November 2025 Ballot Propositions

by Toni M. Rask

Because of the regular legislative sessions in Texas, odd-numbered years bring a general election with a series of proposed constitutional amendments (“Propositions”) from the Legislature to the voters of Texas. Here at Lloyd Gosselink, we wanted to provide the readers of The Lone Star Current with an election guide to the proposed constitutional amendments that impact some of our practice areas—water law, utility law, administrative/municipal law, environmental law, and employment law—appearing on the ballot on Tuesday, November 4, 2025.¹

Proposition 1 – “The constitutional amendment providing for the creation of the permanent technical institution infrastructure fund and the available workforce education fund to support the capital needs of educational programs offered by the Texas State Technical College System.”

Summary: This amendment would establish two separate funds that would provide dedicated funding for capital projects such as new buildings or improvements, and land acquisition and equipment purchases such as books or training equipment used in programs to support schools and programs across the Texas State Technical College (“TSTC”) system.² TSTCs offer programs that allow a skilled workforce to be trained or retrained affordably in various fields including engineering, electrical linework and management, instrumentation, occupational safety and environmental compliance, process operations, and renewable energy among other technical careers like construction that lawmakers deem vital to the continuity of the “Texas Miracle,” and preparing the workforce for the careers demanded.³

Proposition 4 – “The constitutional amendment to dedicate a portion of the revenue derived from state sales and use taxes to the Texas water fund and to provide for the allocation and use of that revenue.”

Summary: This amendment would require the Texas Comptroller to set aside the first $1 billion (after sales tax revenue exceeds a threshold of $46.5 billion) from net sales and use tax revenue into the Texas Water Fund (“TWF”). The Legislature would also be able to adjust that annual allocation by a two-thirds vote. This is not a tax increase or a separate, new tax—just setting aside tax revenue that is already collected from state sales and use taxes. Think of the TWF as a bucket of water funds available to assist a variety of projects from developing new drinking water supplies, to repairing aging water infrastructure, to flood control projects, to water conservation initiatives, and the clean or drinking water revolving funds.⁴

Proposition 5 – “The constitutional amendment authorizing the legislature to exempt from ad valorem taxation tangible personal property consisting of animal feed held by the owner of the property for sale at retail.”

Summary: This amendment would allow the Texas Legislature to exempt animal feed held by the owner for retail sale from property (ad valorem) taxation. Supporters argue this exemption would lower costs for feed suppliers and farmers, which could ease expenses in the agricultural sector. However, the exemption would also reduce the taxable property base, which in turn could affect revenue available to local governments, school districts, and special districts that rely on ad valorem taxes. A rejection would keep the current system in place, preserving existing tax bases for local government taxing entities.

Proposition 9 – “The constitutional amendment to authorize the legislature to exempt from ad valorem taxation a portion of the market value of tangible personal property a person owns that is held or used for the production of income.”

Summary: With its accompanying legislation, this constitutional amendment would exempt businesses’ inventory or equipment from being taxed by local taxing entities for any value up to $125,000. This increases the exemption from the current $2,500. The fiscal note prepared by the Legislative Budget Board noted that local governments, primarily cities, counties, and special districts that did not or could not increase tax rates would lose out on a total of approximately $440 million in tax revenue in fiscal year 2027.⁵ Proponents of the amendment, primarily small businesses, contend that the exemption would spur economic growth.

Early voting begins October 20 and ends October 31. The above are just four of the seventeen Propositions on the ballot in November. Language that will appear on the ballot for each of the 17 propositions and explanations for each can be found at the Secretary of State of Texas’s website here.

¹Proclamation by the Governor of the State of Texas, Aug. 12, 2025, https://www.sos.texas.gov/elections/forms/proclamation-constitutional-amendment-%20elec-nov-2025.pdf.
²Tex. S.J. Res. 59, 89th Leg., R.S. (2025) (proposing a constitutional amendment relating to special permanent funds for the capital improvements and education funds for TSTC).
³Technically Better for Texas, Tex. State Tech. Coll., https://www.tstc.edu/tstc-is-technically-better-for-texas/ (last accessed Oct. 15, 2025) (detailing the purpose and plans for the dedicated funding streams for TSTC campuses).
⁴Proposition 4 and Texas Water Fund Frequently Asked Questions, Tex. Water Dev. Bd (Sept. 2025), https://www.twdb.texas.gov/financial/programs/TWF/doc/Proposition_4_FAQ.pdf.
⁵Legislative Budget Board, Memorandum IN RE: HB9 by Meyer (Relating to an exemption from ad valorem taxation of a portion of the appraised value of tangible personal property that is held or used for the production of income.), as Passed 2nd House (May 15, 2025), https://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/89R/fiscalnotes/pdf/HB00009F.pdf (noting that this does not include school districts as the burden of tax revenue loss transfers to the state to make up for the shortfall).

Toni Rask is an Associate in the Firm’s Water Practice Group. If you would like additional information or have questions related to these or other matters, please contact Toni at 512.322.5873 or trask@lglawfirm.com.