- HB 1429 (Deshotel; Carona) – which required landlords to provide leases to tenants and prohibited retaliation for tenant organizing.
Perry veto statement excerpt: “The litigation expenses incurred by landlords as a result of this bill could be significant, and would likely be passed on to other tenants through higher rents and fees. Thus, although the bill seeks to protect tenants in rare cases where they are not provided with a copy of their lease when it is signed, I believe it would do more harm than good.”
- HB990 (Rodriguez, Eddie; Watson) – which tweaked the rules for homestead preservation reinvestment zones.
Perry veto statement excerpt: House Bill 990 would change the terms by which Travis County may participate in a homestead preservation reinvestment zone with the City of Austin in East Austin. Although the stated purpose of House Bill 990 is to encourage Travis County to participate in the zone, the county has not expressed support for the bill.
This bill would exempt Travis County from regulations established for reinvestment zones under Chapter 311 of the Tax Code by allowing the county to exceed the 15-person limit set for reinvestment zone boards and reducing the share of tax revenues the county must contribute to the zone fund.
The purpose of a reinvestment zone is to provide financial avenues for redevelopment in blighted areas, yet the zone in question is not in a blighted area.
(Post Edited to add:)
- SB167 (West, Veasey | Gallego | Aliseda | Rodriguez, Eddie | Davis, Yvonne) – which allows individuals for whom charges are dropped by prosecutors to request the clearing of their record at the prosecutor’s discretion. (This is a housing related bill because it impacts the ability of innocent people to pass a background check when applying to rent an apartment)
Perry veto statement excerpt: Senate Bill 167 suffers from technical citation problems and a need to correct language. House Concurrent Resolution 177, which sought to correct the problems in Senate Bill 167, did not pass both houses. The intent of Senate Bill 167 is covered in House Bill 351.
