Paul Bettencourt

Paul Bettencourt
Majority Leader of the Texas Senate
In office
January 26, 2016 – January 12, 2021
Preceded byKelly Hancock
Succeeded byLarry Taylor
Member of the Texas Senate
from the 7th district
Incumbent
Assumed office
January 13, 2015
Preceded byDan Patrick
Tax Assessor-Collector of Harris County
In office
1999–2009
Preceded byCarl Smith
Succeeded byLeo Vasquez
Personal details
BornPaul David Bettencourt
(1958-10-20) October 20, 1958
Harris County, Texas, U.S.
PartyRepublican
SpouseSusan Sladic
Children2
EducationTexas A&M University (BS)
Signature

Paul David Bettencourt (born October 20, 1958) is an American politician and businessman based out of Houston, Texas, who serves as a Republican member of the Texas State Senate from District 7. On January 13, 2015, he succeeded state Senator Dan Patrick of Houston, who successfully ran for Lieutenant Governor of Texas.

Political career

Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector

From 1998 to early in 2008, Bettencourt was the Tax Assessor-Collector of his native Harris County, the third largest county in the United States. This role is responsible for collecting and dispersing property taxes, and voter registration.[1]

Bettencourt won reelection in 2000, 2004, and 2008.[2]

Controversy

The Democratic Party and plaintiffs filed suit and requested a temporary restraining order against the Voter Registrar Bettencourt after the 2008 election, asking a Federal Judge to block the counting of 7000+ provisional ballots from the November 2008 election.[3] However, the temporary restraining order was denied by the Judge. All 7000+ provisional ballots were reviewed by Election Officials, and either rejected or accepted and then electronically counted.[4][5][6]

The Democratic Party also alleged that Bettencourt purposely rejected new voter applications to limit the number of new voters in Harris County. In December 2008, Bettencourt stepped down from his role shortly after winning reelection, and a day after the Democratic Party levied these allegations.[7] Bettencourt indicated that he was leaving his role as the Tax Assessor-Collector for a job in the private sector, making the decision weeks after winning reelection for a third time.[8]

In 2009 Bettencourt started Bettencourt Tax Advisors LLC, a tax advising business that specializes in helping Texas homeowners protest their property taxes. Bettencourt refers to himself as "The Taxman."[9]

Texas State Senate

2014 election

Bettencourt ran for the Texas State Senate in 2014 again enlisted the help of top Republican Strategist Allen Blakemore.[10][11]

Tenure

Bettencourt has also warned of serious pension liability problems in Texas and has proposed long-term market-based reforms which he claims will not impact those nearing retirement and have already paid significantly into the pension systems.[12]

2018 reelection

Tenure

He authored a bill that the Texas Senate passed in 2019 that would move bond, debt and tax elections to the November general elections and limit the length of propositions.[13]

Harris County Elections

In 2021, Bettencourt sponsored Senate Bill 1111 which prohibited the use of private P.O. Boxes for voter registration. After the bill passed, Bettencourt alleged that this was a known problem in Harris County.[14]

Democrats won most of the Harris County elections during the 2022 midterms. Following these Democratic wins, Republicans complained of issues at polling sites in Republican areas including running out of paper.[15] In response Bettencourt authored a dozen bills during the 2023 session, seeking to change how Harris County managed elections. The bills included Senate Bill 1750 which returned the election duties to the Harris County Clerk and the Tax Assessor-Collector, a role Bettencourt once held.[16] The bill only applied to counties with over 3.5 million residents, only Harris County meets this standard.[17] Senate Bill 1933 allows the Texas Secretary of State to have oversight over key parts of the election functions typically managed by the county. If an election related complaint is filed with the Secretary of State, they then will investigate and if the office finds "good cause" they can impose administrative oversight by the Secretary of State.[18]

In 2025, Bettencourt filed a complaint with the Texas Secretary of State alleging that Harris County had several registered voters whose listed addresses were PO Boxes in violation of state law. Annette Ramirez, Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector, responded to Bettencourt's complaint stating that the Harris County Tax Office has not violated any election laws.[19] Following Bettencourt's complaint, the Texas Secretary of State, Jane Nelson, indicated that this could result in state oversight by her office in Harris County elections. Bettencourt's complaint did not allege that those registered to vote via a PO Box address actually voted in the last election.[20]

Radio host

Bettencourt is a conservative talk radio host on KSEV, owned by his predecessor Dan Patrick.[21]

References

  1. ^ "Harris County Tax Office". www.hctax.net. Retrieved 2025-12-31.
  2. ^ "Cumulative Report Official" (PDF). HarrisVotes. November 2, 2004. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015.
  3. ^ "Democrats sue Bettencourt over votes for Harris Judges". Houston Chronicle. November 12, 2008.
  4. ^ "The Battle over Provisional Ballots". 2 on the Beat. November 12, 2008.
  5. ^ "Paul Bettencourt plans to resign". 2onthebeat.wordpress.com. December 6, 2008. Retrieved November 29, 2014.
  6. ^ Liz Austin Peterson (December 24, 2008). "Vasquez takes charge of Harris County tax office: Commissioners vote 4-1 to fill recent vacancy". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved November 29, 2014.
  7. ^ "Pending action against outgoing tax assessor-collector Paul Bettencourt | ABC13 Houston | abc13.com". ABC13 Houston. Retrieved 2025-12-31.
  8. ^ "Paul Bettencourt speaks about leaving office | ABC13 Houston | abc13.com". ABC13 Houston. Retrieved 2025-12-31.
  9. ^ "Protest Your Property Taxes Now! | Bettencourt Tax Advisors". www.btanow.com. Retrieved 2025-12-31.
  10. ^ "Endorsements". paulbettencourt.com. 28 June 2013. Retrieved November 29, 2014.
  11. ^ "General election returns, November 4, 2014". Texas Secretary of State. Archived from the original on November 5, 2014. Retrieved November 29, 2014.
  12. ^ "Future shock," San Antonio Express-News, April 16, 2017, p. F2.
  13. ^ "Bill would move bond elections". Wylie News. Wylie, Texas. May 8, 2019. Retrieved May 9, 2019.
  14. ^ "SB1111 By Bettencourt to Stop Commercial P.O. Box Registration Addresses Heads To Governor's Desk". Paul Bettencourt For Senate District 7. 2021-06-01. Retrieved 2025-12-31.
  15. ^ Schneider, Andrew (2023-06-12). "Elections bills, including two targeting Harris County, set to become law". Houston Public Media. Retrieved 2025-12-31.
  16. ^ Contreras, Natalia (2023-05-23). "Texas Legislature steps into Harris County elections". The Texas Tribune. Retrieved 2025-12-31.
  17. ^ "Harris County prepares for election changes". khou.com. 2023-08-23. Retrieved 2025-12-31.
  18. ^ Hagerty, Michael (2023-05-23). "Texas lawmakers approve bills aimed squarely at Harris County elections". Houston Public Media. Retrieved 2025-12-31.
  19. ^ Digital, FOX 26 (2025-12-29). "Senator Paul Bettencourt files administrative election complaint, alleges illegal votes were cast". FOX 26 Houston. Retrieved 2025-12-31.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  20. ^ Bureau, Natalie Weber, Fort Bend County (2025-12-30). "Harris County elections officials find more than 100 voter registrations illegally tied to P.O. boxes". Houston Public Media. Retrieved 2025-12-31. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  21. ^ Malewitz, Jim; Walters, Edgar (July 27, 2017). "Radio Made Dan Patrick Powerful in Texas. And it's Helping Him Stay that Way". The Texas Tribune. Retrieved December 28, 2017.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.