Opinions

How I’m Voting on Those Pesky Propositions

As I said yesterday, Texas’ constitution is an antiquated mess, so often the teensiest of problems can’t be fixed without a constitutional amendment put before every voter in every state. This year, as in most years, there are wretched idiocies mixed with sensible fixes — and a few things that are kinda meh.Here’s how I’m voting:

👍 Prop. 1: Legalizing rodeo raffles. Yes. Allowing raffles at rodeos would raise money for charity and doesn’t seem likely to send cowboy fans spiraling into a gambling abyss.

👍 Prop 2: Letting counties issue debt for infrastructure. Yes. Cities can already finance projects with bonds or notes, and counties — especially fast-growing ones — need the same flexibility.

👎 Prop 3: Preventing emergency closures of religious services. No. To keep people safe during a pandemic or a hurricane, government officials need to be able to shut down churches, mosques and temples — the same as businesses and schools.

👎 Prop 4: Making it harder to become a state judge. No, but not a strong no. This amendment raises the number of years of law experience needed to run for various judicial posts, and doesn’t count out-of-state experience. That would limit the number of people who could run for the office and reduce candidates’ diversity. Plus, it doesn’t address the real problem: Texas shouldn’t elect its judges to begin with.

👎 Prop 5: Letting a state commission investigate judicial candidates. No. The State Commission on Judicial Conduct, which keeps an eye on sitting judges, would also be given the power to investigate judicial candidates. But other avenues for those complaints already exist, and this seems likely to become a political circus. And again, there’s that bigger problem: We shouldn’t elect our judges.

👎 Prop 6: Nursing home visitors. No. On the surface this proposal seems sweet and sensible: Every nursing home resident would be able to designate one person as an “essential caregiver” who cannot be denied visitation rights. The problem is, that would wreck public health officials’ ability to protect nursing-home residents during a life-and-death pandemic emergency.

👍 Prop 7: Property tax exemption for surviving spouses #1. Yes. This one limits school district property taxes for the surviving spouse of a person with disabilities who was older than 65 when they died. The survivor must be at least 55 years old.

👍 Prop 8: Property tax exemption for surviving spouses #2. Yes. This one makes the surviving spouse of a military member killed in action eligible for a residential homestead tax exemption.

Lisa Gray is the newsletter writer and podcast host for City Cast Houston. Sign up for it here.

Lisa Gray