{"id":20378,"date":"2025-10-25T05:12:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-25T05:12:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/20378\/"},"modified":"2025-10-25T05:12:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-25T05:12:11","slug":"paxton-launches-investigation-into-groups-supports-austins-prop-q-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/20378\/","title":{"rendered":"Paxton launches investigation into groups supports Austin’s Prop Q"},"content":{"rendered":"

AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced an investigation into the organizations backing Proposition Q, a measure that would raise property taxes<\/a> within Austin city limits if approved by voters.<\/p>\n

In a press release sent to media outlets on Friday, Paxton said his office is examining the activities of the Love Austin Political Action Committee and Foundation Communities, a nonprofit organization that he said contributed $25,000<\/a> to the PAC. Paxton described the donation as \u201ca sham, and it could be illegal.\u201d<\/p>\n

ALSO | Many Austin voters are saying “No” to Proposition Q on day 1 of early voting<\/a><\/p>\n

However, Austin City Councilmember Chito Vela, who represents District 4, disputed that characterization.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe attorney general is either misunderstanding the law or deliberately trying to intimidate voters and nonprofit organizations in this election,\u201d Vela said. \u201cIt is old and settled law that nonprofit organizations can get involved and advocate for bond elections, for issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vela has personally contributed $1,000 to the Love Austin PAC in support of Proposition Q. Mayor Kirk Watson and Mayor Pro Tem Vanessa Fuentes have also made donations to the campaign.<\/p>\n

If approved, Proposition Q could increase the average homeowner\u2019s property taxes by an estimated 20%. State law limits most municipal tax increases to 3.5% without voter approval through an election.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Love Austin said the group intends to cooperate with the attorney general\u2019s inquiry, stating, \u201cWe\u2019ll respond to the attorney general\u2019s inquiry in a timely manner.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vela suggested the investigation\u2019s timing\u2014coming midway through early voting\u2014may have little impact on voters\u2019 decisions. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt is very eleventh hour, honestly,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re halfway through early voting at this point, and I don\u2019t think this is going to change many opinions or many votes. If anything, Ken Paxton trying to put his thumb on the scale will probably rally Austin voters to vote for Prop Q because Austin voters are generally not big fans of the Texas attorney general.\u201d<\/p>\n

Early voting continues through October 31. Election Day is Tuesday, November 4.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced an investigation into the organizations backing Proposition Q, a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":20379,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133,2065,100,1967,10942,2230,2063,6514],"class_list":{"0":"post-20378","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-austin","8":"tag-austin","9":"tag-austin-headlines","10":"tag-austin-news","11":"tag-early-voting","12":"tag-investigation","13":"tag-ken-paxton","14":"tag-love-austin-pac","15":"tag-nonprofit-organizations","16":"tag-property-taxes","17":"tag-proposition-q"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20378","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20378"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20378\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20379"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}