In December, legislators killed a controversial tax program known as Chapter 313, but its effects will last decades.
Project timelines for some Chapter 313 beneficiaries stretch decades into the future. A trio of agreements for Cheniere’s expansion of its Corpus Christi Liquefaction plant, in the Gregory-Portland Independent School District, are worth an estimatedin tax breaks throughout their respective life cycles. In exchange, Cheniere has agreed to provide $36 million in “revenue protection and supplemental payments” to the school district to compensate for lost property tax revenue.
In Summerlin’s opinion, the supplemental payments promised to school districts in Chapter 313 agreements amount to little more than legal bribery. “If Cheniere had come to these school board members individually and said, ‘I need a favor, here’s X amount of dollars for a favorable vote on this particular issue,’ that would be unlawful,” he said. “They would feel compelled to report Cheniere for having offered that bribe.
While school districts like Gregory-Portland ISD may benefit from a short-term injection of surplus payments, critics of the program say it starves statewide education funding and harms the overwhelming majority of Texas students. An analysis of operative Chapter 313 agreements by Central Texas Interfaith found that only 5% of Texas students — the program’s “winners” — benefit from corporate payouts.
Summerlin, who spoke against the Cheniere proposals at the Dec. 13 Gregory-Portland ISD school board meeting, said environmental concerns did not seem to be a factor in the decision-making process. “I think they feel compelled to grant these abatements because it benefits their school district, to hell with the rest of the state,” he said. “They’re not concerned about greenhouse gases, not concerned about emissions, noise, dust, all of the other impacts.
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