At a June 18 City Council meeting, community representatives were appointed to serve on Sugar Land’s Legislative Citizen Task Force as the city gears up for the 89th Texas Legislature slated to begin in 2025.

Two-minute impact

The city’s legislative citizen task force is responsible for acting as community advocates and will ultimately make a recommendation on the state legislative agenda for City Council’s consideration, according to agenda documents.

Additional responsibilities include:

• Reviewing and providing feedback on legislative position statements
• Providing citizen perspectives in discussions with city staff and partners

Council approved creating the task force on March 19, and applications were open to the public from March 20-April 10.

Zooming in

The committee is composed of 13 community representatives, who were selected from applications submitted. Appointed volunteers include:

• Rashmi Shah, homeowner
• Madhu Narayanasamy, homeowner
• Pati Cacolice Hildebrand, business owner
• Suresh Karayil, business owner
• Patricia Houck, business owner
• David James, representative serving on a Sugar Land board or commission
• Bob Barbour, representative serving on a Sugar Land board or commission
• Prateek Verma, graduate of Sugar Land 101, a community program educating residents on Sugar Land government
• Jim Vonderhaar, homeowners association representative
• Jefferson Ren, student
• Beth Martinez, Fort Bend ISD staff representative
• Jon Maxwell, Lamar Consolidated ISD staff representative
• Jennifer Strobel, Fort Bend County staff representative

Looking ahead

The committee’s service will run from June 2024 to December 2025, with the 89th Texas legislative session running from Jan. 14-June 2, 2025.