Falkenberg on HB770

Lisa Falkenberg hops on the HB770 train, both in her column and her blog, with video of Rep. Wayne Christian at work. I don’t really have anything to add to that, but I will note that there’s another reason to dislike this bill, beyond Christian’s self-dealing. An amendment by Sen. Mike Jackson, added before the conference committee, basically grants an exemption to paying property taxes for chambers of commerce. What that has to do with the original intent of the bill, never mind why that would be considered good public policy, is a question I can’t answer. But if I didn’t already think this bill should be vetoed, this would give me a considerable shove in that direction. And hey, if we must have a special session, Governor Perry can add “granting homestead exemptions to Hurricane Ike victims” to the call so a non-polluted version of HB770 can be passed. Seems like a no-brainer to me.

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