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El Paso Commissioners oppose House Bill 9, direct staff to lobby against property-tax exemption bill
Summary
After a lengthy briefing on state legislation, the Commissioners Court voted to oppose HB 9 — a proposed exemption for business tangible personal property — and directed staff to send letters and drop committee cards opposing the bill and other items the court judged harmful to county revenue.
El Paso County Commissioners on Monday instructed staff to oppose House Bill 9, a proposed exemption for some tangible personal property used to produce income, and to notify the county’s state delegation and relevant House committee members of the court’s opposition.
Governmental Affairs Manager Elisa Tamayo briefed the court on the legislative session and said “the deadline to file bills is this Friday, March 14,” then summarized the bills county staff were tracking. Tamayo and county staff described HB 9 as a proposal that would exempt specified tangible personal property from ad valorem taxation and said its adoption—especially at the $250,000 level in early drafts—would shift tax burden and reduce county revenue; county operations staff warned the county’s central appraisal district estimated the local impact could be in the millions.
Commissioners discussed the bill and related proposals at length. Melissa Carrillo (County Operations) relayed the appraisal district estimate that HB 9 in its early form could reduce county property tax revenue by roughly $6–7 million; staff noted the County and the Texas Association of Counties (CUC) were coordinating positions while monitoring other pending property-tax measures.
After discussion the court voted to direct staff to send a letter opposing HB 9 to committee members and to the county’s legislative delegation; the court also directed staff to drop committee cards and take similar steps opposing several other bills the court judged harmful to county revenue, including a proposed tax treatment of border security infrastructure (HB 247) and to register opposition or concerns on a set of related measures. The court separately directed staff to oppose a Senate rider that would affect a hospital district procurement (motion later confirmed as court direction on a related agenda item).
The court also approved a separate motion—by consensus—to prepare a multi-stakeholder federal letter, signed jointly with municipal and health care partners, laying out the economic impact El Paso County would face if proposed federal cuts to Medicaid and nutrition programs were enacted.
Court members said they would continue working with county lobbyists, the CUC and local partners while monitoring committee actions and amendments. The actions recorded in the minutes instruct staff to prioritize defending county revenue capacity during the session.
