State Senator Paul Bettencourt is Chairman of the Texas Senate Local Government Committee, representing Texas Senate District 7. He was the tax assessor collector of Harris County and lead author on Senate Bill 2, the major property tax legislation that passed during the 88th special session.
Q: Brad Swail
How are you feeling after the last legislative session?
A: Senator Paul Bettencourt
I'm doing great. It's not every day you get to have a bill that gives back $18 billion of taxpayer money, and that's the bill that everybody just saw. The results are in their property taxes. So for once, people [were able to] open a tax bill over the holidays and not get a lump of coal.
That tax reduction … is the record for the country.
There was a group of seniors that got together. They all compared notes because they were worried that they had too much of a cap and there was a mistake. We were able to tell them the good news that there's no mistake. Your tax bills really are down in this case. In their case, it was almost 60%.
Q: Brad Swail
You were recognized as the American Legislative Exchange Council 2023 Legislator of the Year, so would you say 2023 was successful for you?
A: Senator Paul Bettencourt
Well the good news is that the results are already in everyone's mailbox. It's taken a long time to be able to put together a good property tax plan for the state, because the first thing we had to do back in 2019 was control the growth of government. Government spending was up nearly 7-10% a year, and if we didn't turn that down and then give out the money that we gave out here, history would just repeat itself.
The money that we gave out would have been consumed by the other taxing jurisdictions, raising their levies at the same time the state was lowering theirs. The good news is we passed a bill that was the first-ever reduction in the rollback rates in the state in 38 years.
Q: Brad Swail
What can be done to build on this momentum?
A: Senator Paul Bettencourt
The key thing is that we've got a balanced budget amendment in the state of Texas. This really [separates] us from the federal government, this balanced budget amendment. It means people have to pick priorities and actually stay within a budget.
Let's look at what our priorities are, our source and use of funds, how efficient we are. There's always the discussion of waste, fraud, and abuse. We never really get to that. You've got to have the ability to stand up and treat these budgets like you would your household budget or your business budget, which means, if you can go into debt you have to be able to pay it off.
That's really a lot of what we've also been looking forward to in the future, looking at all sorts of transparency issues and an additional discussion of long term growth of government, because that's really what will keep people out of house and home. The property tax bill that you see is just the visible symbol of that.
If you let government budgets explode faster than people can pay for it, then over a generation you've got a problem. We had about 4.72 million homeowners at risk, because even with Texas being the job mecca of the United States, 50-60% of our homeowners were living paycheck to paycheck. That's why getting that homestead exemption up was so important, because we have to incentivize home ownership. Now we're going to have to make sure that we pay for it long term in the state budget.
Q: Brad Swail
What do you mean by your saying, “what gets measured gets fixed?”
A: Senator Paul Bettencourt
It’s something that the government rarely does. If they don't have the transparency to measure anything or want to talk about it, then they don't want to fix it.
One of the things that I also accomplished this year was we took away elections from the elections administrator in Harris County. Harris County was “too big to fail,” but it was too big to ignore. By any measurement, they failed.
We moved that [role] back to elected officials. Those elected officials in their first outing back in charge ran a much better election because we weren't afraid to measure and act. That's really what we need to be doing on all levels of government. If you've got a problem, fix it, and do real good for real people.
Q: Brad Swail
I have a special needs son and we’ve been wanting to try stem cells but it can be quite hard to access them. I understand you are a champion for adult stem cell use?
A: Senator Paul Bettencourt
Absolutely. If you have a terminal diagnosis, you should be able to have access to whatever drugs or treatment would help you. Because there's only upside at that point in time.
I think that the federal government again has made a mistake, because the FDA has refused for 20 years to look at these STEM cell treatments. It was the state of Texas that passed these bills a decade ago, well before it became a federal issue in the Trump administration.
I was proud to be a trailblazer there, too, because while it's great to give people back their money, an $18 billion property tax cut is wonderful and a world record…but it is really cool to save people's lives. Those stem cell bills in my mind are what will save people's lives long term.
Q: Brad Swail
Have you heard the latest rumblings that Democrat mayors of some of the biggest Texas cities are trying to strike a friendlier tone with their colleagues across the aisle to move towards what can be construed as a ceasefire?
A: Senator Paul Bettencourt
Well I'm going to go back to my measurement comment. What gets measured gets fixed. Urban cities have been failing in America because leftist, progressive, socialist policies don't work. Letting people out of jail like popcorn … means that people are just going to get killed again.
It's not just here. In Charleston, South Carolina, they elected their first Republican mayor since 1877. The mayor of Dallas, Eric Johnson, switched parties from Democrat to Republican. You have what are really law-and-order Democrats in charge of Houston and Austin. I think that shows a big sea change–folks don't feel safe at home. They've voted for change.
It's really much better for us to agree on common things. [Houston Mayor] John Whitmire was really campaigning on this. You can't let violent criminals out of jail and not expect bad things to happen.
I'll give you one last data point here in Houston. There are now a majority of at-large council men and women who happen to be Republican. One of them is the first black Republican elected in the city of Houston since Reconstruction.
Q: Brad Swail
Are you familiar with the process of annexation and bill 2038?
A: Senator Paul Bettencourt
Of course. Senate Bill 2038 is another bill that passed this year. We're going to let people out of the extraterritorial jurisdiction of cities, because when you're in limbo, you'll never be able to either de-annex or have your own city government. You're just stuck, taken for granted.
The bill is pretty simple. Basically, landowners can write individual letters and get out. Subdivisions have to come together to vote and do a petition process. But more importantly, it's the concept that you shouldn't have taxation without representation.
People just need to get out of a bad situation. Land owners and property owners have to be able to say, “I'm out.”
Q: Brad Swail
What are your views on states taking Donald Trump off of the ballot?
A: Senator Paul Bettencourt
This is a terrible precedent for a democratic republic. You cannot remove people from ballots. You have to let the political parties nominate their people. You've got to let people vote.
Q: Brad Swail
Do you have big plans for the next session?
A: Senator Paul Bettencourt
Well, it's a little early. We just completed a session with four special sessions. We've spent more time on the legislative floor than our federal counterparts, and we're a part-time legislature.
We have a lot of work to do on education that has not been completed yet. One of the sad things was the House quitting the last special session after the vote on school choice. It was clear the House wasn't going to pass school choice.
We had bills on teacher pay, school safety, etc.. We had a bunch of bills that died at that point. We're going to wait to see if we go back to another special session next year.
Q: Brad Swail
Where can people go to follow your work?
A: Senator Paul Bettencourt
You can find me at www.PaulBettencourt.com.
As the now-longest serving Republican in Harris County history, I was always trying to do three things. [First], have a voter campaign and a voter roll with integrity. As a voter registrar, I had a chance to do that. From my first year, we deleted 50,000 deceased and felon registrations and cleaned up the voter rolls in Harris County.
[Second], to make sure that we have government accountability.
[Third], this is going to be a frothy year, so the voters are going to have to use social media to [debate] over what's right or wrong. Our national media is not what it used to be. It's programs like yours that they hear the in-depth analysis of what's really happening.
This interview transcript has been edited for length and clarity.
