2025 · Regular session · House bill
HB30
HB30 narrows a disaster-related exception to voter approval of local property-tax increases and ties another disaster allowance to specified response costs.
Official caption: Relating to the effect of a disaster and associated costs on the calculation of certain tax rates and the procedure for adoption of a tax rate by a taxing unit.
Official report lists House author(s): Troxclair, Meyer, Oliverson, Noble, Tepper. This does not identify sponsors or amendment drafters.
Bill explanation published · Version and amendment review scope is stated below · Individual amendment records may not be separately annotated.
Bill highlights
Selected points from the published explanation. Follow each point to its source-linked context; conditions and limits may matter.
- HB30 narrows a disaster-related exception to voter approval of local property-tax increases and ties another disaster allowance to specified response costs.
- For an eligible taxing unit other than a school district or a special taxing unit, the governing body can use the disaster calculation only when part of its territory is in a current-year presidential or gubernatorial disaster area and at least one property owner in the unit receives the Section 11.35 disaster-damage exemption.
- The resulting voter-approval rate is the lower of two calculations: the special-unit calculation, generally the no-new-revenue operating rate multiplied by 1.08 plus the debt rate; or the ordinary 1.035 operating-rate calculation plus the debt rate, unused increment rate and new disaster-relief rate.
- Qualifying costs cover debris removal and specified essential assistance: emergency shelter; police, fire and emergency-medical overtime and hazardous-duty pay; water testing and treatment; essential supplies; search and rescue; evacuation; medical care and transport; and security.
- Separately, HB30 repeals Section 26.042(d), which let non-school taxing units bypass the otherwise-required tax-rate election in the year after certain disasters.
What does it do?
HB30 narrows a disaster-related exception to voter approval of local property-tax increases and ties another disaster allowance to specified response costs. It applies beginning with the 2026 property-tax year. Governor Abbott signed it May 28, 2025; it took effect January 1, 2026. Final law; official history.
For an eligible taxing unit other than a school district or a special taxing unit, the governing body can use the disaster calculation only when part of its territory is in a current-year presidential or gubernatorial disaster area and at least one property owner in the unit receives the Section 11.35 disaster-damage exemption. A declaration alone is not enough. The law retains the existing stopping point: the earlier of the year taxable value exceeds its disaster-year January 1 level or the third tax year after the disaster.
The resulting voter-approval rate is the lower of two calculations: the special-unit calculation, generally the no-new-revenue operating rate multiplied by 1.08 plus the debt rate; or the ordinary 1.035 operating-rate calculation plus the debt rate, unused increment rate and new disaster-relief rate. The operating rate is a tax-base-adjusted benchmark, not last year’s individual tax bill. Neither 3.5% nor 8% is a guaranteed limit on an owner’s bill. The disaster-relief component uses the unit’s share of qualifying costs divided by current taxable value excluding new property, expressed as a rate per $100 of value. Tax Code Chapter 26.
Qualifying costs cover debris removal and specified essential assistance: emergency shelter; police, fire and emergency-medical overtime and hazardous-duty pay; water testing and treatment; essential supplies; search and rescue; evacuation; medical care and transport; and security. Presidential declarations use the specified federal estimates. For governor-only declarations, the unit makes estimates using federal methods as far as practicable and promptly forwards them to the Texas Division of Emergency Management. This is not an allowance for every disaster expense or the whole federal disaster bill. Federal debris-removal law; federal essential-assistance law.
Separately, HB30 repeals Section 26.042(d), which let non-school taxing units bypass the otherwise-required tax-rate election in the year after certain disasters. Ordinary election rules—including applicable small-unit/de minimis distinctions—therefore matter again. The separate school-district exception in subsection (e) remains. Existing rules also retain an adjustment after the disaster-calculation period, require identification of the disaster declaration used, and prevent switching back to an earlier declaration after using a different one in an intervening year. Final law, Sections 1–4; Chapter 26, Sections 26.042 and 26.07.
What changed along the way?
The filed bill was broader than the law that passed. It would have repealed both non-school and school-district disaster-election exceptions and related school-finance provisions. The House committee substitute preserved the school-district exception, retained repeal of the non-school exception, and introduced a debris-cost formula. Its initial design treated federally declared disasters with estimates differently from governor-only disasters. Filed bill; House substitute.
The amendment index lists one amendment, adopted: Troxclair and colleagues’ House second-reading amendment. All eight instructions are reflected in the House-passed and final text. It broadened debris costs to the listed essential-assistance costs, applied the lower-of-two-calculations rule to both declaration routes, allowed local estimates for governor-only disasters, required forwarding those estimates to emergency management, and changed the related labels and cross-references. The Senate committee and Senate passage made no further substantive change. There was no conference version. Amendment index; entire adopted amendment; House-passed text; Senate committee text.
For the full amendment record, open the official amendment index.
Official bill versions
Compare the published text versions in the official text index. A change is not attributed to a specific amendment here without a verified record.
Who could benefit—and who could bear the costs?
Property owners and voters gain a tighter link between the special disaster allowance and enumerated local costs, plus restoration of the ordinary election rules previously displaced by the non-school exception. Affected local governments and residents needing disaster services retain room to finance specified response work, but may face a lower rate threshold, estimate-preparation duties or an election before raising additional revenue. These are possible effects, not measured savings or a forecast of service cuts.
The latest posted fiscal note, dated May 12, anticipated no significant state fiscal effect and identified the local tax-rate adjustment without estimating its dollar effect. Its narrative still describes separate governor-only and federal calculation routes; the adopted amendment and enrolled law control instead. The filed-version note discussed possible school-funding savings, but that depended on school-district provisions removed before passage and must not be presented as the final law’s impact. No particular local tax bill, election result or disaster reimbursement is established by this review. Latest fiscal note; committee fiscal note; filed-version fiscal note.
Official sources
- Bill history and latest recorded action
- Bill versions, analyses and fiscal notes
- Action history and votes
- Amendment index
Catalog report retrieved 2026-10-25. Check the official record for corrections or later changes.