An 11th-hour plan approved by Texas lawmakers could provide property tax relief for 5.7 million homeowners if approved by voters in May.

The bill, proposed by state Sen. Paul Bettencourt (R-Houston) a day before the deadline for the special session, would allow property owners to cut $40,000 of the taxable value of their home, which should save about $176 a year in taxes.

An exemption is a permanent relief, and really is the most powerful property tax relief that you can have because it’s an immediate cut,” Bettencourt said. “There’s no definition of this that’s not a cut because that basically is $15,000 more in exemption than any homeowner would have in the previous year.”

The bill was passed after an earlier plan to buy down billions of dollars in school property taxes and use federal COVID-19 aid to send one-time checks to Texas families who claimed homestead exemptions. 

That plan lacked support because it would have used about a fifth of Texas’ $16.3 billion allotments from the federal Amerian Rescue Plan, the Biden Administration’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package that received zero Republican support.

If voters approve, the latest plan will shift the burden of public education more to the state when it has previously been more of a district concern. However, the districts will still receive the property tax benefits.

“I will not be calling it property tax relief,” tweeted state Rep. Matt Schaefer (R-Tyler). “I will take it, but I won’t make much of it when I explain it to folks back home.”