The Texas House Ways and Means Committee passed two Senate bills Monday that would reduce property tax bills.
Additional property tax relief is one of Gov. Greg Abbott’s seven emergency items for the biennial legislative session. He named it alongside school vouchers as items he said “must pass this session,” suggesting that the failure to pass it could lead him to call a special session.
The Texas Senate’s lead bills to cut property taxes, Senate Bills 4 and 23, were introduced to the House Ways and Means Committee by Chairman Morgan Meyer (R-University Park). The committee held a Monday hearing about the proposed laws and passed them without amendments, sending them to the full House of Representatives for a vote.
“Members, Senate Bill 4 will increase Texas’ mandatory ISD homestead exemption from $100,000 to $140,000 for over 5.7 million homeowners across the state,” Meyer said. “SB 4 builds upon what we have done last session. This bill passed the Senate unanimously. SB 4 would apply beginning this tax year, 2025, and would ensure the school districts are held harmless.”
State Sen. Paul Bettencourt (R-Houston) is the architect of SB 4. Bettencourt has a number of other tax relief bills in the pipeline, including SB 23, which would boost the additional homestead exemption for disabled homeowners and homeowners over age 65 from $10,000 to $60,000.
The House Ways and Means Committee also heard testimony on SB 23 before approving it.
The effects of the bills would be cumulative – that is, if SB 4 and SB 23 both become law, seniors and disabled homeowners would see their homestead exemption rise to $200,000.
James Quintero, policy director of the conservative Texas Public Policy Foundation’s Taxpayer Protection Project, was one of only two people testifying on SB 4 – both of whom spoke in favor of the bill.
“The legendary free-market economist Milton Friedman once said that I am in favor of cutting taxes under any circumstance and for any excuse, for any reason, whenever it’s possible,” Quintero said. “And it’s in that spirit that I applaud the legislature’s persistent efforts to prioritize Texas taxpayers by cutting taxes, both through this measure as well as others. If I have one plea to the body today, though, it is this: Do more, both because it’s needed and it’s possible.”
Editor’s note: This story was updated May 5, 2025, to reflect that Senate Bills 4 and 23 were approved by the Texas House Ways and Means Committee.
