Austin’s Intergovernmental Relations Officer Carrie Rogers briefed Council Tuesday and expressed optimism about what might happen in the current special session of the Texas Legislature, which started on Monday. She told Council it was very important to their success as a team to reach out to a bill’s author “to let them know what our concerns are.”
Rogers highlighted “serveral overarching issues” that could be a concern to local governments. These include attempts to preempt the authority of Texas cities when it comes to things like regulating guns or raising taxes and securing funds through debt instruments.
In a memo to mayor and Council, Rogers also noted that items of special concern during this legislative session relate to funding for critical infrastructure. For example. Legislature watchers noted that some bills would look at all city funding as a whole, as opposed to separating taxes from user fees for electricity, water and airport operations.
In addition, there is concern about legislation that does not distinguish between expenditures for debt payment and for maintenance and operations. An expenditure cap could cause bond rating agencies to downgrade bonds, resulting in higher costs for taxpayers and ratepayers.
One major piece of legislation that Austin successfully pushed this spring related to the
pension fund for Austin firefighters
HB 2802
by Rep. John Bucy, was signed by Governor Greg Abbott last month.
While addressing Council, Rogers did not discuss the newly-filed
SB 12
which would prohibit the use of public funds by cities and counties to contract with a person required to register as a lobbyist under Chapter 305. (That section relates to people who are paid more than a minimal amount to lobby.)
This is not the first time this type of legislation has been filed but it has not won approval from both houses in the past. The Texas Senate
approved a similar bill
during the regular session, as it has done in the past. However, the bill was referred to the House State Affairs Committee, where it died without a hearing. While city employees and officials would not be prohibited from talking to members of the Legislature, the city could not pay an outside organization to do so. That would include the
Texas Municipal League
, which has worked with Austin and other cities for decades.
Photo made available through
a Creative Commons license
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