Legislative Advocacy and Alerts
Get involved with APATX legislative advocacy efforts!
THE 89TH SESSION OF THE TEXAS LEGISLATURE
View the APATX Advocacy Committee Legislative Bill Tracker
VOTE ALERTS
Last Updated: 5/23/25 at 4:00 PM
What to do: Please review the alerts below and either attend and testify or submit your position (today) to the Committee and your Senator.
SB 1567 (Bettencourt): Prohibits cities from defining “occupancy” of a dwelling unit on the basis of familial status, relationship status, age, or occupation. As amended, SB 1567 only applies to cities with an institute of higher learning, which includes a broad range of institutions (dental schools, junior colleges, universities etc.-ref. education code chapter 61) that would apply to many communities. READ OUR ANALYSIS
SB 2965 (Creighton): Amends the Health and Safety Code 775.022 relating to territory in an emergency services district (ESD) that is annexed by a municipality. If a city completes all the steps to annex land within the ESD, and the city is ready to be the sole provider of emergency service. READ OUR ANALYSIS
HB 23 (Harris): Would allow an applicant to obtain a third-party review on any development document (plat, site plan, building permit, etc.) or a third-party development inspection at any time, regardless of a city or “regulatory agency’s” typical review period. READ THE ANALYSIS
SB 1450 (Bettencourt): Would allow an applicant to obtain a 3rd-party review on any development document (plat, site plan, building permit, etc.), or 3rd-party development inspection at any time, even if there is no delay in a city or “regulatory authority” review or inspection. It removes a final “city CO inspection” and limits the ability to rescind a 3rd party approval. READ THE ANALYSIS
HB 2149 (Tepper): Would significantly change the ability of cities to regulate nonconforming uses and structures. It is being heard in the Senate Local Government Committee TOMORROW, Thursday, May 15, 2025 at 9:00 AM in 2E.20. (Betty King Cmte. Room) READ THE ANALYSIS
SB 673 (Hughes): Would allow one (or more) Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) per Single-Family or Duplex lot in cities, with restrictions on a city's ability to require setbacks, height limits, parking and aesthetics. READ THE ANALYSIS
Prepared Testimony
SB 840 - Multi-Family and Mixed-Use in Commercial Zoning
SB 2477 Multi-Family and Mixed-Use in Commercial Zoning
HB 4398 Low Income Housing Tax Credits
HB 5187 - Multi-Family and Mixed-Use in Commercial Zoning
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The APATX Advocacy Committee is monitoring and evaluating the 2025 89R legislative session with the help of more than 75 APATX members, representing both cities, counties, elected and appointed officials as well as private interests such as consulting firms and developers. The Committee is monitoring almost 200 bills and fully expects the final number to be over 250 bills that have been determined will affect Planning and Development in Texas. The bills are analyzed in the Advocacy Committee Legislative AirTable and are divided into categories by the six Advocacy subcommittees monitoring the legislation. Those 6 subcommittees are Annexation and ETJ, Development Character (Zoning, Platting, Building Codes, etc.), Economic Development/Redevelopment, Environment, Housing, and Transportation. Above is a link to the AirTable containing those bills and by using the search function, a bill can be easily found, with the subcommittee summary of the bill and their level of concern. There is also a link to the actual introduced bill itself, which makes it simple to look up a bill. Feel free to let us know of a bill that is not listed and should be of concern. Also, if you are aware of additional information that would be of interest to the APATX, please let us know. Finally, if you think the APATX Advocacy Committee should have a different opinion, please let us know your reasoning and we will take it into consideration. Even amongst our members there is not unanimity of opinions on certain topics which makes it difficult to develop our position.
The APATX Advocacy email is: advocate@apatexas.org
Feel free to send any comments or suggestions about legislative efforts to this email.
Below are legislative bill alerts in chronological order (most recent alert first) of bills that the Advocacy Committee feels the membership should be aware of and look into, along with a position statement on the bill and whether testimony, letters of support/opposition or emails are needed. House or Senate Committee alerts will also include links to the Committee members so APATX members can determine where they can be most effective.
Handy Links:
- Texas Legislature online - https://capitol.texas.gov/ (Has all links)2. Bill Lookup by number- https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/BillNumber.aspx3. House Committees with links to member information - https://capitol.texas.gov/Committees/CommitteesMbrs.aspx?Chamber=H4. Senate Committees with links to member information – https://capitol.texas.gov/Committees/CommitteesMbrs.aspx?Chamber=S5. Committee meeting calendars and agendas - https://capitol.texas.gov/MnuCommittees.aspx6. House and Senate calendars - https://capitol.texas.gov/MnuCalendars.aspx