One of the City of Irving’s main goals going into the upcoming legislative session is seeking an increase in the homestead exemption that the city can offer to residential households. The current exemption is at the maximum 20 percent of appraised value that is allowed by the state constitution. Proposals for increases include raising the exemption percentage to something higher, or to express the exemption as a dollar amount, for instance exempting $100,000 of appraised value when calculating property taxes.
Other priorities include:
- Amending state law to validate and authorize the contract reached earlier this year between the Irving Firemen’s Relief and Retirement Fund board and the City Council regarding the operation of the pension program.
- Maintaining nonpartisan City Council elections in May rather than requiring council members to pick political parties and run in November.
- Plugging holes in laws designed to reduce the theft of catalytic converters.
Every legislative session, there are attempts to restrict the city’s ability to control its zoning and development approval process and to reduce the fees that pay for the multifamily inspection program. The legislative priority list indicates that Irving opposes those efforts, and it also opposes legislation that has been filed in several previous sessions that would eliminate the ability of the City Council, city staff and/or hired consultants to advocate for these and other positions during the session.
The 88th Legislative Session begins January 10 and ends May 31. Bill filing began on November 14, and even newly elected members can submit legislation in advance of being sworn in to hold office.
For the 88th session, the legislators who represent portions of Irving will be:
- House District 103, Rafael Anchia -- Rafael.anchia@house.texas.gov
- House District 105, Terry Meza – terry.meza@house.texas.gov
- House District 115, Julie Johnson – Julie.johnson@house.texas.gov
- Senate District 12, Tan Parker – tan.parker@house.texas.gov (Parker is currently a member of the Texas house. His Senate address will be tan.parker@senate.texas.gov. That address will be live after January 10, 2023).
- Senate District 16, Nathan Johnson – nathan.johnson@senate.texas.gov