As Texas lawmakers pass the halfway point of the regular session, there are multiple bills that local officials say are detrimental to school districts, cities, and counties.
That was the focus of the latest meeting of the Brazos County intergovernmental committee (IGC).
Click below to hear some of the comments from the March 20, 2023 Brazos County IGC meeting.
Bryan city secretary Mary Lynne Stratta says a few of the state lawmakers who have written bad legislation used to be on city councils.
Stratta brought up House Bill 2665…which has been referred to the land and resource committee…where she says the state would take over regulating short term rentals.
Stratta says Senate Bill 149, which has been heard in the business and commerce committee that is chaired by Brazos County state senator Charles Schwertner, basically says that cities would not be able to regulate any kind of commercial activity.
Stratta says state lawmakers want to effectively do away with home rule authority, which applies to Bryan and College Station.
Stratta says House Bill 92, which has already been approved by the agriculture committee, would expand what homeowners can build inside city limits without city control.
Stratta says House Bill 1279, which was assigned to the land and resource management committee, would reduce Bryan’s extraterritorial jurisdiction from three miles to one-quarter of one mile.
As the governor continues his promotion of state funding of Christian schools at so-called “parent empowerment” events, so does the call from public school administrators and school board members to not splinter state money.
Bryan ISD superintendent Ginger Carrabine and College Station ISD superintendent Mike Martindale are opposed to Senate Bill 8.
Carrabine says private schools should be held to the same accountability standards as public schools. And she brought the unattended consequences of less money going to public schools.
The executive director of the Brazos Valley council of governments, Michael Parks, says public schools face the choice of “do we do football or mathematics?”
Also attending the IGC meeting were members of the Bryan and College Station city councils, the Bryan and College Station ISD school boards, and the Brazos County commission.