State
BY HANNAH NORTON
Gov. Greg Abbott outlines 2025 legislative priorities This legislative session, Texas needs to work on housing affordability and continue adding power to the state grid, Gov. Greg Abbott told Community Impact in an interview at the state capitol Feb. 7. What action should lawmakers take on property taxes this session? are, it will reduce the cost [of coverage]. There are other reforms we are taking a look at to make sure that we will … be able to contain any potential increase in the cost of insurance. What can Texas do to help the power grid withstand growing electric demand?
Home values are going to [continue to] go up, but a law that we passed in 2019 ... says that any property tax revenue for any jurisdiction is capped at 2.5%. If your property value goes up 10%, your property taxes cannot go up 10%. The real fix for this is to stop making it so easy for local taxing jurisdictions to increase property taxes. That’s why [I’m proposing] two-thirds approval by voters before property taxes can be increased. What can the Legislature do to address home insurance affordability? We want to make sure Texas is a state that attracts insurers, because the more providers there
Last session, Texas provided incentives to entice the addition of 10,000 more megawatts of power. We want to repeat that this session. One reason for the power demand is because of AI facilities coming here. We want to make sure that these AI data centers ... are responsible for bringing power to the grid themselves.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity. For a longer version, visit communityimpact.com .
MARIE LEONARD/COMMUNITY IMPACT
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