Senator Bettencourt moved and the Senate approved a committee substitute for Senate Bill 9 that lowers the voter‑approval tax rate for maintenance and operations for many cities and counties from 3.5 percent to 2.5 percent, the bill’s sponsor said.

The bill’s sponsor, Senator Bettencourt, told colleagues the measure “lowers the rollback, the old rollback rate, now the voter approved rate, to 2 and a half percent.” He framed the change as aligning city and county voter‑approval rates with the 2.5 percent limit already in place for many school districts.

The measure targets taxing units with populations greater than 75,000; under the bill, jurisdictions would retain growth from new property value but would be limited to 2.5 percent in voter‑approval allowable maintenance‑and‑operations increases before seeking voter approval for additional revenue. Senator Bettencourt said the bill does not affect debt rate setting.

Senator Hinojosa questioned the timeline and potential service impacts for cities and counties, noting some local governments rely heavily on property tax revenue for police and fire funding and that many local officials had limited time in the special session to assess effects. Bettencourt responded that the bill includes state support outside the cap for items such as rural sheriff supplements and ambulance purchases and pointed to recent appropriations in the state budget he said would help offset some pressures.

Bettencourt cited prior reforms, saying Senate Bill 2 (2019) and House Bill 3 reduced school voter‑approval rates and that SB 9 applies similar limits to many city and county maintenance budgets. He also referenced House Bill 30 as a prior change addressing use of emergency declarations in rate calculations.

The Senate voted to pass the committee substitute to engrossment and later passed final passage. The House or the governor’s actions were not part of the Senate floor record.