Gabriel C. Pérez | KUT News
If you’re voting in the Republican or Democratic primary election in Harris County this year, you’re facing a ballot that is more than five pages long. Tacked on at the end, after all the choices for elective offices, is a list of ballot propositions on which you’ll be asked to weigh in.
While these propositions do not have any legal significance, if passed, they do have the potential to shape the state’s legislative future.
Sign up for the Hello, Houston! daily newsletter to get local reports like this delivered directly to your inbox.
Unlike propositions on a Texas general election ballot, which are used as referenda on proposed amendments to the state constitution, primary ballot propositions are submitted by the respective parties. The parties then use the responses to the propositions to gauge support for the various measures when they formulate platforms to be adopted at their biennial conventions later this year.
“Think of these referendums as somewhat of a public opinion poll,” said Nancy Sims, a political science lecturer at the University of Houston. “It tells the parties where their own voters stand.”
Votes on all the propositions are binary: for or against. While both parties regularly put such propositions on their primary ballots, the Republican propositions arguably carry more weight in Texas’ political environment, Sims said.
“The Republican ballots are a little more important because they control the state Legislature and all state offices currently,” Sims said. “So, when their party votes in some of these referendums on their ballot, they wind up in the party platform, but they also may lead to legislation.”
This year, the Republican primary ballot contains 10 propositions, while the Democratic primary ballot contains 13.
“They’re less effective for the for the Democratic Party, because they have little control at the state level where they can convert this public opinion [into law],” Sims said.
The Republican ballot propositions
Sims noted that further reducing property taxes has become Gov. Greg Abbott’s signature issue as he seeks a fourth term.
Republican Proposition 1 says that Texas property taxes should be assessed at the purchase price of the property and phased out entirely over the next six years through spending reductions.
Republican Proposition 2 would require any local government budget that raises property taxes to be approved by voters at a November general election.
“If all of these pass, then they will … indicate to the Legislature [that] what you’ve done so far isn’t enough. ‘We need more,’” Sims said.
Sims also pointed to several ballot propositions on social issues Republicans had addressed with past legislation, but on which the party wants to go further.
Republican Proposition 3 would bar the denial of healthcare or medical services based solely on a patient’s vaccination status.
Republican Proposition 4 says Texas should require public schools to teach that life begins at fertilization.
Republican Proposition 5 says the state should ban gender, sexuality, and reproductive clinics and services in primary and secondary schools.
Republican Proposition 6 calls for term limits on all Texas elected officials.
Republican Proposition 7 calls for the state to ban the large-scale export or sale of Texas’ groundwater and surface water to any single public or private entity.
Republican Proposition 8 calls for the Legislature to end public services for undocumented immigrants, on the grounds they present a burden on Texas taxpayers.
Republican Proposition 9 calls for the Republican-controlled state Legislature to bar Democrats from all leadership positions, including committee or subcommittee chairmanships and vice chairmanships.
Republican Proposition 10 says the state should prohibit Sharia Law, the Islamic legal code.
“Sharia Law,” Sims said, “is very big in Republican commercials this spring. So, you can see that these propositions that got on the ballot are also appearing in Republican campaign themes.”
The Democratic ballot propositions
Democratic Proposition 1 calls for the state to expand Medicaid and ensure access to affordable health care for all.
Democratic Proposition 2 says Texans should support humane and dignified immigration policies and pathways to citizenship.
Democratic Proposition 3 says Texans should have the right to make their own healthcare decisions, including reproductive decisions.
Democratic Proposition 4 would address the state’s housing crisis in affordability and access in both urban and rural communities.
Democratic Proposition 5 calls on the state to fund all public schools at the same per-pupil rate as the national average.
Democratic Proposition 6 seeks to make secure online voter registration accessible for all Texas residents.
Democratic Proposition 7 seeks to preserve the state’s natural, cultural, scenic and recreational resources by protecting air quality, water quality, and biodiversity.
Democratic Proposition 8 calls for the state to legalize cannabis for adults and erase criminal records for past low-level cannabis offenses.
Democratic Proposition 9 aims to raise salaries for current/retired school and state employees to at least the national average and to provide a cost-of-living increase based on the Consumer Price Index every two years.
Democratic Proposition 10 seeks to ban racially motivated redistricting and mid-decade congressional redistricting and to create a nonpartisan redistricting board to redraw lines every 10 years. This measure is a direct response to last year’s mid-decade congressional redistricting.
Democratic Proposition 11 calls for greater federal tax relief for working-class individuals and to shift their tax burden onto the wealthy.
Democratic Proposition 12 aims to expand accessible public transportation opportunities in rural and urban communities.
Democratic Proposition 13 supports the implementation of “red flag” laws to prevent individuals with a history of domestic abuse from purchasing firearms.