Latest news with #BriscoeCain
Yahoo
27-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Texas House panel unanimously rejects bill to put Austin under Legislature's thumb
A bill that would have turned Texas' capital city into the "District of Austin" was dead on arrival in the House State Affairs Committee on Wednesday. In other words, the "DOA" bill was DOA. House Bill 274 by Republican Rep. Briscoe Cain of Deer Park sought to make many of the actions of the Austin City Council subject to review by the speaker of the House and the lieutenant governor. Cain had cited crime and sundry mismanagement allegations as the basis for his bill. The 11 members of the State Affairs Committee apparently thought the measure was kind of silly. Sometimes when lawmakers want to kill a bill, they try talking it to death. This time, they giggled the life out of it. More: Here's what Austin's city manager is proposing for police, property taxes in budget draft State Affairs Chairman Ken King, a Republican from the Panhandle city of Canadian, chuckled as he said Rep. Charlie Geren, R-Fort Worth, had made a motion to pass the bill on to the full House for consideration. Then when Geren actually voted no, there was a snicker or two. By the time King cast the final vote and announced the 11-0 tally, many on the House panel and in the committee room laughed out loud. It was unclear whether Cain found the exercise, which took less than three minutes to play out, amusing. He doesn't serve on the State Affairs Committee and he did not return a Statesman call seeking comment. This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Austin to remain a city, and not a 'district' overseen by Legislature
Yahoo
26-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
‘District of Austin' bill voted down by Texas House committee
Editor's Note: The above video is KXAN's previous coverage of HB 274. AUSTIN (KXAN) — House Bill 274, otherwise known as the 'District of Austin' bill, was voted down 11-0 by the House Committee on State Affairs PAST COVERAGE | 'Throwing stones': Lawmaker behind District of Austin bill challenged in hearing The bill, which was introduced March 19, would have stripped the city of Austin of its governing authority and turned it into the District of Austin. A similar bill was filed in 2022, but it was also voted down. Rep. Briscoe Cain, R-Houston, who authored the bill, previously said HB 274 would help ensure Austin remained accountable to Texas by establishing a District of Austin as the official city of the state's government. Cain cited the city's 'surging crime' as a reason for the bill; however, he did not cite a specific report for his claim about Austin's crime rates. Previously, the city of Austin released a memo, opposing the bill and calling it 'vague' and lacking clarity on how the District of Austin would be governed. In a previous hearing, state lawmakers expressed similar concerns. 'Austin's Violent Crime Rate for 2024 is 59.6% lower than Houston, 43.8% lower than Lubbock, and 21.4% lower than San Antonio according to the Texas Department of Public Safety Uniform Crime Reporting System Crime in Texas Report Top 25 Violent Crime Comparison report,' the memo said. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
