Texas House Bill HB88

Texas 2025 - 89th 2nd C.S.

• Filed: 8/15/25

Summary

HB 88 amends the Texas Tax Code to create a new category of "large disaster area taxing unit" for certain counties and other taxing units whose territory is largely located in a county within a multi-county area that has been declared a disaster area under the federal Stafford Act. The bill is tied to the calculation of the voter-approval tax rate, which is the rate a local taxing unit may adopt without triggering a tax election under state law. For these large disaster area taxing units, the bill changes the voter-approval tax rate calculation so that it is determined in the same manner as for a special taxing unit. For all other taxing units, the existing formula remains in place, including the no-new-revenue maintenance and operations rate, debt rate, unused increment rate, and disaster relief rate. The bill applies only to ad valorem tax years beginning on or after its effective date and takes effect January 1, 2026.

Impact

HB 88 would modify Section 26.042 of the Tax Code, which governs how local governments calculate voter-approval tax rates. The practical effect is to give certain local taxing units in large federally declared disaster areas a different, generally more flexible tax-rate calculation method, while leaving the standard formula unchanged for other taxing units. This could affect counties, municipalities, school districts, and other local taxing entities that fall within the bill's definition, as well as taxpayers subject to local property taxes.

Sentiment

The available record does not include committee testimony or vote totals, so there is no documented public debate to gauge support or opposition. Based on the bill text, the measure appears to be a targeted disaster-relief tax policy intended to help affected local governments recover after major federally declared disasters. The framing suggests a generally sympathetic policy purpose, but the absence of transcripts or votes means sentiment cannot be assessed beyond the bill's apparent intent.

Contention

The main policy issue is the scope of the new "large disaster area taxing unit" definition and whether those local governments should receive special treatment in the voter-approval tax rate calculation. Potential concerns could include whether the bill gives too much tax-setting flexibility to local governments in disaster areas or whether the definition is too narrow or too broad, but no specific objections are recorded in the provided materials. Because there are no committee transcripts or votes, no named stakeholders or formal points of contention are documented.