Council receives State Congressional Session update

When the Annetta City Council convened on Thursday, June 15, the first order of new business was to get informed about how the changes made during the State Congressional Session in Austin would impact the way the council is able to manage local governmental business.

Craig Farmer, president of Municipal Planning Services, LLC, spent over an hour advising the council of new laws that were passed by the Texas Legislature during the spring session. 

“The Texas Legislature is continuing to reduce the local control of cities and counties in the management and regulation of growth and development,” Farmer stated at the top of his presentation as he read from his PowerPoint. “This session of the legislature continued with the trends in loss of local control of past legislative sessions.”

While the Texas Legislature only meets on odd-numbered years, the 2023 Legislative Session was an active one. In total, the legislature introduced 11,807 bills from January 10, when the session began to May 29, when it concluded with the House introducing 70% of those bills. Nearly 40% of those bills (4,550) were passed. Governor Greg Abbott signed 873 of those bills into law and another 3,567 went into law on June 16 without the Governor’s signature.

Of particular interest to the City of Annetta, Farmer pointed to Senate Bill 2440, among others. Bill 2440 states that cities and counties must now require plat applications to have an attached statement from a licensed engineer to certify adequate groundwater availability in order to develop a subdivision where groundwater is the main water supply. 

The other order of new business brought before the council was regarding placement of a “deaf child area” sign. The proposal for the sign was brought before the council by the child’s mother along with a pair of supporters to speak on their behalf. After some back-and-forth between the parties and the council regarding the city taking no stance on a sign placed on private property, the council motioned to add a vote for a sign to be placed in the easement to the July meeting. Councilman for Place 3, Bruce Pinckard, stated he expects the vote to be unanimous and the sign to be placed in short order thereafter.