Message from Tom Craddick, Speaker of the House

Dear Friend:

The third called special session of the 79th Legislature kicked
off Monday, April 17 with a flurry of activity that continued
through the week.

The Texas House welcomed Cheri Isett and Valerie Corte who are
each temporary acting representatives while their husbands,
Representative Carl Isett (R-Lubbock) and Representative Frank
Corte, Jr. (R-San Antonio) have been called to active military
duty. In 2003, Texas voters approved a constitutional amendment
to allow legislators called to active military duty to select an
individual to take his or her place.

We also welcomed newly elected House members, Kirk England,
(R-Grand Prairie), and Donna Howard, (D-Austin), to the Texas
House. They were each elected to serve in special elections.

Our new house members and experienced veterans are seriously
considering the recommendations from the Governor Perry's Texas
Tax Reform Commission. Five bills were filed Monday. These
bills make up the major components of the Commission's plan and
have been divided up to better facilitate House and Senate
passage.

As you know, special sessions only last 30 days; therefore
separating the Commission's proposals into several bills will
allow the House to manage them more efficiently. It will also
allow the you to easily follow each recommendation that is
embodied in these bills.

* House Bill 1 buys down property taxes $0.17 in the first
year.
* House Bill 2 will dedicate all the revenue raised to school
district property tax relief.
* House Bill 3 revises the franchise tax provisions in Texas
to ensure that each business that is subject to the tax pays
its fair share. Under the new plan the primary franchise tax
rate will be lowered from 4.5 percent to 1 percent. This
will bring an estimated $3.8 billion to the state from
businesses that currently avoid paying the franchise tax.
* House Bill 4 tightens the language and the requirements for
the sale of motor vehicles so they state the proper amount
of revenue from these transactions.
* House Bill 5 increases the tax on the sale of tobacco
products to raise additional revenue for property tax
relief. Raising the tax to $1 could bring an estimated $623
million to the state in 2007.

These bills were filed and referred to their respective
committees. Throughout this week, the committees have been
holding hearings on the bills and working through the
legislative process.

On Wednesday, the House Committee on Ways and Means voted to
send House Bill 1 and House Bill 2 to the House floor for
debate. After hearing testimony on Thursday, the committee
voted to send House Bill 3, House Bill 4 and House Bill 5 to the
House floor as well.

I expect to have a full debate on these important pieces of
legislation on Monday. If these bills pass next week, Texans
are closer to having the largest property tax reduction in
history.

You can track these bills through the process, watch the House
floor proceedings, view members' votes and access an actual bill
on the Texas Legislature Online Web site at
www.capitol.state.tx.us [1].

The Web site has been updated with this week's column that went
out to newspapers and a fact sheet to answer your questions
about the constitutional spending limit. Make sure you visit
www.tomcraddick.com [2] to read the new updates and more.

Thank you always for your continued support.

Sincerely,
Tom Craddick
Speaker