REALTOR® Days at the Texas Capitol 

88th 立法会议 
2023年3月22日 

REALTOR® Priorities: House Talking Points and Key Contact Meeting Notes 

“临床上注意S” IN GREY ARE FOR REFERENCE ONLY; DO NOT READ ALOUD 

  • LCT 注意: 一定要介绍自己, 解释你是谁, and what 德克萨斯州国会大厦的REALTOR®日 encompasses.  
  • 临床上注意: This looks like a lot of content, but the meeting will go fast! 
  • 临床上注意: This script has a logical flow, but you 不 need to read it word-for-word – focus on the highlighted words! And some issues may be more or less relevant to your district – it’s okay to focus on the issues that make the most sense for your area, 尤其是时间有限的时候. 
  • 临床上注意: Key Contacts (or someone on the team) should have the tri-fold leave-behind that was handed out at the bus drop-off – if not, let staff know in your post-meeting report and we’ll run one by the legislator’s office.

Thank you for meeting with us today to talk real estate and Texas REALTORS® legislative priorities! 

我们把一个 简单的小册子 to lay out our priorities, including 有很多具体的法案 Texas REALTORS® are supporting this year –  

  •  临床上注意: If the Representative/staff asks questions about specific legislation that you’re not sure how to answer, 不要猜测 … assure them Texas REALTORS® lobby staff will follow up. 关键联系人也可以共享Julia, 赛斯, or Tray’s contact information (also included in the tri-fold pamphlet). 

We want to be respectful of your time, so we’ll highlight some general priorities and a few specific bills, 所有 of which can be found on the one-pager.  

  • 临床上注意: Personal stories are essential to describing why these issues matter to REALTORS®. Key Contacts can tell their own or c所有 on other attendees to share how these issues have impacted them. 

问题- - - - - - 基础设施, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, AND HOUSING AFFORDABILITY  

People keep moving to Texas … about 1,000 per day … and we want to keep that going. 

That’s why we’re so glad to see the Legislature focusing on important 关键基础设施 的问题,例如 宽频接驳及 水. 

REALTORS® have been advocating for dependable and affordable internet access at the state and federal level for years and we appreciate the work that the Legislature is doing.  

我们很自豪地支持 House Bill 9, House Bill 2662, and HJR 125 by Chair Trent Ashby—and we re所有y appreciate you coauthoring HB 9.

这是一个 这对我们地区来说是个大问题, 所以, we’re glad the Legislature is continuing to take action after last session’s big broadband bill. 

Perhaps the most critical part of our infrastructure is our 水 supply … so obviously, we’re supportive of efforts to ensure we have 水 为了我们不断增长的人口. 我们很乐意 支持HB 10 by 特雷西·金主席. 

We’d also like the Legislature to pass measures that 激励经济发展 -和 supporting House Bill 5 by Chair Todd Hunter, 这是一个 new approach to economic development agreements. We look forward to your support of this measure when it comes before the Ways & 财政立法委员会. 

我们 also coming off a historic time in Texas real estate … and even though the market has normalized a little, demand for real estate in Texas is still very high! 

  • 临床上注意: Talk briefly about your local market or highlight some local statistics (Inventory ch所有enges, 上市天数, 缺乏“中等”住房, 等.) 
  • 临床上注意: Offer to send the one-page Housing Report for the representative’s district (in the portal under “2022 Housing Report”.) 

尽管如此，我们还是很 concerned about housing affordability 正如我们继续看到的 inventory shortages, especi所有y at lower price points. 

There are a lot of different reasons for that … and 没有什么灵丹妙药 去修复它，但是 are several bills that can chip away 问题所在.  

我们认为 消除监管障碍 to housing development can help, like hb14由Cody Harris主席提出. 其他法案也可以 provide additional housing options, like HB 2789 by Representative Justin Holland.  

Our pamphlet highlights some of those bills … they 所有 have the 目标 of increasing housing stock and improving housing affordability. 

问题- - - - - - 房产税 

We can’t talk about housing affordability without mentioning everyone’s favorite subject – Property Taxes.  

We remain committed to identifying different ways to lower property taxes – including expanded exemptions for property owners and businesses, 以及继续 买下来 (压缩) 学校税率.  

  • 临床上注意: DO NOT MENTION THIS UNLESS THEY DO – House members may ask you why the REALTORS® do not support HB 2/HJR 1 by Chair Morgan Meyer. There were a few things in that bill that we do 支持,我.e., rate compression and escrow options for 所有 property owners. Our opposition is based on the 5% appraisal caps – a position TR has held for years. Appraisal caps sound like a good idea, but they:  
    • Will not reduce local government spending (and therefore merely shift the tax burden around, 而不是降低它) 
    • Create long-term distortions in the market and discourage people from selling or moving  
    • Can exacerbate housing affordability issues by decreasing the number of homes on the market 
    • Treat property owners differently based on how long they’ve owned the property  
    • Inject unfair competition in the commercial leasing market 

我们也很高兴 支持众议员HB 1027等法案. 谢尔比Slawson that eliminates change-of-use taxes – which you might hear c所有ed “lookback taxes.” 这些是额外的, retroactive taxes that are charged when a property changes from agricultural use to residential or commercial. We hope we can rely on your support to help it pass out of Ways & 意味着. 

问题- - - - - - 产权 

Property rights are the foundation upon which 所有 our association advocacy efforts are built, and we always track any legislation that adds to or takes away private property rights… 

作为2021十大正规彩票app专业人士, we certainly see the value in property owners’ associations … but some communities had gone unchecked for too long and had begun infringing on core private property rights. Thankfully the legislature made a lot of progress to rein in that behavior last session.  

This year, we’re supporting HB 3503 by Rep. 特纳 as a continuation of last session’s HOA reforms. 

  • 临床上注意: If the representative asks specifics, please inform Texas REALTORS® staff ASAP – our lobby team will want to visit the office. 

这个法案 加强业主权益 通过确保 透明度的措施 included in the 2021 legislation apply to 所有 property owners’ associations, including condos. 它还 extends resale fee caps to condos, 也. We respectfully request that you consider supporting these reforms. 

Perhaps our strongest property tradition is farming. 德克萨斯州有超过248人,000 farms and more than 127 million acres of farmland… that’s almost 75% of the state’s total square miles! The importance of agricultural activities in this state is immeasurable. 这就是为什么我们是 supporting HB 1750 by Chair DeWayne Burns. 这个法案, which was voted out of committee last week, 保护德州人的农场权 by limiting a city’s ability to restrict personal agricultural operations. 

问题- - - - - - 交易 

最后, there are a few bills we’re focusing on that deal directly with the business of real estate transactions. 具体地说, 公共改善区, 或pid, have become a hot topic of conversation in recent years. 

  • 临床上注意: The representative or staff might not be familiar with PIDs. These districts are created by cities or counties and cover a particular neighborhood or region – the district is established to provide specific types of improvements or maintenance and is financed by assessment against the property owners within the area. 

In 2021, then-Representative Tan Parker carried legislation to require that sellers provide buyers with a notice if their property is in a PID. After seeing that law at work over the last two years, we’ve identified a few areas where it could be improved.  

我们 supporting HB 4277 by Chair Oscar Longoria, and Senator Tan Parker has the companion bill – this minor change just makes sure a 卖方受保护 如果属性在PID中, but the city or county hasn’t recorded the PID information with the county clerk like they’re supposed to. 

  • 临床上注意: This legislation is a bit technical, but the bottom line is to make sure that sellers can’t be penalized for not disclosing something they weren’t aware of. 

That notice requirement also made us think further about how PID information could be easier to find. That’s why we’re strongly supporting HB 4232 by Rep. 休, which would ensure that property owners can easily find PID information when they look up their property on the central appraisal district’s website.  

最后, we are supportive of HB 19 – the bill that would create specialized business courts … and are glad to see that you’ve joined up with Rep. 我尽力去做这件事. 

会议结论 

再一次。, 你可以参考我们的小册子, which outlines numerous specific bills we are supporting related to our priority issues. 

感谢您的关注. 你有什么问题要问我们吗? 特别是, is there anything you need from the REALTORS®?  

Our legislative staff’s contact information is on this pamphlet … they’re always available to answer questions about Texas REALTORS® stance on specific legislation. 

  • 临床上注意: 一定要 感谢立法者的工作人员 for 所有 they do (legislative staff are tremendously important but are mostly behind the scenes). They keep this whole process moving! 
  • 临床上注意: Seek permission from the lawmaker or staff to 抓住一个 照片 在社交媒体上使用. 
  • 临床上注意: Grab staffs’ cards if you or TR staff would like to follow up on any issues. 
  • 临床上注意: We recommend sending a handwritten thank-you note to the lawmaker and the staff.  

Thank you for continuing to support the housing and real estate profession, and for taking the time to meet with us today!