Harris County commissioners have nearly 500 agenda items for the May 8 meeting.
Items worth mentioning
A request for discussion by the county’s administration office will be about the upcoming 2026 FIFA World Cup. The topic will discuss coordinative activities related to the event that could benefit Houston economically by more than $1.5 billion from the seven matches that will be hosted in the city next year, as previously reported by Community Impact.
Harris County Precinct 3 Commissioner Tom Ramsey is requesting a discussion on the vacancy at the Harris County Attorney’s office. Harris County commissioners are still in the process of appointing a new individual to fill the vacant county attorney position after Christian Menefee formally resigned from his position March 17 with the announcement of his campaign to run for the U.S. Congress District 18 position.
Also of note
Harris County Precinct 4 Commissioner Lesley Briones will ask to speak about an interlocal agreement between Houston and the Harris County Toll Road Authority regarding fire and emergency services reimbursements.
Senate Bill 2722, authored by Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, passed the Senate committee stage as of April 30. According to the bill’s analysis, the bill would specifically require 70% of excess HCTRA revenue to be distributed to the county for use on county roads, and a majority of that funding would be distributed to commissioner precincts based on the percentage of roads owned and maintained in each precinct.
The bill, if passed, would change how excess toll road revenue is distributed. Briones spoke out against the bill during commissioner’s court April 10.
“Let us clarify that we are not spending our mobility dollars on mobility projects. That is false. We spend mobility dollars on mobility projects, period, full stop. Dispel that myth," Briones said. "Those funds and our HCTRA is the best run toll road in the country and this further evidenced by the fact that [the Texas Department of Transportation] has so much faith and confidence that we are now helping to manage their back office."
What else?
A public hearing will take place May 8 before the potential adoption of 18 different election precincts in the county. The boundary revisions, the agenda states, are to ensure the county is compliant with the Texas Election Code, which requires a voting precinct to have 100-5,000 registered voters, according to the state election code’s language.
Voting precincts up for revision include areas such as:
- Atascocita
- Cypress
- Tomball
- Hockley
- River Oaks
- Humble
- Katy
Harris County Commissioners Court meetings are held at 10 a.m. in Downtown Houston, 1001 Preston St., Houston. Meetings are also available to livestream here.
Lizzy Spangler contributed to this report.
