Legal

Texas SB 2 Disclosure

Effective date: July 9, 2026 · Latchpin Tax, LLC · Galveston County, Texas

This page explains, in plain language, how Senate Bill 2 — the Texas Property Tax Reform and Transparency Act of 2019 — relates to what Latchpin does and does not do. It is provided for transparency and education. It is not legal or tax advice.

1. Your tax bill has two levers. We only touch one.

Your property tax bill is, roughly, appraised value × tax rates. A protest — the thing our packet supports — challenges the appraised value set by the Galveston Central Appraisal District. It has no effect on the tax rates adopted each fall by your taxing units (county, city, school district, and special districts). SB 2 is mostly about that second lever.

2. What SB 2 did

Renamed the key rates so they say what they mean: the "effective rate" became the no-new-revenue rate (the rate that would raise the same total revenue as last year from the same properties), and the "rollback rate" became the voter-approval rate.
Lowered the voter-approval threshold. Most cities and counties must hold an automatic election to adopt a rate that raises more than 3.5% additional revenue from existing properties (school districts have their own 2.5% framework under HB 3).
Created rate-transparency databases. Each county maintains an online property tax database where you can see, for your specific property, the rates each taxing unit is proposing, what they would cost you, and when and where the public hearings are held.
Reformed protest and ARB procedures — including appraisal district and Appraisal Review Board practices that affect how protests like yours are heard.

3. What this means for you

Winning a protest lowers the value your rates are applied to — often the single most effective thing an individual owner can do about their own bill. But if your taxing units raise rates, some or all of that saving can be absorbed. SB 2's tools exist so you can see that happening and participate: look up your property in the county's tax rate database each fall, read the proposed rates, and attend or speak at the rate hearings if you object.

4. Our independence

Latchpin Tax, LLC is a private company. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or acting for the Galveston Central Appraisal District, the Galveston County Appraisal Review Board, any taxing unit, the Texas Comptroller, or any other government body. Parcel data in our packets comes from public records; no government entity sponsors or reviews our work.

5. Licensing disclosure

Latchpin Tax is not a licensed property tax consultant under Texas Occupations Code Chapter 1152 and does not represent property owners. We provide research and document preparation. The property owner is the petitioner of record and presents their own case. For the rules governing licensed consultants, see the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR).

6. Where to verify all of this

The text of SB 2 (86th Legislature, 2019) and the Texas Tax Code — available from the Texas Legislature Online and the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts.
The Comptroller's property tax transparency resources, including plain-language explanations of the no-new-revenue and voter-approval rates.
Galveston County's property tax rate database, linked from the county and appraisal district websites each rate-setting season.

We deliberately describe these sources rather than deep-linking them: government URLs move, and a stale link is worse than a clear pointer.