Texas State Technical College Funds

Summary: Creates permanent funds for Texas State Technical College (TSTC) capital projects and equipment.

Recommendation: Oppose

Rationale:

• No constitutional earmarks. This amendment embeds a permanent funding stream in the Constitution, taking it out of the normal budget debate. That sidesteps legislative scrutiny, weakens taxpayer accountability, and guarantees funding whether or not the program performs.
• Risk of mission creep. Programs placed in the Constitution almost never shrink or die, they only grow. Even when ineffective or wasteful, they become permanent fixtures shielded from reform.
• Avoiding the hard work. This is the Legislature’s way of avoiding tough budget decisions by trying to constitutionally lock in spending. If TSTC has worthy projects, they should compete for funding every session like every other state agency.
• Better path. Handle capital needs through regular appropriations or short, sunset-bound authorizations with strict KPIs and clawbacks. Taxpayer dollars should only flow where results are proven, not into permanent funds that escape oversight.
• Liberty principle. The government’s job is not to guarantee perpetual funding streams for any program. It is to steward taxpayer dollars with discipline, transparency, and accountability, not to write blank checks in the Constitution.

Ban on Capital Gains Taxes

Summary: Prohibits any tax on realized or unrealized capital gains for individuals, families, estates, or trusts.

Recommendation: Support

Rationale:

• Protects property rights. Capital is simply the fruit of one’s labor and savings. Taxing gains, especially unrealized, “on paper” gains amounts to the government seizing wealth that hasn’t even been realized. This amendment shuts the door on that injustice.
• Encourages investment and entrepreneurship. By guaranteeing that Texas will never tax capital gains, we send a clear signal to innovators, investors, and small businesses that the state values risk-taking and wealth creation. That security fuels job growth and opportunity.
• Locks in a competitive edge. Many states and the federal government levy capital gains taxes, driving away capital. Texas’ no-income-tax environment is a key advantage; this amendment makes that advantage permanent and undeniable.
• Simple limit on government. One sentence in the Constitution prevents future legislatures from using “just one more tax” to plug their spending habits. It ties their hands where they need to be tied, protecting Texans from ever being taxed on their savings or investments.
• Liberty principle. Families should be free to build wealth, reinvest, and pass it on without the state clawing it back. This measure affirms that the government’s role is to protect property, not confiscate it.

Mandatory Bail Denial in Serious Felonies (Specified Conditions)

Summary: Requires courts to deny bail under certain conditions for specified violent felonies after a hearing.

Recommendation: Oppose

Rationale:

• Presumption of innocence under attack. Bail exists to ensure appearance at trial, not to punish before conviction. This amendment flips that principle by making detention the rule rather than the exception.
• Wrong burden of proof. This proposition relies on a mere preponderance of the evidence, the lowest civil standard, to strip liberty. That gives the government an easy path to jail people before trial without proving their case.
• Weapon against self-defense. Local prosecutors could charge legitimate self-defense cases as assault and use this rule to deny bail, jailing citizens who acted lawfully but must now fight from behind bars.
• Misplaced in the Constitution. The stated intent is to target repeat offenders and habitual violent criminals. That concern is real, but this belongs in legislation, not the Constitution. Statutes can be fine-tuned or repealed; constitutional mandates are blunt and permanent.
• The real solution is accountability. If the concern is judges recklessly releasing violent offenders, the answer is greater judicial accountability, not weaker protections for liberty. Proposition 12 further down the ballot addresses this directly by increasing citizen oversight and limiting private reprimands. That’s the liberty-minded way to correct rogue judges without shredding due process.
• Liberty principle. In America, liberty is the default, punishment follows conviction, not accusation. This amendment erodes that principle and hands too much unchecked power to prosecutors.

Dedicate Sales Tax to Texas Water Fund

Summary: Dedicates up to $1B/year (from collections above a set threshold) to the Texas Water Fund through 2035, with restricted allocation rules.

Recommendation: Oppose

Rationale:

• Earmarks dodge accountability. Automatic diversions are nothing more than the Legislature trying to avoid legislating. Instead of making the case each session, they want a constitutional autopilot that shields them from hard trade-offs and public scrutiny.
• Locks up taxpayer dollars. By carving off a revenue stream, this amendment ties the hands of future lawmakers and guarantees billions will flow whether the projects are efficient or not. Meanwhile, it crowds out other priorities and pressures the state to raise taxes elsewhere.
• Bureaucracy over results. Constitutional earmarks create funds that grow into self-preserving bureaucracies, spending money simply because it is there. Texans get locked into paying for projects long after their value is gone.
• Better path. If water infrastructure is a true priority, fund it through the normal budget process where lawmakers must debate, justify, and prioritize every dollar. Use time-limited appropriations, strict audits, and sunsets, not permanent earmarks hidden in the Constitution.
• Liberty principle. The Constitution should protect rights and restrain government, not serve as a slush fund for legislators to bypass responsibility. This measure entrenches big government at the expense of fiscal discipline and taxpayers.

Property Tax Exemption for Retail Animal Feed Inventory

Summary: Authorizes a property tax exemption for animal feed held in inventory for retail sale.

Recommendation: Oppose

Rationale:

• Government shouldn’t pick winners. This amendment gives a special break to one narrow industry while every other retailer with inventory stays fully taxed. That is not equal treatment under the law, it is favoritism.
• More carve-outs, less reform. Each new exemption splinters the tax code further, encourages rent-seeking, and entrenches a corrupt game where lobbyists carve out special favors rather than pushing for real reform.
• A distraction from the real issue. The Legislature offers piecemeal carve-outs because they don’t want to take on the hard fight: ending the inventory tax altogether. If Texas is serious about being pro-business, we shouldn’t be taxing inventory in the first place.
• Double taxation in practice. Goods are already taxed when sold through the sales tax. Taxing them again while they sit on a shelf is punitive and anti-business, especially when it hits small businesses hardest.
• Liberty principle. True reform means treating all Texans equally and reducing the government’s claim on property across the board. This amendment fails that test and should be rejected until lawmakers fix the system for everyone, not just the well-connected.

Ban on Securities Transaction (Financial) Taxes

Summary: Prohibits taxes on securities transactions or occupation taxes on the business of securities trading.

Recommendation: Support

Rationale:

• Prevents a future financial-transactions tax. This protects retirees, savers, and ordinary investors from having their nest eggs siphoned by a speculative tax that punishes buying, selling, or adjusting investments.
• No current fiscal downside. Texas doesn’t levy this tax today. Enshrining the ban now prevents future legislatures from using it as a hidden revenue grab.
• Protects market health. Transaction taxes reduce liquidity, raise costs for everyone in the market, and punish responsible saving and retirement planning. Blocking them keeps Texas attractive to capital and investment.
• Clear government limit. This is a simple, bright-line constitutional barrier that ensures lawmakers cannot tax Texans for participating in the economy.
• Liberty principle. Free Texans should not be punished for investing, saving, or managing their own property. This amendment draws a firm line to keep government out of private financial decisions.

Homestead Exemption for Surviving Spouses of Certain Veterans

Summary: Allows a homestead property tax exemption for the surviving spouse of a veteran who died from a service-connected condition (while unmarried).

Recommendation: Oppose

Rationale:

• Another carve-out in a broken system. Texas keeps piling on exemptions for favored groups. It may sound compassionate, but every carve-out shrinks the tax base and shifts the burden to young families, renters, and small businesses who get no relief. That is not justice, it’s cost-shifting disguised as generosity.
• Not true reform. Exemptions make the system more complex, more unequal, and harder to fix. Instead of carving out more exceptions, we should confront the root injustice: the property tax itself, which punishes Texans for owning their homes. Eliminating property taxes on homesteads entirely would give relief to every family, veterans’ families included, without playing favorites.
• Legislature avoiding responsibility. Carve-outs are easy votes for politicians because they sound compassionate while ducking the hard work of structural reform. Texans should reject this bait-and-switch and demand lawmakers fix the system for everyone, not just carve out patches for a few.
• Liberty principle. True liberty means equal treatment under the law. The government should not play favorites by shifting tax burdens from one group onto another. The real solution is to end homestead property taxation outright so every Texan enjoys relief and equal protection.

Ban on Estate/Inheritance/Gift (“Death”) Taxes

Summary: Permanently prohibits state level estate, inheritance, and similar transfer taxes.

Recommendation: Support

Rationale:

• Protects property rights & family continuity. Families should be able to pass on their home, land, or business without the state swooping in to take another cut. Estate and inheritance taxes amount to double taxation, income and property are taxed once while earned, then again when passed to heirs.
• Secures family legacies. Without this protection, small farms, ranches, and family-owned businesses are at risk of being sold off just to pay the tax bill. This amendment guarantees families can preserve their life’s work across generations.
• Predictability and stability. By banning these taxes outright, Texas provides certainty against future revenue grabs. Families and entrepreneurs can plan for the future without fear that shifting political winds will claw back their savings.
• Liberty principle. What a Texan builds over a lifetime belongs to them and their heirs, not to the government. This amendment reaffirms that wealth earned through work and thrift should stay in the family, free from state confiscation.

Business Personal Property (BPP) Exemption up to $125,000

Summary: Authorizes exemption of up to $125,000 of tangible personal property used to produce income from ad valorem taxation.

Recommendation: Support

Rationale:

• Rewarding entrepreneurship. This measure eases the burden on the very tools entrepreneurs and small businesses need to start, grow, and compete. Taxing equipment and assets up front penalizes risk-taking; this exemption begins to correct that.
• Keeps businesses alive long enough to thrive. Property taxes on business equipment are often due before a new venture is profitable, crushing start-ups before they get off the ground. Cutting that burden protects the innovators and job creators Texas depends on.
• Drives economic growth. Freed-up capital will be reinvested in hiring, inventory, and expansion, fueling sales tax revenue for the state and prosperity for local communities. In other words, lifting this burden grows the pie for everyone.
• Reduces red tape. Appraising and disputing personal property accounts wastes time and money. This exemption cuts compliance costs and lets owners focus on building their businesses, not battling bureaucracy.
• Step toward real reform. This is a significant move toward rolling back BPP, which has long been criticized as anti-growth, anti-investment, and anti-entrepreneurship. The ultimate goal must be the complete abolition of BPP so Texas stops penalizing the very people creating jobs and opportunity.
• Liberty principle. The government should not punish Texans for building, investing, and creating. This amendment moves Texas toward a freer, fairer system where enterprise is rewarded, not taxed into submission.

Temporary Exemption for Fire Destroyed Homesteads

Summary: Permits a temporary exemption for the appraised value of a residence homestead improvement destroyed by fire.

Recommendation: Neutral

Rationale:

• Tax logic is already broken. In Texas, all taxable property is appraised based on its supposed market value as of January 1st each year. If a home is destroyed later in the year, its post-January 1 status is ignored under the current system. The exemption should not be necessary, appraisal districts should already adjust values to reflect the change in condition.
• Existing law provides limited relief. Texas law already allows temporary exemptions in disaster areas (Tax Code §§ 11.35, 11.135) when property is damaged and the home is uninhabitable during rebuilding. Prop 10 is a narrow constitutional patch, fire only, overlapping what should be handled administratively and more flexibly.
• Band-aid, not reform. This amendment masks the greater injustice: Texas’ reliance on taxing unrealized gains through appraisal district valuations detached from actual market transactions. Until we overhaul that system, homeowners will continue facing unfair, often arbitrary tax bills.
• Carve-out risk. Singling out fire (while ignoring hail, flood, wind, tornado, etc.) invites future pressure for additional narrow exemptions. That’s exactly how the tax code becomes a hodgepodge of special favors.
• Legislature avoiding moral hazard. Prop 10 lets lawmakers appear to help victims without fixing the broken property-tax machinery. Voters should demand structural reform rather than constitutional patchwork.
• Liberty principle. People should not be taxed on property that no longer exists, nor on phantom “value” they haven’t realized. This measure spotlights deep flaws in Texas’ tax system, but the true liberty path is ending taxation on unrealized gains, not stacking more constitutional carve-outs over a broken backbone.

Raise 65+/Disabled School Homestead Exemption to $60,000

Summary: Increases the additional school district homestead exemption for seniors (65+) and disabled from $10,000 to $60,000.

Recommendation: Oppose

Rationale:

• Special treatment at others’ expense. Texas politicians love carving out exemptions for favored groups because it’s politically popular. Every exemption shifts the tax burden directly onto younger families, working homeowners, renters, and small businesses who don’t qualify. That isn’t compassion, it’s cost-shifting.
• Fragments the tax base. Each carve-out shrinks the pool of taxpayers, forcing higher rates on those left and increasing reliance on state backfills. This is not real relief, it’s a shell game where the government takes with one hand and pretends to give with the other.
• Ratchet effect. Once exemptions are created, they almost always expand. The result is a narrower base and heavier burdens on fewer people, while overall spending never goes down.
• Avoiding true reform. Politicians hand out carve-outs because they lack the courage to tackle the real problem: Texas’ broken property-tax system. True relief means across-the-board reform, rate compression, appraisal reform, or elimination of the school M&O property tax entirely. That would lower the burden for everyone, including seniors, instead of dividing Texans into winners and losers.
• Liberty principle. Liberty means equal treatment under the law. The government should not play favorites with exemptions that pit one generation against another. The just path is broad-based reform that lightens the load for all Texans, not endless carve-outs that entrench big government and punish the young.

Reform State Commission on Judicial Conduct (SCJC)

Summary: Expands citizen membership, limits private reprimands, and creates a tribunal of appellate judges to review sanctions.

Recommendation: Support

Rationale:

• Accountability for judges. Judges make decisions affecting life, liberty, and property. Expanding citizen membership prevents insiders from policing themselves and ensures public voice in oversight.
• Transparency for voters. Since Texas elects its judges, discipline must be visible. Public reprimands give voters the information they need to hold judges accountable at the ballot box. Private reprimands hide misconduct and deny voters the chance to make informed choices.
• Real checks and balances. A tribunal of appellate judges reviewing sanctions ensures discipline is consistent and lawful while still protecting due process.
• Liberty principle. Judges are not above the law. By shining sunlight on judicial discipline and giving citizens a seat at the table, this amendment strengthens the rule of law and keeps the judiciary a servant of the people, not an untouchable elite.

Raise General School Homestead Exemption: $100,000 → $140,000

Summary: Increases the standard school district homestead exemption by $40,000.

Recommendation: Support

Rationale:

• Meaningful, broad homeowner relief. Raising the general homestead exemption delivers real and immediate relief to millions of Texans. It directly shrinks the government’s claim on family budgets and helps working families keep more of what they earn. Unlike carve-outs for special groups, this measure is across-the-board relief for every homeowner.
• A step in the right direction. While not comprehensive reform, this is a concrete reduction in property tax burdens in a state where appraisal inflation often forces families to choose between rising taxes and family necessities. It doesn’t solve the problem, but it’s a clear win for taxpayers today.
• Not a panacea. Renters and small businesses won’t see relief from this measure, and the structural problem of taxation on unrealized appraisal gains remains. Without deeper reforms, valuations will keep driving bills higher regardless of exemptions.
• Next steps required. This measure should be paired with appraisal reform and rate compression to stop the “yo-yo” effect of tax bills swinging wildly with market estimates. Long-term, the liberty-minded solution is to move away from ad valorem taxation entirely and toward funding models that don’t punish property ownership.
• Liberty principle. Even imperfect, broad relief is preferable to endless carve-outs. This amendment recognizes the urgent need to ease the property-tax burden on families while highlighting the need for deeper reform.

Create a Dementia Prevention & Research Institute with $3B Transfer

Summary: Establishes a new state institute with a $3B initial transfer and ongoing appropriations for operations and grants.

Recommendation: Oppose

Rationale:

• Massive, permanent expansion. This proposal would create an enormous new bureaucracy with billions in guaranteed funding locked in by the Constitution. It is effectively a state-level NIH, guaranteed to grow over time regardless of performance. Texans will be stuck footing the bill for yet another sprawling agency.
• High risk of politicization. When the government hands out research money, grants are inevitably steered by politics and lobbying, not scientific merit or fiscal prudence. This guarantees waste, favoritism, and mission creep.
• Not a core state function. The proper role of the state is to secure liberty and protect rights, not to fund open-ended medical research projects. Dementia research is important, but it belongs with private philanthropy, universities, and the medical industry, not as a permanent taxpayer obligation.
• Bypassing accountability. Putting billions into a constitutionally protected fund shields it from normal legislative oversight and budgetary debate. Just like Prop 1 (TSTC funds) and Prop 4 (Water Fund earmark), this amendment shows lawmakers dodging the hard work of legislating by trying to constitutionally lock in spending.
• Liberty principle. This amendment entrenches government where it doesn’t belong, grows bureaucracy, and expands long-term obligations at the expense of taxpayers. Texans should reject it firmly and demand lawmakers stick to core government functions and fiscal discipline.

Parental Rights Amendment

Summary: Codifies that parents are the primary decision-makers for their children’s upbringing; limits government interference to compelling interests using the least restrictive means.

Recommendation: Support

Rationale:

• First principles. The family is the original institution of society and precedes the state. Parents, not bureaucrats or judges, are the rightful stewards of their children’s upbringing, education, health, and moral formation.
• A necessary safeguard. Too often, agencies and school districts behave as if the government is the default parent. This amendment makes clear that parental rights are fundamental and can only be overridden in the rarest cases, and even then, by the least restrictive means possible.
• Durable protection. Statutes can be rewritten or ignored by activist courts. Constitutional language provides a lasting, bright-line defense against creeping state control over families.
• Prevents abuse of power. Without this safeguard, the government can,  and has, tried to dictate medical decisions, educational content, and religious practice. This amendment locks in protections to stop unelected bureaucrats from usurping the role of parents.
• Liberty principle. A free society rests on strong families, not on the government as caretaker. This amendment affirms that children are entrusted to their parents, not to the state, and that liberty begins at home.

Citizen-Only Voting

Summary: Makes explicit in the Texas Constitution that only U.S. citizens may vote in Texas elections.

Recommendation: Support

Rationale:

• Election integrity. The right to vote is the foundation of self-government. This amendment guarantees that only U.S. citizens may vote in Texas elections, securing a bright-line rule against non-citizen participation.
• A good step, but not the final word. While we would prefer language that specifies Texas citizens as the rightful electors in Texas elections, this amendment is nonetheless an important safeguard. It stops the trend of activist jurisdictions trying to extend voting rights to non-citizens.
• Prevents local mischief. Across the country, activist cities have attempted to allow non-citizens to vote in school board and local elections. This amendment ensures no city or county in Texas can undermine citizenship in the same way.
• Simple and clear. It adds no bureaucracy or cost, it simply cements in the Constitution what should be obvious: Texans govern Texas.
• Liberty principle. The ballot belongs only to the citizens who shoulder the duties and responsibilities of self-government. This amendment affirms that voting is a sovereign right of Texans and must never be extended to outsiders.

Property Tax Exemption for Border Security Improvements in Border Counties

Summary: Allows the Legislature to exempt from ad valorem taxation the portion of a property’s value in a border county attributable to border-security infrastructure or related improvements.

Recommendation: Support

Rationale:

• Stops tax penalties for security. Without this exemption, if property owners add fencing, cameras, or other improvements for security, their property valuation, and therefore their tax bill, goes up. Prop 17 authorizes lawmakers to prevent appraisal districts from punishing those who take steps to defend their land.
• Shields landowners from government-caused hikes. If the federal or state government builds a wall, surveillance, or other security infrastructure along private property, counties could claim it raises the land’s value and tax accordingly. That would mean punishing Texans with higher taxes for something government did. Prop 17 prevents that abuse.
• Encourages local initiative. This creates space for Texans on the border to invest in security without fear of tax penalties, aligning individual action with a broader state priority.
• Still narrow and conditional. Because it only authorizes exemptions, the Legislature must still pass implementing law and vigilance will be required to keep definitions tight and prevent abuse.
• Liberty principle. Texans should not face higher taxes because they defend their own property, or because the government decides to build security structures near them. Liberty means protection of property rights, not punishment for security.

1. The Constitution exists to protect liberty, not to manage budgets. Embedding spending promises, earmarks, or tax carve-outs in the Constitution is legislative cowardice. It locks in permanent obligations, weakens fiscal discipline, and strips voters of accountability through normal debate and appropriations.
2. Equal treatment and broad relief beat carve-outs and favors. Every carve-out shrinks the tax base, shifts burdens onto families and small businesses, and entrenches special-interest politics. True reform means across-the-board relief, rate compression, appraisal reform, or eliminating school M&O taxes, so all Texans share in lower taxes, not just politically favored groups.
3. Property rights are the foundation of liberty. Taxing unrealized appraisal gains is legalized theft, punishing families for paper value they never realized. Taxes on savings, investment, or productive tools are an attack on entrepreneurship. Texans should never face government claims on property that no longer exists, nor on phantom value conjured by appraisal districts.
4. Limit state power, maximize accountability. The default in criminal justice must be liberty until guilt is proven, not bureaucratic detention. Judges must be subject to sunlight and voter scrutiny, not shielded by secrecy. Parents, not bureaucrats, are the rightful stewards of their children. Sovereignty in Texas belongs to its citizens, expressed through secure borders and citizen-only elections.
5. Liberty means government serves, not rules. Texans thrive when families, entrepreneurs, churches, and communities lead, and the government gets out of the way. Every amendment must be measured against this standard: does it expand liberty, or expand government?

• Official ballot language & summaries. Texas Secretary of State (SOS) – Constitutional Amendments, November 2025. Provides the certified text and ballot wording that voters will see.
• Analytical context & fiscal figures. Texas Legislative Council (TLC) – Analyses of Proposed Constitutional Amendments (2025). Includes fiscal estimates such as the $1B/year diversion to the Texas Water Fund, the $125,000 BPP exemption, structural notes on the SCJC reforms, and the $3B transfer to the Dementia Institute.
• Texas property-tax mechanics. Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts – resources on appraisal district valuation and ad valorem basics. Key points:
• Property is appraised on market value as of January 1 each year.
• Exemptions (homestead, senior, disabled, disaster-related, etc.) are carved into statute, often later constitutionalized.
• Business Personal Property (BPP) is taxed annually unless exempted, even though it produces no realized gain.
• Disaster reappraisal statutes (Tax Code §§ 11.35, 11.135) already authorize temporary exemptions when property is damaged or destroyed.
• Comparative liberty framing. These recommendations apply liberty-conservative principles consistently:
• Limited government & fiscal restraint. The Constitution should secure rights and restrain state power, not entrench permanent budget lines, earmarks, or carve-outs.
• Equal treatment under law. Relief should be broad and neutral; carve-outs for politically favored groups splinter the base and shift burdens unfairly.
• Robust property rights. Oppose taxation on unrealized appraisal gains, double taxation on inventory, or penalties on savings and productive tools. Support reforms that reduce government’s claim on private property.
• Deference to family and local control. Parents, not bureaucrats, are the rightful stewards of children. Local Texans, not non-citizens or distant agencies, must decide Texas’ future.
• Structural reform over band-aids. Where a measure provides real but partial relief (e.g., Prop 13’s homestead exemption increase), we support it but stress that deeper reform is needed. Where a measure addresses only a symptom (e.g., Prop 10’s fire exemption), we mark Neutral and identify the underlying structural fix.
• General methodology. Every amendment was evaluated against one question: does it expand liberty or government power? Where government intrusion grows, through bureaucracy, earmarks, or carve-outs, we oppose. Where liberty is secured, through parental rights, citizen-only voting, property tax restraint, we support.