< Previous www.TerryLowry.com February 201818Property Tax System Is BrokenGuest Editorial byState RepresentativeGary Elkins Property owners never reallyown their property and it’sfrustrating. Your home,ranch, or farm may be paid for, butyou can’t ignore the taxman – thelocal school taxman, city taxman, county taxman, the hos-pital district taxman, the special purpose district taxman,the Municipal Utility District (MUD) tax man…and onand on... Only in Texas do you pay taxes on the value of whatthe appraisal district values your home – not whatyou paid for it. Real Estate in Texas is the onlyinvestment in which taxes are paid on unre-alized gains. With stocks and bonds youonly pay tax on the increase whenyou realize the gain not unreal-ized gains. Can you imaginethe outcry if people had to pay income tax onunrealized gains onstocks and bondsand other invest-ments? How It AllWorksThe system allows for up to a 10%increase in appraised value per year.The rule of “72” means your propertytaxes double every 7.2 years based on a 10%increase per year. It doesn’t really matter if a goodyear is followed by a bad year. Through averaging,the taxman forever reaches deeper and deeper into yourpocket. This no-win situation must be challenged – andchanged. The current system allows the local government entitiesto win while the tax payer loses, which leads to gentrifica-tion. Because of ever-escalating property taxes, our seniorcitizens are being forced out of their homes. Allowinghomeowners to be driven out of their homes because ofrising property taxes is terrible public policy. I repeat: Thismustchange.The Proposal It’s time for a Texas Constitutional Amendmentrestricting the growth of government. GovernorAbbott is supporting a 2.5% plan. Property taxescan only rise by 2.5% per year and the localgovernment can only grow by 2.5% peryear. The only way to reduce theproperty tax burden is to reinin the growth of local gov-ernment spending. Ifwe are successful in passing thisConstitutionalAmendment in theTexas Legislature, thenvoters can approve thismeasure to limit the growth ofproperty taxes on no more than2.5% per year. The bottom line math: a family currentlypaying $1000.00 in property taxes this yearcould only see a $25.00 increase the next year. Rein It In We must rein in this out-of-control-system that benefits“spend-happy politicians” at the expense of the propertyowners. Gary Elkins19February 2018 www.TerryLowry.comIn the Flood Plain, Without an Adequate Flood Plan Guest Editorial bySam HarlessFor many Harris County arearesidents and those who livealong bayous, waterways,and retention areas, HurricaneHarvey found us ill prepared torespond to extreme rainfall eventsthat have become seemingly anannual event. Three years ago, in May of 2015, we suffered one ofthose 500 year floods that hit areas of Houston prettyhard. The tax day flood in 2016 saw such heavy rains thatareas from Cypresswood on the North to downtownHouston and as far West as Bear Creek saw higher waterthan ever before. The 30 inches we experienced during those two yearswas eclipsed by Hurricane Harvey with fifty plus inchesthat devastated the entire area like never before. Thesefloods left downtown severely flooded and strained ourfirst responders and volunteers across the region.Outdated Flood PlanWe now know that the flood plan in place is woefullyoutdated and inadequate to the task of protecting an areagrowing at the pace that Harris County does. Communityleaders and elected officials at the State and County levelshould be coming together in search of a workableapproach that protects not just the downtown area, but therapidly growing parts of Harris County. With seventy thousand people a year moving to HarrisCounty, through construction we cover a lot of groundwith concrete that would normally have absorbed water.Now it just runs off into drainage areas. Living along theGulf Coast shouldn’t necessarily mean we simply have towait until the summer rains start to find out how bad it isgoing to get.Better RetentionCoordination NeededThe level of coordination with our partners in waterretention efforts need to improve and they must increasetheir communication to limit downstream damage withreleases from reservoirs and dams, such as Addicks andBarker Reservoirs and the Lake Conroe dam. Our currentsystem was built primarily to protect the business districtfrom damage and prevent flooding to the downtown areaby retaining water in reservoirs that have now become adetriment to the Harris County areas outside the City ofHouston. Do We Just Sit By and WaitAs a candidate for State Representative in District 126,I know the families in my area were greatly traumatizedby high water and addressing flooding is high on their pri-ority list of actions the State Legislature should beaddressing. I’m proud that a leader like County Judge EdEmmett is taking the lead in sounding the call to action tofind long term solutions that will have a positive impacton Harris County area floodingAs time passes and the memory dims, the immediateimpacts for families who had their lifelong memories setout by the curb and generations of family belongingsruined by high water will slowly fade, until the next heavyrain starts to fall and we wonder if this is another 500 year flood. It’s time we start doing something besides justwaiting. Sam Harless www.TerryLowry.com February 201820Inverse Condemnation ExplainedGuest Editorial byMark Lanierwith the Lanier Law FirmHouston, TexasImagine while gently sleeping inyour bed, you awaken to thenoise of a diesel engine chug-ging louder and louder. Peekingout the window, you see yourneighbor riding atop a bulldozer smashing into your home.The collision completely destroys the first floor of yourhouse. Your neighbor may have had great reasons for whathe did, but he destroyed your house without your permis-sion. In this situation, the law entitles you to take yourneighbor to court and force them to pay for the damagesyou have suffered.This is the situation that currently affects many of yourfriends, and families. The neighbor in this scenario is thefederal government. And it wasn’t a bulldozer they bargedinto their house, it was water. There was an excuse for theactions, but the damage was real nonetheless.The Flood Waters As Hurricane Harvey dropped over 33 trillion gallons ofwater on the Houston area, the Army Corp of Engineersmade the decision to release water held back by theAddicks & Barker dams claiming to preserve the structuralintegrity of the dams and prevent catastrophic damage todowntown Houston. The decision to release the dam waters inundated neigh-borhoods along the Buffalo Bayou, trapping families, andeventually forcing them to evacuate their homes.But can’t the government sacrifice your property for the“greater good”? No! The 5th Amendment of the U.S.Constitution explicitly provides that private property shallnot be taken for public use, without just compensation.Inverse CondemnationIf the government wants to build a road through yourproperty, it must first engage in a proceeding called condemnation, and pay you for your land. When the government forgoes the formal proceeding and takes your property prior to paying you, it is called “inverse condemnation.” In an inverse condemnation case, your only choice as aproperty owner is to file a lawsuit against the governmentalentity, and to prove what is known as a “taking.” Lawsuitsare not always the solution to every problem, but some-times it is your only choice.Special Court HearingHarvey Claims Currently, the Harvey related takings claims are proceed-ing in a highly specialized court in Washington, D.C.called the United States Court of Federal Claims. ChiefJudge Susan Braden is presiding over the Harvey relatedcases and has been personally flying to Houston to hold aseries of hearings, and process the litigation as efficientlyas the court may reasonably do so. However, the Department of Justice is tasked with representing the interests of the federal government, and totheir credit are tenacious protectors of the government’smoney. No one expects an early settlement offer with theDepartment of Justice. If you live near the Addicks and Barker dams, and yourhouse was flooded during Hurricane Harvey, you mayhave an inverse condemnation case against the Army Corpof Engineers. If you are thinking aboutpursuing a case: 1.Inquire if the legal team has eminent domain experience.2.Gather documentation regarding the condition ofyour property before and after. Photos, videos, anditemized lists of damaged personal property withdescriptions and valuations will be extremely useful. 3.Be sure to contact an attorney prior to selling yourhouse, to ensure that your rights are not adverselyaffected by the sale.Remember The 5th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution explicitlyprovides that private property shall not be taken for publicuse, without just compensation. When the government forgoes the formal proceeding andtakes your property prior to paying you, it is called“inverse condemnation.”Lawsuits are not always the solution to every problem,but sometimes it is your only choice. Editor’s Note:Please do not construe any of this as legaladvice. You have the right to seek proper legal counsel.Mark LanierTales of Harvey21February 2018 www.TerryLowry.comWeekdays 2:00 to 3:00 PM on FM 100.7 The Word. Visit www.TerryLowry.comGuest Editorial byCommissioner Jack CagleIn the 1980’s, I had the uniqueprivilege of being mentored byBrother Charles, a deacon atFirst Baptist Church Genoa. Godgave him the gift of craftsmanship.If you could conceive it, he couldfabricate it. He often told stories of theSeaBees, where he served our country during WWII. Icherish those times together and still smile when I recallhis favorite story of the famous “invasion landing”. When the landing force began storming the beach, they found docks and facilities ready for their arrival. The landing party found Brother Charles’ unit of SeaBeescasually watching them make their landing between thehands of cards. Thank you, Brother Charles, for your service, your mentorship, and your stories.The Heroes of Harvey In Harris County, we have many heroes: Sheriffs,Constables, Police Officers, Fire and Rescue Teams, andmany, many others. They know how to get the job done.These heroes in our midst remind me of Brother Charlesand his SeaBees. You often see these heroes on the road-side fixing a pothole, sweeping a street, or mowing grassin a public right of way. We know their friendly nod andsmile well.Harvey tested us all. Road and bridge crews left theirflooded homes and families to rescue many and help keepus safe in ours. There were some round-the-clock shiftsand many, many twelve hour shifts. They kept on sawing,lifting, and moving downed trees and setting and resettingthe road closure barricades as the waters rose. They neverwavered and the never quit. When the waters rise, they use their trucks as barricadesto keep us safe. When trees fall into the roads, their crewsclear a pathway so fire, ambulance, and police vehicleshave access. When bridges freeze, they put out sand onour 300 miles of bridges and 2,700 miles of road.They Had Our Backs The Houston area experienced the equivalent of 14months of rain compacted into 4 days. Road and bridgecrews, along with their brethren in the county parks, took a page from history and accomplished their own“Operation Dunkirk”, converting dump trucks into rescuevehicles. Countless lives were saved due to their efforts. After the waters receded, their labor did not. Peoplewere now safe from flooding waters, but the roads andclogged bridges needed to be cleared for emergency vehi-cles. Dump trucks reverted back to their original purpose:hauling debris.Precinct 4 had 11,000 homes with an average of 29 inchesof water each. The storm debris removal became their nextHerculean task. County crews, contractors, TxDot, andneighborhood partners removed the same quantity ofdebris every two days that had to be removed in the total-ity of the 2017 Tax Day Floods. Amazingly, they complet-ed their first pass five weeks after the storm subsided.True Servants These crews – your crews – are craftsman in service.When you pass them by in the ordinary service of theirday, know they have your back and give them a friendlysmile.Jack Cagle www.TerryLowry.com February 201822Weekdays 2:00 to 3:00 PM on FM 100.7 The Word. Visit www.TerryLowry.comTake Our Survey OnlineTake the LINK Lettersurvey found on our website at www.TerryLowry.com1Should Texas implement a State Income Tax? Yes ___ No ___2To provide more revenue for Public Education, should Texas expand the sales tax to more goods and services? Yes ___ No ___3Should Texas reduce the reliance on Property Taxes for the funding of Public Education? Yes ___ No ___4Should men and boys be allowed in female changing areas, showers, and locker rooms? Yes ___ No ___5Should Texas and/or the Federal Government build a secure wall on our southern border? Yes ___ No ___6Individuals have entered our country illegally. Should those who do not break any further laws, pay taxes, and contribute to society be permitted to stay in America, but with no path to citizenship? Yes ___ No ___7Should individuals, businesses, and non-profit organizations, such as churches, be forced to participate in activities that violate their religious conscience? Yes ___ No ___8Should a photo ID be required to vote? Yes ___ No ___23February 2018 www.TerryLowry.com www.TerryLowry.com February 201824Judges Affect Everyone – Even YOU!Guest Editorial byKaty BoatmanCandidate for First Court of AppealsThe elected official most likelyto affect your life in a signif-icant way is a Judge. If yourbest friend is accused of a crime,your child is at risk of being takenaway from you, you are hurt at work, or your business is in a dispute, you want a good, fair, and impartial judgedeciding the issue. Does Experience Matter?Lawyers acquire different skill sets. It's similar withjudges. Different experiences matter for different judges.A candidate who has vast experience in civil law is not thebest candidate for a Criminal Court bench. Likewise, acriminal lawyer may not be the best Family CourtJudge. Each type of law requires distinct skillsand intellect critical to the Justice System; theyare not interchangeable.A Court of Appeals Justice, for example, willnever preside over a jury trial. The Court ofAppeals only gets involved after the Trial Courthas decided the case. After the jury’s verdict,the losing party may decide to appealthe case to a Court of Appeals. So how do you determine whichcandidate is most experienced?Look at the candidate’s experiencelisted on their website. Do theyspecialize in the area of law forthe bench they seek? Have theyclerked for judges in similarcourts?What doJustices Do? After a case has been ruled onin a different court, attorneys willwrite a brief for the Court ofAppeals, presenting arguments on behalf of their client.Attorneys rely on prior decisions by other Appeals Courts,arguing why the precedents indicate their client is right. Justices on the Court of Appeals are responsible for reading the briefs. In some cases, Justices will allow theattorneys to argue their case in person, but most Justicesmake a decision based on the briefs and researching thelaw. In this way, Justices are different than Judges.Do Endorsements and Value Matter? Strong and reliable endorsements are crucial to everycampaign, especially to Judges and Justices. Like mostother elected officials, Justices will be listed as eitherRepublican, Democrat, or Independent (rarely any otherlesser party). Some things to consider: What groups or organizationshave endorsed this candidate? Have they been recognizedfor their work in that area, receiving awards or other acco-lades? Do retired Judges and Justices endorsehim/her? Do practicing attorneys like them? You also want to elect Judges who share yourvalues. Has the candidate participated in pro-lifeor pro-choice rallies? Has he or she beeninvolved with charities for the needy or chil-dren? Does the candidate attend churchregularly – and are they involvedwith church activities? What is hisor her stance on the SecondAmendment, the SeventhAmendment, Free Speech, andReligious Freedom?The ideal candidate – the onewe want on the bench – com-bines the relevant experiencewith the values we hold. I, KatyBoatman, humbly ask for yourvote for the First Court ofAppeals. I believe my strong fam-ily values, fused with my exten-sive experience, qualify me forthe job.Katy Boatman25February 2018 www.TerryLowry.comTheDifferencebetweenan“R”anda“D”Guest Editorial byStacey BondYou may have heard thatCriminal Justice in HarrisCounty is in chaos.Hurricane Harvey forced theshuttering of the criminal court-house and every criminal court-room was relocated, trials were suspended, and hearings have to be held in the bowels ofthe Jail. What you may not have heard is that the chaosstarted long before the rains of Harvey.The sweep of 2016 caused six incumbent RepublicanCriminal District Court Judges to be replaced byDemocrats - some of whom didn’t even know which courton the ballot they were running for.Following the 2016 election one newlyelected Democrat strolled into thewrong criminal courtroom andannounced that this would now be hiscourt. Whoops - he was in the wrongcourtroom and had been elected to adifferent court on a different floor. A Republican Judge at a polling loca-tion wearing her own campaign t-shirtwas asked by another soon to be electedDemocrat if she was her opponent? No.The incumbent Republican had toinform the Democratic candidate whichcourt the Democrat was running for andthe name of her opponent. The message that I want to convey toall voters is that these six Democratshave brought their own brand of chaos tothe courthouse. The wheels of justicehave slowed to a crawl in their courtrooms. The number oftrials in these six courtrooms has drastically declined sincethe Democrats took office in 2017. Why should citizens care about the number of trialsoccurring in their criminal courthouse? Trials bring justiceand closure for crime victims. Trials mean dangerousoffenders are taken off the street. Trials mean defendantswho remained in custody prior to trial are moved out of theHarris County Jail. Justice delayed is justice denied forall. Criminal courts that consistently try cases have lowerdockets and operate more efficiently saving all participantstime and money. Harris County trial statistics show that the six Republicanjudges in the first year of their terms in 2013 tried almosttwice as many cases as the Democrats who replaced themin the first year of their terms in 2017. This is true evenwhen adjusting for the four month courthouse shut downcaused by Harvey. What do the prosecutors and the defense attorneys whopractice in these six courts say about the judges? Theannual non-partisan judicial evaluation poll conducted by the Houston Bar Association reveals that the 2013 performance ratings of the six ousted Republicans outpaced the 2017 ratings of the six Democrats by a 2 to 1margin.In 2016 the Democrats ran six candidates who wereunqualified and either unable or unwilling to do the jobthey were elected to. Harris County deserves better. HarrisCounty needs judges who are willing to work hard and trycases if our criminal justice system is to be just, fair andefficient. Together in 2018 we must strive to ensure thatthe better Republican candidates win all of the judicialraces in Harris CountyStacey BondAbbott vs. Sarah Davis www.TerryLowry.com February 201826Guest Editorial byState RepresentativeBriscoe Cain Early this primary season,Governor Greg Abbott tookthe unusual step of endors-ing a primary challenger against an incumbent in his own party and, since then, a number of my colleagues in the House have joined him in supportingSusanna Dokupil for House District 134, including myself. Sarah Davis should notreturn to the Texas House.Primary season is often called accountability season, andfor state representatives like Davis, that means holdingthem accountable on their liberal voting records as they tryto deceive voters by campaigning as “fiscal conserva-tives.” Her supporters claim that we shouldn’t be trying to “purify” the party, but those opposing Davis aren’t tryingto purify the party. Rather, they are attempting to hold arepresentative accountable to the values she claims tostand for. In every instance, Sarah Davis stood in the way of con-servative reforms on life matters, tax reforms and ethics. Last session, Davis voted against a measure to maintainfunding levels for the Healthy Texas Women program.Davis also voted against an amendment to ban the mostbarbaric form of abortion, dismembering a baby limb fromlimb. On that same bill, Davis filed her own amendment thatwould have allowed the purchase and sales of baby bodyparts. Just to simply that, Sarah Davis voted for a womanto have a late-term abortion and allow the baby’s bodyparts to be sold by outfits like Planned Parenthood. This isheinous and outside the mainstream.Sarah Davis fiscal record is contemptible. While on the floor last session, I personally voiced con-cern over a bill authored by the Chair of the DemocratCaucus that was being fast-tracked through the standardHouse process. After further inquiry, it was revealed thatthe bill in question was to increase the state’s minimumwage, a long-standing plank of the Democratic Party agenda.Despite being aware of the issue, Davis sided withDemocrats to vote in favor of suspending the rules toadvance this measure that would make Texas taxpayers andsmall business owners, such as those that own franchises,pay more than the federal government requires. In another instance, Davis attempted to court conserva-tive support by carrying a bill that would have preventedthe government collection of union dues. This bill wouldhave stopped taxing entities such as a city, to which taxpayers pay taxes, from withholding union dues fromtheir paychecks. It was maintained that entities whichaccept taxpayer funding should not be responsible forwithholding union dues. While incumbent Sarah Davis publicly claimed to support this important reform, behind the scenes, she didnothing to advance her measure, and even voted againstState RepresentativeBriscoe CainSarah Davis27February 2018 www.TerryLowry.comanother measure that would have studied the issue. Davisis not only a -member of House leadership, but she hasone of the highest rates of bill passage. Therefore, uniondues reform died not because she couldn’t get it passed,she could. Sarah Davis could have passed any bill shewanted to see passed, but because this bill failed becauseSarah Davis never wanted it to succeed. Sara Davis Killed Ethics Reform. Most egregiously, Davis killed ethics reform as the chairof the General Investigating and Ethics Committee. The Texas House was set to pass a ban on legislators wholeave the Legislature and immediately become lobbyists,lobbying for special interests. You may have heard thisreferred to as the “revolving door.” Davis admittedlykilled that bill to spite the Texas Senate, a common theme,especially when it comes to property tax reform. Senate Bill 504 sat in Sarah Davis’ own committee fortwo months without receiving even one vote, yet in cam-paign literature right now and in the friendly mainstreammedia she claims to be an ethics reformer. Davis’ deceptive tactics and decidedly liberal approachmake her unfit to serve in the Texas House.Sarah Davis is a Picture Perfect RINO Many argue that if Davis isn’t the Republican nominee inHD 134, the seat will be lost to the Democrats. Look, thesimple fact is that the seat has already been lost to aDemocrat – Sarah Davis, a Republican that votes like aDemocrat. If Davis had the same voting record, but washonest about it and had a “D” (for Democrat) next to hername, she would be every Harris County Republican’s toptarget every election cycle. Sarah Davis is a product of the Austin swamp. Shedeceives, and arguably lies, to her constituents, is indebtedto the Austin lobby, opposes the Republican Party platform, and votes with the Democratic Caucus morethan with the conservatives in her own Republican party. It is far past time for Davis to leave the Texas House andMarch 6 presents the best opportunity House District 134has had to make that happen in electing Susanna Dokupilas the Republican nominee for State Representative inHouse District 134.Next >