Texas AFL-CIO Constitutional Amendment Positions 2017

[TexasTowelie]

Proposition 1 - FOR

HJR 1 by Rep. Bell (Sponsor: Sen. Creighton). Currently, partially disabled veterans get a property tax exemption according to the percentage of their disability on any homes entirely donated to them. This proposed amendment would tweak that law to allow disabled veterans who pay up to half of the donated home to get an exemption too. There is no significant cost to the state.

This specific tax break for veterans would be expanded to include an additional, but unspecified, number of disabled veterans.


Proposition 2 - AGAINST

SJR 60 by Rep. D. Bonnen (Sponsor: L. Taylor). This proposed amendment makes several changes to the home equity loan laws that bankers and realtors desire. First, although the cap on fees is lowered from 3 to 2 percent, several items are not counted towards that cap, thereby potentially allowing a higher dollar amount to be assessed in fees. Second, it allows home equity loans to be refinanced as non-home equity loans, resulting in the loss of judicial foreclosure requirements and the risk of losing other assets. Third, home equity lines of credit would now be capped at 80 percent, rather than 50 percent, of the home’s market value.

Consumers borrowing against their home equity will lose some of the protections on their home traditionally provided by the Texas Constitution.

Read more: http://tcclc.org/?zone=%2Funionactive%2Fview_article.cfm&HomeID=675412&page=Volunteer20for20Voter20Registration20Drive

[LeftInTX]

1. Very helpful

Now if I could just get a recommendation on the San Antonio River Authority, I will be set.