Texans passed all 11 proposed amendments to the state constitution on Nov. 3, voicing their strong opinions over property rights and property taxes Here's a summary with our highlights and [comments or endorsements].

Proposed Texas constitutional amendments

PROPOSITION 1: Authorizes financing methods for municipalities and counties to acquire buffer zones or open spaces next to military bases. The proposal would prevent encroachment next to the base and allow construction of roads, utilities and other infrastructure to promote the mission of a military base. 
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PROPOSITION 2: Allows the Legislature to provide for ad valorem taxation of a residence homestead solely on the basis of the property's value as a residence, not at the potentially higher commercial use value. This prevents any assessment based on what the property “might be worth” if the home is torn down and the property used someday for another purpose.
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PROPOSITION 3: Provides for uniform standards and procedures for the appraisal of property for taxation. Texas lacks uniform standards, and proponents say this amendment would ensure that property in diverse parts of the state are valued using the same generally accepted practices. This and #5 go hand-in-hand to improve the efficiency and fairness of appraisals. It removes the hodgepodge of 254 county appraisers making their own rules.
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PROPOSITION 4: Establishes a national research university fund to help emerging research universities achieve national prominence as major research universities. Those pushing the proposal say it will provide funding similar to what elevated Texas A&M University and the University of Texas to Tier One status, providing jobs and stature or the state. Others question whether now is the time to spend such money.
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PROPOSITION 5: Permits the Texas Legislature to allow a single board of equalization for two or more adjoining appraisal entities. That means area appraisal boards can be consolidated if they choose. This and #3 go hand-in-hand to improve the efficiency and fairness of appraisals.
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PROPOSITION 6: Authorizes the Veterans' Land Board to issue general obligation bonds in amounts equal to or less than amounts previously authorized. It would prevent the land board from continually having to seek legislative authorization. 
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PROPOSITION 7: Allows an officer or enlisted member of the Texas State Guard or other state militia or military force to hold other civil offices. This would correct what some say is an oversight in the state constitution. 
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PROPOSITION 8: Authorizes the state to contribute money, property and other resources to establish veterans hospital. It's designed to speed up efforts to open a federal Veterans Administration hospital in the Rio Grande Valley, where residents currently must travel to San Antonio to receive some VA hospital services. 
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PROPOSITION 9: Protects the right of the public to access and use the public beaches bordering the seaward shore of the Gulf of Mexico. This would block private developers from restricting beach access to the public, but some say it could infringe on private property rights. We had no opinion on this, because one could argue that the same access rights should apply also to lakes and rivers. Where does one draw the line? Is one body of water more sacred or more public? We simply raised these questions.
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PROPOSITION 10: Limits elected members of the governing boards of emergency services districts to terms no longer than four years. Term limits? What a refreshing idea!!! Maybe next time it will apply to ALL elected officials, including the Governor. While we’re at it, maybe we can add a constitutional amendment limiting campaign contributions and other special interest funding. And let’s eliminate the revolving door between political office and industry by mandating a “cooling off” period when switching roles.
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PROPOSITION 11: Prohibits governments from taking private property for private economic development to increase a tax base. It also limits the Legislature's power to grant eminent domain authority to a governmental entity. We gave this our stronges endorsement. It seems to apply to either commercial development or neighboring McMansions and defines the term "public use," clarifying that taking property for the purpose of economic develolpment or enhancement of tax revenues is not public use. It also should stop local governments from taking property to eliminate "urban blight," declaring a few pieces of property as blighted and then taking all the property in an area for a development project. This is important because the US Supreme Court (in Kelo vs. City of New London) has allowed local entities to take property - even homesteads - if the local government could collect greater tax revenues by converting the property to another use.

A prominent example of Eminent Domain gone awry is the land acquired for building the new Dallas Cowboys Football Stadium. The stadium was ruled to have more economic benefit to the community than existing homes. Another example is the farm and ranchland taken for the Trans-Texas Corridor and then handed over to Cintra, the Spanish-owned company that would build new toll roads and take tolls on existing roads with no limits for 50 years. Thanks to overwhelming public opposition from citizens exercising their civic duty, TxDOT recently announced that the Trans-Texas Corridor project is “dead.” But since the law that enabled it still exists, we expect the project will arise again in the future under a different name.

We find it interesting that Governor Perry took credit for endorsing proposition 11, but only AFTER his Texas Land Grab for the Dallas Cowboys and Trans-Texas Corridor. 'Politics at work.