STATE VOTING
MARÍA MÉNDEZ & JOSHUA FECHTER TEXAS TRIBUNE
The Daily Record is running a Texas Tribune series outlining each of the 17 state-wide constitutional amendments on the Nov. 4 ballot. The series will include two of these overviews in every issue until early voting begins on Oct. 20.
Proposition 11 (SJR 85): School tax exemption for the elderly or disabled homeowners The ballot language: “The constitutional amendment authorizing the legislature to increase the amount of the exemption from ad valorem taxation by a school district of the market value of the residence homestead of a person who is elderly or disabled.”
What it means: This constitutional amendment would allow the state to raise a homestead exemption, a discount on school property taxes that lowers how much of a home’s value can be taxed to pay for public schools. The increased exemption would shave off $60,000 from the taxable value of elderly or disabled Texans’ homes, rather than just $10,000 under the current exemption.
Coupled with another homestead exemption generally available to Texas homeowners, which lawmakers are also asking voters to increase to $140,000 through another ballot proposition, elderly or disabled Texans could get homestead exemptions of up to $200,000 if the other proposition is also approved by voters.
If the increased exemption for elderly or disabled homeowners is approved by voters, the state would have to help pay for revenue school districts lose. That could cost the state more than $1.2 billion in general revenue for the next two fiscal years and upwards of $477 million annually after that, according to a fiscal note from the state’s Legislative Budget Board. Recapture payments, or the tax revenue that school districts with higher property values send back to the state to help fund poorer school districts, would also go down.
Though these tax cuts for elderly and disabled Texans haven’t faced much public pushback, some have raised concerns that such broad exemptions could be unsustainable for the state to pay for in the future. — María Méndez, Joshua Fechter Proposition 12 (SJR 27): Changing the State Judicial Conduct Commission
The ballot language: “The constitutional amendment regarding the membership of the State Commission on Judicial Conduct, the membership of the tribunal to review the commission’s recommendations, and the authority of the commission, the tribunal, and the Texas Supreme Court to more effectively sanction judges and justices for judicial misconduct.”
What it means: This amendment would change the make-up of Texas’ State Commission on Judicial Conduct and related processes and powers.
Currently, the State Commission on Judicial Conduct is made up of the following: - six judges from six different court levels, - two attorneys appointed by the State Bar of Texas who aren’t judges, and - five citizens appointed by the governor who are at least 30 years of age and aren’t attorneys or judges. If approved, the constitutional amendment would beef up the citizen representation on the commission by changing the makeup to: six judges or justices of courts appointed by the Texas Supreme Court of, two of whom would have to be trial court judges (judicial members of the commission would not be allowed to be judges in the same type of court), and - seven citizens appointed by the governor, who are at least 35 years of age.
Commission members would still have to be confirmed by the Texas Senate.
Other significant changes to the judicial conduct review process would tweak how the chief justice of the Texas Supreme Court selects review tribunals. These tribunals, made up of seven Court of Appeals justices, review the commission’s recommendation for the removal or retirement of a judge. The amendment would also adjust when and how the commission and review tribunal would have to discipline judges, including in some cases by prohibiting a person from holding judicial office in the future.
The terms of the current commissioners would expire by July 2026. A temporary provision in the constitutional amendment would authorize the Texas Supreme Court and the governor to begin appointing additional commissioners with staggered terms, of either six, four or two years, beginning in 2026.
Proponents of the proposed changes said they would promote transparency and accountability in the judicial system and allow judicial misconduct to be addressed fairly and swiftly. Some critics said that increasing the number of members of the public on the commission could politicize the judicial discipline process, according to the House Research Organization. — María Méndez This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune. org/2025/09/22/texa s-statewide-propositionsnovember- ballot-election/.
The Texas Tribune is a member-supported, nonpartisan newsroom informing and engaging Texans on state politics and policy. Learn more at texastribune.org.
