With the clock running down on the Lege, has the city of Austin implemented its agenda – or bucked any dubious bills? “It’s going reasonably well,” says city government relations officer John Hrncir. It’s a bit too early to tell, he says, but signs are encouraging.
Bargaining and More: Despite a scare last week, city-initiated bills offering increased bargaining power to municipal employees are moving. The Local and Consent calendar had become so overstuffed, there was talk of a bill bloodbath. While fears have since abated, it confused things for several Austin-centric bills, as their sponsors rushed to get them moved to the regular calendar and, now, back to Local and Consent. Sen. Kirk Watson’s Senate Bill 1104, which would allow meet-and-confer bargaining for the city’s emergency medical service responders (as for police and fire), made it through both houses, and should survive. Similarly, his SB 1183 would grant M&C privileges to non-civil-service (i.e., union-represented) city employees; it cleared the Senate, but may die in a House committee. Hrncir’s optimistic, saying “both bills are definitely alive.” HB 470, a cleanup of Rep. Eddie Rodriguez’s Eastside homestead-preservation district bill from last session, is a goal of Council Member Mike Martinez; it’s scheduled for a House Local and Consent reading this week. What may be the most successful Austin bill already sits on the governor’s desk. Elliott Naishtat’s HB 504 ensures that municipalities opting out of general Capital Metro service – West Lake Hills, Pflugerville, and the like – will pay in full for the special transit service they use.
Austin-Bashing on the Back Burner? Four of the worst bills are currently stalled. HB 1732 and HB 1736, both from Rep. Edmund Kuempel, R-Seguin, would dismantle Austin’s McMansion ordinances but have been sitting in Calendars for the last few weeks. Bills that would adversely affect Austin’s environmental protections – SB 1675, making the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality’s weak regulations the most stringent a city could enforce, and SB 1677, limiting regulatory environmental “takings” – have both withered in committee for a month. More odd is the story of HB 252, from Rep. Anna Mowery, that would restrict cities’ zoning authority. Mercifully, the Mowery-chaired Land & Resource Management Committee hasn’t taken any action – raising the suspicion she doesn’t have the votes. While no immediate disasters loom, the volume of bills this session has made Hrncir’s – and the city’s – job harder than usual. “There are more bills this session than I ever recall,” he says. “There are over 6,000 bills filed – that’s about 1,000 more than we normally see. It certainly complicates things for us.”
This article appears in May 11 • 2007.