Watson Wire: Surviving the Legislature

Hating on Austin is a favorite political pastime in the Texas Capitol. And in Austin, hating on those in the Capitol is a pretty good way to score political points, too. It’s been especially intense these past few years — in both directions.

This was my first legislative session as mayor (this time) and only the second session since I left the Texas Senate. I've been working to ratchet down the antipathy between the city and state since I came into office in January by opening the lines of communication, finding workable policy solutions and making bad bills less bad. I do this to better serve the people of Austin and get better results for our city while always honoring Austin values. We’re seeing positive results.

There were very real threats to the City of Austin during this legislative session – some of which actually threatened the very existence of the Capital City. With the regular legislation session closing on Monday, I’m pleased to tell you that Austin still exists!

Of course, we didn’t stop everything bad and there is an ongoing, concerted effort to restrict the authority of all Texas cities (we’ll save that conversation for another day). But we did get a few good bills through that help our city…shhh, don’t tell anyone. All things considered, we did pretty well at stopping or changing a lot of bills specifically aimed at hurting Austin.

Austin Light Rail

Our biggest win was saving Austin Light Rail from a last-minute Senate amendment that would have killed the financing for the voter-approved infrastructure project. The amendment passed without a public hearing, discussion or debate.

From the start, there was legislation that was expressly meant to overturn the will of Austin voters and kill Austin Light Rail. The “policy” justification kept shifting as the bill moved through the process. It was admitted that the bill wasn’t really about policy but rather was always intended to stop light rail – and that was evidenced by the ways the process was manipulated.

Throughout the legislative session, I negotiated in good faith with the objective of protecting this long-sought community investment for generations to come, even if that meant coming back to the voters. If the deal we made in the House had been honored, there would be legislation today.

But, as I said, if the ultimate goal was to kill light rail in Austin, they couldn't do that with a fair election here. So instead, they moved the goal posts again, declared yet another reason to oppose light rail, and used a hastily drafted Attorney General advisory opinion that isn’t law to justify jamming through a last-minute amendment that essentially re-wrote the House version.

Fortunately, we worked with Rep. Bucy and our House delegation and we were able to stop that amended version of the bill. And, ironically, now we have a clearer path forward, thanks to that same Attorney General opinion.

So, legally, we’re in a stronger position today than we were just a few months ago. The guidance from that opinion helps inform our next actions.

We could see new legislative challenges. We could also see litigation from those who lost the 2020 election and ran to the Legislature to undermine the will of the voters…but for now we’re going to continue our efforts and look forward to the day when light rail is up and running in Austin.

Austin Energy

Austin Energy also faced an existential threat from the Legislature, in large part due to the extended power outage following Winter Storm Mara. Lawmakers filed 9 bills specifically targeting just AE and some of them would’ve bankrupted our city-owned utility and/or the city itself.

I ran for mayor saying we needed to shake things up at City Hall and better provide basic services, including at Austin Energy. And the management of Winter Storm Mara was a prime example of the need for a shake-up, which is why you’ve seen significant management changes at the top levels of the city. My message to state lawmakers was that, together with the Interim City Manager, we were in a much better position than the Legislature to make smart, effective changes to the utility that protect our customers and our taxpayers.

Not a one of the AE bills passed.

There’s still a lot to unpack about the legislative session and how it will affect Austin going forward. On some issues, we’re now subject to new restrictions and less local control. On others, the City Council now has an opportunity to craft policies in the best interest of the City of Austin rather than having them imposed by the Legislature. That is a win.