Episode 3: The Disaster Penny

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In September 2025, the Houston Independent School District board adopted a Maintenance & Operations property tax rate of $0.7116 per $100 — up from the prior year's $0.7016. Normally a Texas school district can't raise its M&O rate that much without holding a voter-approval election under Tax Code §26.08. HISD didn't hold one. They didn't have to. Section 26.042(d) of the Tax Code lets a school district skip the §26.08 election in the year following a Governor-requested federal disaster declaration. Hurricane Beryl made landfall in July 2024. The disaster declaration cleared the path. The increase added roughly $40 to the tax bill on a $400,000 assessed home (less with the homestead exemption). Then the 89th Texas Legislature passed House Bill 30, which repealed §26.042(d) effective January 1, 2026. HISD's move was among the last under the old rule. The story is simple once you know the three statutes involved. This episode walks you through them so the next time a school district adopts a rate, you can read the agenda and know what just happened.

What you'll be able to do after this episode

By the end, listeners should:

• Understand the §26.08 → §26.042 → HB 30 sequence as a single story, not three disconnected statutes.
• Know that the “disaster pennies” mechanism still exists for non-school taxing units (the §26.042(b)/(c) 8% multiplier path) and what that means for cities and counties going forward.
• Have a sharper sense of how procedural carve-outs in tax law actually get used, and how (occasionally) they get closed.

This episode is part of a literacy arc. The mission: anyone who votes on property taxes — directly or through their representation — should be able to explain how those taxes work. This is the walk-through.