Houston, TX – Senator Paul Bettencourt (R-Houston) today officially announced his intention to seek another term representing District 7 in the Texas Senate. Senator Bettencourt has been a leader in the Texas Senate to enact conservative solutions to Texas’ challenges.
“I am proud of what we were able to accomplish during my time in the Texas Senate,” said Senator Bettencourt. “The work is not done yet from the last legislative session. With a change in House leadership in the next session, I believe that we now have a better chance of passing meaningful property tax reform legislation during the 86th Session.”
A long-time taxpayer advocate, Senator Bettencourt passed the Property Tax Reform & Relief Act of 2017 in the Senate during the 85th regular and special session. Unfortunately, the legislation as passed by the Senate died in the Texas House. In his first session, Senator Bettencourt passed an amendment to SB 1760, which for the first time required a super-majority within a taxing entity to raise taxes. This legislation has already been credited with preventing a $100,000,000 tax increase. Additionally, Senator Bettencourt has been a leader in the fight to maintain the voter approved revenue cap at the City of Houston. This cap has already saved Houston taxpayers $120,000,000 in 2017.
Senator Bettencourt was also instrumental in the passage of Senate Bill 7, to stamp out inappropriate student-educator relationships, as well as being the Senate sponsor of House Bill 810 which would allow adult stem therapies to be used in Texas for the first time. This builds upon his previous success with the passage of legislation to allow the expansion of dual credit programs in Harris County, as well as “Right to Try” legislation to allow terminally ill patients and their doctors access to experimental FDA treatments.
“Under the leadership of Lt. Governor Patrick we have a chance in the Legislature to address major public policy issues in the upcoming session, such as property tax reform, rewriting the school finance formulas, and much more,” continued Senator Bettencourt. “I look forward to working with my colleagues in the Texas Senate, and the new leadership in the Texas House, to continue our fight for conservative solutions to Texas’ challenges.”
Senator Bettencourt currently serves on the Senate Finance Committee, the Education Committee, the Higher Education Committee, and is the Vice-Chair of the Intergovernmental Affairs Committee. He was also today named Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Property Tax Reform, which will investigate many property tax issues and make recommendations before the 2019 legislative session. He was also named as Chair of the Senate Select Committee on Government Reform and currently serves as the Chairman of Texas Senate Republican Caucus.
