November 2, 2023
In This Issue:
- Texas Legislature: Special Session Update
- ICYMI: TDI Quarterly Audit Results Published: June-August 2023
- Early Voting Concludes Tomorrow for Property Tax Proposition, Other Constitutional Amendments; Election Day Is This Tuesday, Nov. 7
Texas Legislature: Special Session Update
TLTA | Nov. 2, 2023
Gov. Abbott
expanded the call of 3rd Called Session of the 88th Texas Legislature earlier this week to include additional items related to public education.
Each special session is limited to 30 days maximum, so there's less than a week remaining for the Texas Legislature to pass legislation. Two bills have been approved by both chambers and sent to the Governor:
-
SB 7 related to prohibition of private employer vaccine mandates.
- SB 4 related to increasing penalties for operation of stash houses used to enable undocumented immigration.
It's unclear at this point whether any of the other issues on the special session call will be addressed by new laws.
As previously reported, we saw some bills related to foreign ownership of property filed during this special session, but that issue was not added to the special session's call. Likewise, the Senate held a hearing on the Colony Ridge issue this week, but there's no bill to consider and the invited testimony at that hearing did not touch on property rights issues that would impact title industry operations. Instead the focus remained primarily on law enforcement issues and the impact of large developments in rural counties.
Our TLTA advocacy team continues to monitor all developments at the Capitol in Austin and we'll keep you apprised as the special session progresses.
ICYMI: TDI Quarterly Audit Results Published: June-August 2023
TLTA | Oct. 26, 2023
The following is a summary of recent TDI audits, violations and enforcement actions from June through August 2023.
Read TDI's complete summary of operations for the quarter, or review key statistics below.
Compliance Audits: TDI's goal is to comprehensively audit agencies at least once every two years. This quarter, TDI conducted 93 audits.
Commissioner Orders: This quarter, TDI signed one Commissioner Orders. As of this report, 25 cases remain active and under investigation.
Compliance Audit Results: Below are TDI's most common audit findings for the quarter that ended in August 2023. The numbers below represent how many agencies had an infraction, not the number of times the infraction occurred:
Number of Agencies
Category
Description
54
Abstract Plant
Actual receipts and/or disbursements not in agreement with settlement statement or premium split not disclosed.
40
Minimum Escrow Accounting Procedures & Internal Controls
#16 - Every disbursement not supported by invoice or sufficient other evidence
39
Escrow Accounting
Outstanding checks not cleared timely
39
Procedural Rules
P-21: Schedule D of commitment not in file or premium split not disclosed on commitment.
35
Procedural Rules
P-73: Failure to prepare/maintain Form T-64 (TD) when CD used, or Form T64 was not signed by all parties. Prepared incorrectly.
Review Complete Quarterly Audit Report »
Early Voting Concludes Tomorrow for Property Tax Proposition, Other Constitutional Amendments; Election Day Is This Tuesday, Nov. 7
TLTA | Oct. 18, 2023
Early voting for the upcoming election started Monday, Oct. 23 and continues through tomorrow, Nov. 3. Election Day is this Tuesday, Nov. 7.
Texans statewide have the opportunity to approve or reject 14 constitutional amendments, including a property tax reduction proposition passed by the Texas Legislature during their second special session this summer.
Learn more about the property tax relief plan that must be approved by voters before it can be implemented.
In addition to the property tax relief measure mentioned above, there are 13 other constitutional amendments to consider, and your local ballot may have additional local government propositions.
Learn more about the other constitutional amendments on the ballot »
Where and when to vote early »