The disaster penny

The timeline shows HISD's Maintenance & Operations (M&O) property tax rate from 2015 through 2026. Two data points are verified from HISD's adopted rate filings: 2024 at $0.7016 per $100 of appraised value, and 2025 at $0.7116. ¹ The 2026 annotation reflects HB 30 (89th Texas Legislature), which repealed the §26.042(d) disaster carve-out effective January 1, 2026 — removing the mechanism HISD used for the 2025 increase.

Three events anchor the timeline and should be read as a connected sequence, not three separate facts:

1. July 2024: Hurricane Beryl makes landfall. Governor Abbott requests a federal disaster declaration for affected counties, including Harris County. That request — and the resulting federal declaration — is the triggering event for §26.042(d).
2. September 2025: HISD adopts a $0.7116 M&O rate. Normally, a Texas school district can't raise its M&O rate above the voter-approval threshold defined in Tax Code §26.08 without holding an election. HISD didn't hold one. Section 26.042(d) exempts school districts from the §26.08 election requirement in the tax year following a Governor-requested federal disaster declaration. Beryl cleared the path; the 2025 rate increase (applying to Tax Year 2025 bills mailed in October) was the result. ²
3. January 1, 2026: HB 30 takes effect. The 89th Texas Legislature repealed §26.042(d) — the school-district disaster carve-out — effective January 1, 2026. ³ Future school districts can no longer use a disaster declaration as a bypass for the §26.08 voter-approval election. The non-school disaster carve-out (§26.042(b) and (c), which applies to cities and counties) was not repealed and remains in effect.

The dollar impact of the penny: $0.01 per $100 of taxable value. On a $400,000 assessed home without the school homestead exemption, that's $40 per year. With the $100,000 school homestead exemption that applies to a primary residence, it's $30.

For HISD residents: the $0.7116 M&O rate is the number that matters for your current bill. The total HISD rate for Tax Year 2025 is $0.8783 ($0.7116 M&O + $0.1667 I&S). On a $400,000 home with a $100,000 school homestead exemption, the total HISD portion is approximately $2,635 per year. That doesn't include Harris County, the City, or any other taxing unit — it's HISD's slice only.

The §26.042(d) path is now closed for school districts. If HISD or any other Texas ISD wants to raise its M&O rate above the voter-approval threshold in a future year, it will need to hold a §26.08 election — even after a disaster. That's the change HB 30 made.

The change does not extend to cities and counties. Texas Tax Code §26.042(b) and (c) — the non-school disaster multiplier path — remain in effect. In the wake of a future named storm, a city or county could still invoke the disaster carve-out to exceed its normal voter-approval rate without an election, subject to the mechanism's specific limits. Understanding which §26 carve-outs remain open after HB 30 is the practical takeaway for residents who want to track this going forward.

To read your HISD bill: the M&O and I&S rates are typically listed separately on your Harris County tax statement. The HISD adopted rate is also published annually in the district's Truth-in-Taxation notice (required under Tax Code §26.05), available at houstonisd.org and in the Texas Comptroller's property tax database.

The verified figures: HISD's 2024 M&O rate of $0.7016 and 2025 rate of $0.7116 are drawn from HISD's adopted rate filings and verified independently. These two data points anchor the timeline.

The statutory chain: Tax Code §26.08 establishes the school-district voter-approval rate mechanism. Section 26.042(d) — the disaster carve-out — originated in the wake of Hurricane Ike (2008) and was broadened after Hurricane Harvey (2017). Its full text is at statutes.capitol.texas.gov. HB 30 (89th Texas Legislature, 2025 regular session) repealed §26.042(d) effective January 1, 2026.

What we still need to verify before broadcast: HB 30's specific bill text, vote record, author, and hearing testimony are at capitol.texas.gov — the research brief flags this as a gap-fill item before recording (docs/tax-literacy/ 13_ep3_disaster_penny.md, item #2).