Highlight Bills

SAFE-D PLATFORM BILLS

House Bill 3897 (By Cecil Bell) and Senate Bill 2965 (by Brandon Creighton)

Status (5/15): The House Bill was on the House Calendar but did not make the deadline to pass the House. The Senate Bill has passed the Senate and been voted unanimously out of the House Land & Resource Management Committee.

These identical bills require a municipality to address the possibility of "service gaps" before it is able to annex ESD territory and remove that territory from the ESD. This bill would ensure that ESD residents aren't left hanging when a city annexes their area without first committing to provide quality emergency services to those residents.

House Bill 5611 (By Tom Oliverson)

Status (5/15): The bill was on the House Calendar but did not make the deadline to pass the House.

This bill would have allowed Emergency Services Districts to provide preventative health services to their community. Mobile Integrated Healthcare/Community Paramedicine can provide valuable preventative care that reduces over-reliance on emergency calls. HB 5611 would give ESDs clear, unambiguous statutory authority to provide these services.

House Bill 1585 (By Cecil Bell) 

Status (5/15): The bill has passed the House and been referred to Senate Local Government.

This bill would end the practice of "Traveling Housing Finance Corporations". Traveling HFCs are entities that are formed by a jurisdiction, ostensibly to provide affordable housing, but then purchase property in a different jurisdiction, sometimes hundreds of miles away. The end result is that property is taken off the tax roles in the jurisdiction where the property sits, without any input from the actual taxing entity that still has to provide services. In many cases, the "affordable housing" isn't even really all that much more affordable. This bill is moving fast as there has been a race to complete as many of these deals as possible knowing that legislative action was forthcoming. Developers, housing authorities, affordable housing advocates, and local governmental entities are all aligned in support of this bill.

House Bill 21 (By Gary Gates)

Status (5/15): This bill has passed completely and been sent to the Governor.

This bill is a large, "omnibus" reform of Housing Finance Corporations and includes some of the language from House Bill 1585. It will have far reaching impacts on the ability of these housing entities to create issues for ESDs and we will be talking much more about it in the future.

House Bill 485 (By Philip Cortez)

Status (5/15): This bill was left pending in the House Ways and Means Committee

This bill would've allowed ESDs to repeal the exemption on sales tax for residential gas and electric utility sales, as municipalities are already allowed to do. This bill has been on the SAFE-D platform for a few sessions and finally received a hearing this session, which is a step forward. We were thankful to have the chance to explain this bill in a public platform. Kudos to Josh Brown of Bexar County ESD 2 for testifying and advocating so well on behalf of this proposal.

PROBLEM BILLS

Senate Bill 19 (By Mayes Middleton)

Status (3/27): Passed the Senate and referred to the House State Affairs Committee.

This is the bill that would cancel our ability to effectively advocate for Emergency Services Districts at the Legislature. Proponents of the measure refer to the bill as banning "taxpayer funded lobbying," which is something that sounds great, but loses its luster when explained fully. These bills actually Silence Local Officials, effectively allowing the Legislature to operate in a SILO, away from local government taxpayer advocacy.

This bill would restrict individual ESDs from hiring legislative advocates. It would also bar ESDs from being a member of SAFE-D if SAFE-D contracted with legislative advocates.

It would require volunteer Emergency Services District Commissioners to take an even larger individual role in communicating with the Legislature on ESD bills. It's important to remember that the work SAFE-D and individual ESDs do at the Capitol is ON BEHALF OF the local taxpayer. This bill eliminates the ability to speak for your constituents on legislation that could dramatically affect their life safety and protection of property.

OTHER BILLS OF INTEREST

Senate Bill 2778 (by Adam Hinojosa) has passed the Senate. The bill would allow ESDs to raise the level of expenditure that requires ESD Board approval. The bill's companion, House Bill 1646 (by John Lujan), has passed the House. Amazing work by the Bexar County ESDs that have taken the lead on this.

Senate Bill 628 (by Judith Zaffirini - allowing counties to contract with ESDs for fire code enforcement) has passed the Senate. The House companion, House Bill 1701 (by Lulu Flores), has been voted out of Committee, but not reported to Calendars yet, so it did not clear the deadline to pass the House.

House Bill 3000 (by Ken King - the proposed Rural Ambulance Grant Program) has passed the House and been referred to the Senate Finance Committee. We're hopeful this one is in good shape as our County friends have been working hard on it. Special thanks to some of our rural ESDs like Falls County ESD 1 and Southwest Leon County ESD 2, who have been instrumental in securing their representatives' support on this measure.

House Bill 3687 (by Sam Harless - requiring certain certifications for ESD Fire Marshals) has passed the House and been recommended for the Senate Local & Uncontested Calendar by the Senate Local Government Committee. 

House Bill 3977 (by Jon Rosenthal - allowing a "Meet and Confer" process for ESDs) has passed the House.