With a new Texas legislative session underway this week, municipal governments across Fort Bend County are set to lobby state lawmakers on behalf of their cities.
Their wish lists include property tax reform, more control over land use and support for economic development.
Here's a look at how cities in Fort Bend are preparing for this year's session:
Sugar Land
Sugar Land's city council passed a resolution in October, outlining its goals for the biennial legislative session.
Like many other local governments in Fort Bend, the city is opposing unfunded mandates, revenue caps and lowered property appraisal caps. It's also supporting legislation that gives cities more power to address housing issues through redevelopment. The city has focused on this topic as its housing stock ages, most recently offering home improvement grants to certain homeowners.
"We know that housing is going to be a big issue in the legislature," the city's intergovernmental relations manager, Spencer Gutierrez, said during a city council presentation. "The ultimate point here is that we want to make sure ... local entities have the representation to make those kinds of decisions and that the state isn't mandating things upon cities without having that sort of close review."
Other priorities for Sugar Land include increased funding for mental health initiatives and animal services.
Sugar Land has budgeted $64,600 for legislative consultant expenditures in fiscal year 2025, according to city documents.
Missouri City
Missouri City council members passed 11 legislative priorities last week. The city is supporting property tax reform and "legislation that fosters a fair and transparent tax appraisal process." It's also backing laws that give local governments more control and support economic development.
"This will allow staff to respond when items come up during the session," City Attorney E. Joyce Iyamu said during a city council meeting last week. "We use this essentially as our menu, our authorization from you all to work on letters, responses, have staff go to Austin, requests that members go to Austin sometimes as well to speak about the different issues that come up before the legislature."
Municipal leaders also expressed support for laws that would increase the required distance between concrete batch plants and homes. Recently, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality held a hearing for a concrete crushing facility that would be located near homes in Missouri City. There are more than 1,300 residences within a mile of the proposed plant, one advocate told Houston Public Media.
Missouri City's legislative consulting contract costs $96,000 per year.
Fulshear
Fulshear began workshopping its legislative priorities last week, though city council has yet to formally vote on the resolutions.
This is the first year the city has drafted resolutions ahead of the state legislative session.
Assistant City Manager Kelsee Jordan Lee said city leaders decided to draft legislative priorities after seeing an increase in city-related bills throughout the years.
"It's been really important for our city management, our city council, to not just be bystanders in the process, but to actually take a more proactive role in putting those issues that affect Fulshear, its residents and its businesses at the forefront of our Texas legislature," she told Houston Public Media.
Fulshear leaders have outlined priorities under five categories: land use, public safety, economic development, transportation and infrastructure and budget stability.
The city is seeking amendments to Texas Senate Bill 2038, which allows landowners to de-annex from the city's extra-territorial jurisdiction (ETJ). One of the fastest-growing cities in the country, Fulshear has seen petitions to de-annex more than 10,000 acres from its ETJ since the bill was passed.
"I think what's important for the city of Fulshear - and other cities like ours that are fast-growing - is to get some clarificatory language in that bill," City Manager Zach Goodlander said.
City council will review contracts and vote on whether to hire a lobbyist at its meeting next week.
Countywide efforts
In November, the Fort Bend Legislative Conference - a program under the Fort Chamber of Commerce - gathered local government and business leaders to discuss priorities ahead of the state legislative session.
One panel featured mayors from several Fort Bend cities, including Arcola, Meadows Place, Sugar Land, Fulshear and Needville.
According to a news release from the chamber, conference attendees discussed four main priorities at the event:
Fort Bend County Commissioners Court passed five legislative resolutions late last year, including a call to ban the open carrying of firearms in libraries, support for local governments and calls for the creation of "County Industrial Development Districts" to help create infrastructure for new industrial sites.
The county works with three legislative consultants each year, regardless of whether the state legislature is in session. In total, the county spends $216,000 for these consultants.
Looking ahead
While cities across the state are preparing to make their interests known in Austin, some state Republican lawmakers want to ban them from lobbying.
State Sen. Mayes Middleton (R-Galveston) has introduced a bill that would prohibit local governments from using tax dollars to lobby the state legislature.
The future of the bill remains unclear, however, after Rep. Dustin Burrows (R-Lubbock) was elected as House speaker, relying heavily on the support of Democrat lawmakers.
"If Dustin Burrows is elected speaker, with the support of the Austin lobby(ists) and Democrats, along with a small group of Republicans, then a ban on taxpayer-funded lobbying is probably dead on arrival," Mark Jones, a political science fellow at Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy, told Houston Public Media before Tuesday's speaker election.
Even without a ban on lobbyist spending, it's still difficult for municipal governments to usher in new laws in Austin.
According to the Texas Municipal League, there were more than 1,800 city-related bills filed during the last state legislative session in 2023. Only 230 of those bills passed.
During a commissioners court meeting in December, Fort Bend County Precinct 3 Commissioner Andy Meyers noted the challenges of advocating for new state laws.
"The legislature is designed to basically kill bills, so it's very difficult to get any legislation -- whatever shape or form it's in -- passed," he said.