- Local officials look to Legislature for lobbying reform.
Texas lawmakers have filed several bills relating to reforming the role of lobbying in the state government as some local officials are concerned about their voices being heard at a state level.
As of Jan. 30, a total of 11 bills have been filed relating to lobbying in the state House and Senate, with two being attached to Texas District 11 Sen. Mayes Middleton, R-Wallisville, who represents Brazoria, Galveston and a part of Harris counties. The Texas Ethics Commission defines lobbying as “making direct communications with members of the legislative or executive branch of Texas state government to influence legislation or administrative action.”
Middleton filed a bill with a description stating “Relating to the use by a political subdivision of public funds for lobbying activities,” and another one described as “Relating to lobbying by former members of the legislature; creating a criminal offense.” He described the topic as an important issue for him for this legislative session.
“What [lobbying] does is it diminishes [voters’] voice, because someone's paying to lobby against the things that you believe in with your property taxes,” Middleton said.
Pearland Mayor Kevin Cole said it is important for the city of Pearland’s voice to be heard by lawmakers in Austin. He said he and the council rely on the Texas Municipal League, or TML, as a third party for vouching for the city’s needs at a state government level.
- New Cy-Fair ISD attendance zones to balance enrollment.
In a split 4-3 vote, the Cy-Fair ISD board of trustees approved new attendance boundaries at a Jan. 12 meeting to populate three new campuses opening in the next two years—Middle School No. 20, Elementary School No. 58 and Elementary School No. 59.
Dozens of other attendance boundaries were also altered to relieve overcrowded schools, better utilize campuses operating under capacity and better align feeder patterns, district officials said.
“I know that it’s not easy. There are certainly a million and one different ways that you could possibly accomplish this,” Chief of Staff Teresa Hull said Dec. 8. “It’s unfortunate that I do think that this is a situation we’re going to find ourselves in over the next few years as the district completes its build-out, but we still have to address growth in different areas and we have to balance some of those enrollments.”
A committee of 18 district officials representing curriculum, athletics, transportation and other departments developed the recommendation.
- Montgomery County files resolution requesting $15.5M from state for active shooter training facility.
The Montgomery County Commissioners Court approved a resolution seeking $15.5 million from the Texas Legislature to fund an active shooter training facility.
Montgomery County Commissioners Court is seeking to formally acquire the former Keefer Crossing Middle School in New Caney and recondition it to support a permanent active shooter training facility which can be used by agencies across the state.
“The Appropriations Committee has already had conversations about this, and they are in the process of building the [state] budget now,” said Jason Millsaps, executive director of the Montgomery County Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. “The senators that represent the county and the legislators from the House asked for this resolution so they can stick it in the committee file to show the interest, and that the county is unified in its request.”
The facility has been rented by Montgomery County since Oct. 1 and operated jointly by the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office and Montgomery County Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. According to the resolution, roughly 1,200 first responders have completed the Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training, or ALERRT, at the facility, which is performed by certified instructors.
“One of the nice things about this is if you come to the class, mixing the officers in from other jurisdictions is exactly how they’ll be during a response to an active shooter. They’re not all going to be from the same agencies,” said Millsaps.
