Prop B gives Harris County, Houston more say
Floodwaters, as we know, don’t care about arbitrary county lines. Neither do homeowners having to muck out their living rooms because politicians can’t work out a fair regional plan to balance development with downstream flooding risks.
But somebody’s got to care about these vital issues and how they affect individual communities as well as the sweeping swath of 13 counties whose fates are intertwined by nature’s whim and public policy. That’s why the Houston-Galveston Area Council exists. You may not have heard of it, or its acronym H-GAC, but the regional planning body has considerable influence in many issues that affect our daily lives.
Trouble is, the influence of those of us who live in Houston and Harris County — by far the most populous jurisdictions represented on the council — hasn’t kept pace with our growth — or our shifting priorities.
Consider that, after Hurricane Harvey, HGAC approved a plan that designated just 2 percent of $488 million in federal funds to the city of Houston. In another ordeal, the council’s transportation committee OK’d an I-45 highway expansion plan over the concerns of Houston and Harris County and it took a lawsuit and months of bitter back-andforth with the TxDOT to work out a compromise.
It’s clear that Houston and Harris County need more representation on the council and on the eight-county transportation policy committee, where Houston has just three of 28 votes. Yet, when H-GAC agreed to reconsider the voting structure back in 2021, the council, against the urging of Houston and Harris County leadership, ultimately decided to keep the status quo.
They don’t get the last word, though. Houston voters do, thanks to a scrappy grassroots campaign that has put fairness and regional governance on the ballot in November.
Proposition B, a charter amendment, would require Houston’s representatives on the board to either get H-GAC to renegotiate the voting structure to make it more proportional for everyone involved or leave the organization, an option that pretty much all parties agree isn’t desirable and at least some feel isn’t likely, either.
“At the core of our push is that we really believe in democracy and we want to empower our elected officials,” said Ally Smither, communications director with the Yes on Prop B campaign.
All of this may seem wonky or like petty squabbling over a few contentious decisions but the truth is that as the region shifts, the very question of how it should grow is at stake. Does endless highway expansion serve us well? Has development led to downstream flooding? What kinds of walkable infrastructure projects deserve funding? Sure, the bulk of what HGAC does is workforce training but these sorts of planning decisions are critical to our future and this proposition gives the city important leverage to have a real say in that future.
When the campaign first rolled out, some read it as a Houston-versus-Everyone fight but, in our conversations with leadership at H-GAC and with elected officials, it became evident that this effort isn’t about strong-arming the region. It’s about improving the regional planning process for everyone.
The amendment language is intentionally broad and leaves room for a real debate.
“It will be up to the people on the board to define a better proportionately for Houston,” Sallie Alcorn, a Houston City Council member and chair-elect at H-GAC, explained. She’s not involved in the campaign but says she certainly sees the need for it. If she happens to be at the negotiating table, she says she’ll prioritize cooperative relationships. “We don’t want to go the opposite way,” she said. “We don’t want this to be a top-down, Harris County and Houston telling everybody else how it’s going to be.”
There are plenty of what-ifs that this Pandora’s box of a vote could unlock and on some points there isn’t a lot of agreement.
Would Gov. Greg Abbott, for example, need to be involved in approving whatever new structure might come out of this? Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner cautioned that he might but campaign organizers, in consultation with lawyers, argue his role would be limited.
Ultimately we believe this charter amendment will get everyone to the table and make the council work for its members — and for the region as a whole.
Indeed, while Houston is the population center, there’s a good chance that this would also benefit counties like Fort Bend and Montgomery, with large and growing populations. And Alcorn says she’s committed to finding a balance.
“I’ve been really deliberate about driving out to Matagorda County and Waller County and meeting people where they are,” Alcorn said of the general importance of good working relationships. She’s got the right idea.
When H-GAC considered new voting structures in 2021 and early 2022, CEO Chuck Wemple described it as a productive conversation.
“The board is open and has discussed this in the past and I think that they’d be open to it in the future as well,” Wemple told us.
Openness is nice but voters should give Houston leaders a clear mandate to renegotiate the setup of H-GAC. Rarely do we get a chance to help alter the fundamental levers of power behind big decision-making bodies. This election, you do. Vote “For” Prop B.
Regional planning decisions must be made proportional.