[Excerpt]

“Tax breaks should be decoupled from school funding and from school board decision making, period,” said Rev. Miles Brandon, a [Central Texas] Interfaith leader and pastor of St. Julian of Norwich Episcopal Church...

Brandon said the new program is better than what existed previously because it no longer includes direct payments to schools, which he described as a “perverse incentive” for districts to approve deals despite the cost to the state's overall education system. He also said the decrease in the total size of each tax abatement is an improvement over Chapter 313, as is the requirement that each deal must pass the governor's office.

But he said Austin Interfaith will continue to encourage school board members to vote in opposition to any request by a company to participate in the new program...“As we see how this law unfolds, I think we will continue to oppose" applications, Brandon said."

[Photo Credit: Arnold Wells, Austin Business Journal]

Texas' New Incentives Tool is Ready, Austin Business Journal [link]

Two Years of Texas IAF Opposition Leads to Reforms to Limit Giving School Money for Corporate Tax Breaks 

The Texas Senate and House passed a compromised version of HB5 that still fundamentally represents misguided economic development to the benefit of out of state corporations that would come here for other factors anyway.  This perpetuates a corporate welfare state which Chambers of Commerce and industry groups could never prove otherwise.

However, a 2-year campaign by Texas IAF and allies led to some major reforms in HB5 compared to the now defunct and failed Chapter 313 program.  When these tax abatement deals are proposed at local school districts, there will now be a fair fight for taxpayers and public school supporters concerned about corporate welfare.  HB 5 Reforms to Chapter 313 include:

[Excerpt]

With little more than five weeks left in the legislative session, the House is contemplating passing something worse — House Bill 5, a less transparent and potentially far more costly tax incentive program than Chapter 313, which forfeited tens of billions of dollars in school property taxes in order to lure new businesses to local school districts....

Dracula from Transylvania (played by Everett Lunning of Central Texas Interfaith) testifies that he loves HB 5 because it has risen from the grave to suck the lifeblood out of the Texas public and economy.     

[Excerpt]

In the attached audio interview, Rosalie Tristan and Joe Hinojosa, both organizers with Valley Interfaith, Joe Higgs from IAF, and Bob Fleming, an organizer with The Metropolitan Organization of Houston, say tax breaks for large corporations should not be paid for with monies that would otherwise go to public education. 

[Photos: Rosalie Tristan (left), Joe Hinojosa (holding sign in center) and Bob Fleming (right)]

Valley Interfaith: Don't Suck Money Out of Public Education to Help Large Corporations, Rio Grande Guardian [audio] 

[Excerpt]

"A massive corporate tax-break program in Texas expired in 2022, but before Dec. 31, state officials said an “extraordinary number” of companies tried to apply. Now, it could be up to the state legislature to deal with the stack of pending applications.

Over the years, critics argued certain requirements were whittled away and some companies were bringing few or low-paying jobs with little benefits. Some, including a coalition of interfaith leaders with The Metropolitan Organization, Central Texas Interfaith and Texas Industrial Areas Foundation Organizations, have called out the program as “corporate welfare” and for leaving the rest of the Texas taxpayers to essentially “make up the difference.”

“We pay our taxes. Parents, teachers, grandparents, alumni pay taxes towards our school districts and towards the state. So, we feel that that is something that every body is responsible for,” said Reverend Minerva Camarena-Skeith of St. John’s Episcopal Church."

[Photo Credit: KXAN]

A Corporate Tax Break Program Just Expired in Texas. Will Lawmakers Replace it in 2023?, KXAN [pdf]

Dallas Area interfaith (DAI) leaders Debra Levy (Temple Shalom) and Deborah Smith (Christian Chapel CME) -- and The Metropolitan Organization (TMO) leader Rev. Jacqueline Hailey (New Hope Baptist) -- delivered essential citizen input to the Texas House of Representatives Redistricting Committee to promote fair and transparent redistricting in 2021.

Representing 40 institutions and 90,000 families, Dallas leaders attested to specific ways current gerrymandering negatively impacts their communities and the democratic process.  Deborah Levy testified that while her work in DAI centers around developing leadership capacity for civic engagement, without equal representation in her district, the barrier to impact the electoral process is artificially high.  Leaders also argued that slicing up major metro areas into districts not only dilutes citizen representation, it makes negotiating common interests across multiple municipal and utility district lines more challenging. 

Representing thousands of families from TMO congregations across the Houston metroplex, Rev. Hailey emphasized the importance of honoring the principles of the Voting Rights Act, whether or not it is protected by the US Supreme Court -- and ensuring an open and transparent process. 

Fr. Miles Brandon of St Julian of Norwich Episcopal Church and Central TX Interfaith and Minister Jaqueline Hailey of New Hope Baptist Church and TMO testified on behalf of the Network of Texas IAF Organizations at the Texas House Public Education Committee hearing on school finance.

At the Texas IAF Statewide Legislative Strategy meeting, held in Austin, 200 leaders from nine Texas IAF organizations convened to build relationships, report on 2018 progress and prepare for the 2019 legislative session.  Ernesto Cortes Jr., IAF National Co-Director, delivered a 'state of the economy' training before leaders broke out into smaller groups for workshops around school finance and property taxes, workforce development, and healthcare affordability. 

Workshops were led by panels of IAF organizers and local policy experts, including: Josh Sanderson and Dr. Ray Freeman, Deputy Directors of the Equity Center; Michelle Smith, Director of Governmental Relations, and Libby Cohen of Raise Your Hand Texas; Neil Vickers, Executive VP of Finance and Administration at Austin Community College; and Anne Dunkelberg, Associate Director of the Center for Public Policy Priorities (CPPP).  

In April, leaders plan to call on state legislators to invest more state funding in public schools, long-term job training programs and into healthcare affordability, in addition addressing local reforms around immigration, criminal justice and payday lending reform.

In a move to boost voter turnout in neglected communities, Texas IAF organizations reached into suburbs surrounding Texas’ largest cities to assemble by the thousands in political, nonpartisan assemblies to help leaders wrest commitments from candidates for state and federal office. Having witnessed candidate responses to locally-developed agendas, which span from local control to Texas school finance and federal immigration reform, leaders are now mobilizing their neighbors to Get Out The Vote.

In North Dallas, for example, two thousand DAI leaders -- many from Carrollton and Farmers Branch -- invited candidates for House Districts 114, 115, 105 and 107, and Congressional District 32, to commit to investing public funds in local labor market intermediaries, crafting immigration reform that would end the separation of children from their parents at the border (and include protections for DACA youth), cracking down on predatory lending, and repealing Senate Bill 4. Hundreds more from Austin and Hayes County challenged candidates for US Congressional Districts 25 and 21, and State House Districts 47, 45 and 136 to publicly pledge support for similar priorities, including the defense of local control over municipal housing and labor policy. In Helotes, just outside of San Antonio, COPS / Metro leaders carted out boxes with thousands of postcard pledges by voters to participate in the election of US Representative for Congressional District 23, which extends to the outskirts of El Paso, and State Representative for House Districts 117 and 118. In Houston, TMO organized assemblies with candidates for US Congressional District 7 and 29; House Districts 144, 133, and 135; and Senate District 17.

Already, unpaid armies of organizational leaders have knocked on thousands of doors and called thousands more to remind supporters and voters to participate in the midterm elections. Last weekend, for example, Austin Interfaith leaders knocked on doors in three counties, four legislative districts and 2 congressional districts. This weekend, all Texas IAF organizations are making a final push -- from the pews, inside health clinics and in long-neglected neighborhoods -- to ensure the highest turnout possible in support of their agenda.

Leaders understand that targeted voter engagement efforts following accountability assemblies help advance their agenda. This year alone, local Texas IAF organizations succeeded in raising municipal wage floors in San Antonio and Austin to $15 per hour; leveraging the support of Chief of Police Art Acevedo to make Houston the first city in Texas to support a gun safety strategy; and preventing unnecessary deportations through widespread adoption of identification cards generated by parishes within the Catholic Diocese of Dallas.

Texas’ Minority GOP Voters: Republican Allies Have Vanished, McClatchy

Activist Groups COPS and Metro Alliance Spreading Message to the Suburbs, WOAI

Austin Interfaith Hosts Large Gathering of 2018 Midterms Election Candidates, KVUE

Candidates Share Platform at Assembly, Austin American Statesman

Why Dallas Republicans Skipped an Interfaith Forum, Rewire.News

To Help Immigrants Feel Safer Around Police, Some Churches Start Issuing IDs, NPR

DAI Accountability Forum [Video]