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Several laws handed in the 2021 Texas legislative periods laws took effect Jan. 1, such as a revision to how property taxes are collected, an expansion of the judicial branch and an amendment to air pollution expectations.
Senate Bill 12, created by Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, boundaries the total of home taxes a school district can levy on the homestead of an elderly or disabled human being, in accordance to a invoice analysis by the Senate Research Center.
To be certain that districts are not burdened by a lessen in profits, the regulation would make districts qualified for supplemental condition help. The regulation addresses a perceived shortcoming of the faculty funding overhaul lawmakers handed in 2019. That law presented extra condition money to faculty districts so they, in turn, could reduced area home tax prices. But aged and disabled house owners ended up not entitled to this reduction.
Residence Invoice 3774, authored by Rep. Jeff Leach, R-Plano, includes several reforms to the judicial branch. It makes 10 district courts, five statutory county courts, one statutory probate court and 1 prison magistrate court docket. It revises the jurisdiction of certain statutory county courts, offers magistrates in sure counties jurisdiction in felony conditions, revises the duties of particular district and county attorneys and supplies general public entry to the state courtroom doc database — if the point out Supreme Courtroom agrees.
Also, the law creates a code of expert responsibility to control entities overseen by the Texas Forensic Science Fee, revises the commission’s investigatory energy and permits the fee to use state funds to teach forensic analysts.
Among other housekeeping provisions, the regulation needs that the protective get registry involve protective orders for victims of sexual assault or abuse, stalking or trafficking and mandates the elimination of particular vacated orders from the registry. It extends the deadline for prosecutors to reply an application for a writ of habeas corpus submitted following last conviction in a felony case with out the dying penalty.
Some provisions of the bill took impact on Sept. 1, 2021, when the remaining turned legislation on Jan. 1.
Senate Monthly bill 1210, penned by Sen. Nathan Johnson, D-Dallas, and Bettencourt, necessitates that setting up codes permit the use of refrigerants, a part of air conditioning models, other than hydrofluorocarbons, so lengthy as they comply with the federal Clear Air Act. This legislation is in line with a motion in the United States and around the entire world to stage out the use of hydrofluorocarbons, chemical compounds of hydrogen, carbon and fluorine that erode the ozone layer and add to worldwide warming.
A Senate Exploration Center analysis of the legislation famous that a primary business team, the Air-Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration Institute, supported the laws. Major Texas companies together with Goodman and Chemours also supported it, the investigation observed. The assessment stated the changeover absent from hydrofluorocarbons consists of ramping up the production of air conditioners that use other varieties of coolants, several of which can be made in Texas.
“Overall, the changeover is envisioned to generate 33,000 new producing jobs and sustain more than 138,000 current production employment nationwide,” the analysis famous. “A substantial proportion of these positions will be in Texas, already a key manufacturing hub for these products.”
The new 88th legislative session starts Jan. 10.
