REALTOR® Day at the Texas Capitol 

89th Legislative Session 
March 26, 2025 

REALTOR® Priorities: Senate Talking Points and Key Contact Meeting Notes

Sen. Bettencourt is the Chair of the Senate Local Government Committee, which (among other things) oversees property taxes and county and municipal regulations
 
“LCT NOTES” UNDERLINED IN BLUE ARE FOR REFERENCE ONLY; DO NOT READ ALOUD 

Text in RED is customized for this lawmaker

  • LCT NOTE: This looks like a lot of content, but the meeting will go fast! 
  • LCT NOTE This script has a logical flow, but you don’t need to read it word-for-word – focus on the highlights! And some issues may be more or less relevant to your district – it’s okay to focus on the issues that make the most sense for your area, especially if time is limited. 
  • LCT NOTE: Key Contacts (or someone on the team) should have the tri-fold leave-behind that was handed out at the bus drop-off – if not, let staff know in your post-meeting report and we’ll run one by the legislator’s office. 

Starting the Meeting 

  •  LCT NOTE: Be sure to introduce yourself, explain who you are and the group, and what REALTOR® Day at the Texas Capitol encompasses. 

Thank you for meeting with us today to talk real estate and Texas REALTORS® legislative priorities! 

We’ve put together a simple pamphlet to lay out some of our priorities, including several specific bills Texas REALTORS® are supporting this year. 

  • LCT NOTE: If the Senator or staff asks questions about specific legislation that you’re not sure how to answer, DO NOT GUESS … assure them Texas REALTORS® lobby staff will follow up. Key contacts may also share Julia, Seth, or Tray’s contact information (also included in the tri-fold pamphlet). 

We are here today as representatives of the real estate profession and the millions of Texas homeowners, buyers, and sellers we serve. We want to discuss some of the key issues that impact housing and economic growth in our communities: housing affordability, water infrastructure, and property rights. 

We want to be respectful of your time, so we’ll highlight some general priorities and just a few specific bills, all of which can be found on the one-pager. 

  • LCT NOTE: Personal stories and personal examples are essential to describing why these issues matter to REALTORS®. Key Contacts can tell their own or call on other attendees to share how these issues have impacted them.  

Housing Affordability 

We don’t have too many REALTOR® Day visits in which the legislator not only knows so much about our issue but also is authoring the bills we’re talking about… and chairing the committee most of them are going through!

We have lots of notes about housing affordability that we can share, but the bottom line is, as you know, that homeownership is the foundation of financial security for Texas families.

  • LCT NOTE: Chair Bettencourt and his staff know these issues backwards and forward. Feel free to skip much of the script and focus only on the red highlights… But if possible, a story or two from the group about affordability challenges you’ve witnessed in your practice will help bolster the work they’re doing.

But we are in the beginning stages of an affordability crisis and are at risk of homeownership becoming out of reach for many families.  

The main obstacles are rising construction costs, excessive permitting delays, restrictive zoning laws, and of course, property taxes.  

Rising property taxes are a huge threat to sustainable housing. While recent measures have provided some relief, we must ensure property tax burdens are manageable. We encourage continued exploration of long-term tax reform that keeps homeownership affordable. 

You have been the Senate leader on property taxes for years, and we’re so grateful for your commitment to saving property tax dollars for all Texas homeowners. We are proud to support SB4 and SJR2 to increase the homestead exemption to $140,000.

On the subject of tax relief, we were delighted to testify in support of your SB 32 on Monday which will help independent contractors like us exempt up to $25,000 in business personal property!

Back to housing … of course, there are other factors that affect housing options and there is no silver bullet to address this looming crisis – the solution requires creative thought and a diverse collection of federal, state, and local policy changes. 

We support policies that cut red tape, streamline the permitting process, and promote diverse housing options to meet the needs of our workforce, first-time buyers, and growing families. 

Of course, many of the bills we’re supporting have been or will be heard in the Senate Local Government Committee. We want to thank you for all the hard work you’ve given this slate of bills, including:

  • SB 673 (Hughes) to allow ADUs by-right
  • SB 785 (Flores) on manufactured housing
  • SB 840 (Hughes) on multifamily development in commercial zones

And of course, your SB 15 on minimum lot sizes.

These all add up to an incredible package of bills that will make a dent in Texas’s housing affordability issues!

 

Finally, which will help independent contractors like us ourselves exempt up to $250,000 in business personal property t

Water Infrastructure 

Reliable water access is essential for Texas’ continued growth and viability. As our population expands, we must invest in water infrastructure to ensure communities have sustainable supplies for homes, businesses, and agriculture. We support policies that fund water conservation, storage, and delivery systems while ensuring local governments have the resources to maintain and expand water infrastructure responsibly.  

Our interest in this is based on this simple truth: Real estate derives its value from access to water. In fact, in simpler terms, without access to water, real estate is worthless. 

We are delighted that the Legislature is proactively addressing long-term investments in the state’s water supply and whole-heartedly support SB 7 and SJR 66 by Chair Charles Perry, which provide historic investment in the state’s water infrastructure.

Thank you for signing on as a joint author of SB 7, which will ensure we have the water supply we need to support our residents for decades to come. We hope you’ll consider supporting SJR 66 as well!

Protecting Property Rights 

Private property rights are a cornerstone of Texas’ economy – and Texas REALTORS® has a long history of being the leading advocate for private property rights. 

However, burdensome regulations, overreach, and government-imposed restrictions can threaten these rights. We advocate for policies that protect property owners and prevent unnecessary restrictions on how property can be used or developed. 

SB 711 (Hughes) continues the Legislature’s 2021 efforts to add more transparency to property owners’ associations. This bill had near-unanimous support in 2023, and was unfortunately vetoed during the property tax debate. 

This bill reinforces property owner rights by making sure the transparency measures included in the 2021 legislation apply to all property owners’ associations, including condos. It also extends resale fee caps to condo transactions, as well. This legislation passed out of its committee last week, so we respectfully request that you consider supporting this bill when it comes to the floor.

One other bill that is awaiting a hearing in the Local Government Committee is SB 844 (Hughes), which ensures property owners are not unfairly restricted in using their property due to overly burdensome petition processes.

This could be considered a housing affordability bill as well, but we like to emphasize the property rights aspect of the bill, since it will allow property owners to use their land the best way they see fit.

  • LCT NOTE: Legislators and staff may not be familiar with this issue, so if there are questions, some additional details about this bill: under current law, when the owner of a property requests a zoning change, a small number of surrounding land owner (20%) can trigger a protest vote that requires three-fourths of the city council to override (this is an extremely high bar, higher than to pass their budget). The proposed changes in this bill will bring fairness to this process by raising the number of surrounding owners it takes to fill a petition to 60%, and lowers the council vote to override to a simple a majority.  

Transparency  

We’ve talked about some pretty big issues here – Housing Affordability, Property Taxes, Water … things that a lot of people in Texas are talking about … 

But, we have a few bills that are more specific to the real estate space that we’d like to bring forward. 

SB 1968 (Schwertner) – this is our top priority, and it modernizes and clarifies agency representation agreements in real estate transactions. 

  • LCT NOTE: Most legislators and staff will not be familiar with this concept, so for your reference: this is the bill that repeals subagency and creates a written agreement between the buyer and an agent, while still allowing property to be shown without a full representation agreement.   

Thank you for your help in passing SB 1106 (Parker) out of the Local Government Committee and off the Senate floor – this is legislation that passed last year that got caught up in the veto flurry – that increases transparency for property owners by requiring public improvement district (PID) assessments to be included in county tax websites. 

  • LCT NOTE: The Senator or staff might not be familiar with PIDs. These districts are created by cities or counties and cover a particular neighborhood or region – the district is established to provide specific types of improvements or maintenance and is financed by assessments against the property owners within the area – those assessments are collected with property taxes, but are often not readily available. 

SB 2349 (Alvarado) – a non-controversial bill that brings commonsense updates to the flood disclosure we are required to provide to residential tenants by allowing it to be included in the regular lease and lease renewal documents. 

Meeting Conclusion 

We appreciate your leadership and this opportunity to share our priorities. 

 By working together, we can ensure Texas remains a place where people can achieve the dream of homeownership, businesses can thrive, and communities can grow responsibly.  

Again, you can refer to our pamphlet, which outlines numerous specific bills we are supporting related to our priority issues. 

We appreciate your attention. Do you have any questions for us? In particular, is there anything you need from the REALTORS®? 

Our legislative staff’s contact information is on this pamphlet … they’re always available to answer questions about Texas REALTORS® stance on specific legislation. 

  • LCT NOTE: Be sure to thank the legislator’s staff for all they do (legislative staff are tremendously important but are mostly behind the scenes). They keep this whole process moving! 
  • LCT NOTE: Seek permission from the lawmaker or staff to grab a photo for use on social media. 

Thank you for continuing to support the housing and real estate profession, and for taking the time to meet with us today! 

  • LCT NOTE: Grab staffs’ cards if you or TR staff would like to follow up on any issues. 
  • LCT NOTE: We recommend sending a handwritten thank-you note to the lawmaker and the staff.