A Texas Senate bill to raise the homestead exemption and provide relief to the state's property taxpayers quickly passed out of committee Tuesday.

SB 4 promises to provide more tax relief for homeowners and cash payments to local schools to replace a chunk of the revenue stream districts would lose.

Proposals to cut property taxes by raising the Texas homestead exemption to $140,000 cleared a key hurdle Tuesday when a bipartisan committee voted unanimously to approve and send two bills to the full Senate.