The standoff between the Texas House and Senate that began over property tax legislation now appears to include border security after a committee declined to advance a bill on human smuggling.
Migrants trudge along the border fence to a waiting bus after turning themselves in to the Border Patrol at the U.S.-Mexico border near El Paso, Texas.
The Texas House last week immediately passed out House Bill 2, by state Rep. Ryan Guillen, R-Rio Grande City, that would increase penalties for human smugglers and operators of stash houses to 10 years in prison. But the Senate committee left that legislation pending and instead passed out its own version, Senate bill 5, and two other proposals that were not on the governor’s call.
The Senate will reconvene Tuesday evening and possibly pass out the Senate bills that advanced out of committee. But with the House out, that’s as far as they’ll travel. Birdwell said the committee could reconvene later Tuesday or Wednesday morning to introduce a substitute to the House bill. But the House would need to be in session to advance that legislation also.
The impasse adds another layer of drama between the two chambers that escalated last week after the House passed its version of a property-tax reduction bill. The legislation — House Bill 1 — would lower property taxes for residential and commercial property owners. The Senate plan would also provide relief for both, but would provide more for homeowners when compared to the House plan because of an increase in the value of a homestead exemption.
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