the services and improvements of a proposed Page 5 of 5 MMD within populated or developed areas will supplement and enhance those provided by other local governments, as well as if the territory of the proposed MMD encompasses or overlaps area that is already within other assessment or taxing entities. Make recommendations, if necessary, to improve the notice provided to individuals and businesses within populated or developed areas proposed for inclusion in an MMD.
5.	Supreme Court ICP Ruling: Review existing statute and rules that govern the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs in light of the recent Supreme Court decision in Inclusive Communities Project, Inc. vs. TDHCA, et al. and recommend if any modifications are necessary to conform to the decision.
6.	Debt Transparency in the Voting Booth: Examine ways to improve government accountability in elections regarding the issuance of public debt. Include a review of the information that is currently provided to individuals in the voting booth and provide statutory recommendations, if necessary, to improve transparency.
Committee:	House Elections
Title:	Interim Report
Library Catalog Title:	A compilation of interim reports to the sixty-sixth legislative session, Texas House of Representatives.
Subjects:	Ballots | Election fraud | Primary elections | Punch-card ballots | Secretary of State, Texas |
Library Call Number:	L1836.65 el25
Session:	65th R.S. (1977)
Online version:	View report [70 pages  File size: 2,606 kb]
Charges:	This report should address the charges below.
1.	Oversight responsibility of agency expenditures and related transactions. This function shall encompass a review and monitoring of all appropriations-related actions of those agencies assigned to this committee for appropriative purposes during the 65th Regular Session of the Legislature, to wit: Secretary of State
2.	A study of various alternatives to funding of party primaries.
3.	A study of various voting procedures and systems with particular emphasis on the possibilities for fraud and abuse involved in each.
4.	A study of the various proposals for Presidential Preference Primaries with recommendations as to the desirability of such. Particular emphasis should be given to the particular dates and type of primary that would best suit the needs of the political parties and the electorate in general, including the possibility of regional primaries.
5.	A study of the desirability and effect of moving the date for the general primary elections in Texas, including the alternatives of a late summer primary and an early fall primary, and the option of a bifurcated primary if a system for Presidential Preference Primary is adopted.
Committee:	Senate Privileges and Elections
Title:	Examination of the contested election of the 13th District
Library Catalog Title:	[Report].
Subjects:	Ballots | Burton, Walter | Legislative election contests | Texas Senate District 13 |
Library Call Number:	LRL
Session:	14th R.S. (1874)
Online version:	View report [11 pages  File size: 1,102 kb]
Charge:	This report should address the charge below.
1.	Consider the Thirteenth Senatorial District contested election case of Z. Hunt against W. Burton.

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