Burnt Orange Report - House Bill 2 and 3 Weekend Round Up

Burnt Orange Report - House Bill 2 and 3 Weekend Round Up: "There's been a whole lot of moving and shaking in the Lege over the weekend over HB 2 and 3 and as of 2:30am this morning, the conference committees still had not reached a consensus on HB 2. At that time the Senate submitted its proposal to the house and we will have to wait until this morning to see if the House accepts. The sticking point on HB 2 at this point is recapture, or how much wealthy school districts should have to give to the less well off school districts.

The sticking points on HB 3 are the sales tax and the homestead exemption. This weekend a $15,000 increase in the homestead exemption was shot down and it appears as if the Senate is beginning to cave on the sales tax. The Senate approved a .5% increase while the House wants a 1% increase. There have been statements that seem to say that the Senate may give on the sales tax if other taxes are trimmed. Sen. West, D-Dallas wants the homestead exemption to be raised to $22,500 to off set the raise in the sales tax, but as of now there is no raise in the homestead exemption on the table. Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso has promised to filibuster HB 3 if there is any raise in the sales tax above the .5% the Senate agreed upon."