The Woodlands Township looks to 2025 legislative session as Beryl recovery continues

In late July, local businesses were feeling the effects of extended closures following damage from Hurricane Beryl, The Woodlands Township officials said.

“A full assessment of the impact of Beryl on our local businesses is still underway,” said Ann Snyder, The Woodlands Township board of directors chair, during in-person testimony to the Texas Legislature on July 30. “Many small-business owners, particularly those in CenterPoint’s area with prolonged outages, have reported crushing financial burdens due to the extended and extended closures.”

What residents should know

Board members have focused on potentially working with the Texas Legislature in 2025 to prevent future power outages from impacting the community.

On July 24, the board approved a lobbying contract with Williams Public Affairs to provide services starting Aug. 1. While the 89th legislative session does not start until January, a number of special hearings are being held in Austin through October regarding CenterPoint Energy’s handling of the power outages. CenterPoint serves Creekside Park in The Woodlands.

“CenterPoint displayed static maps that were commonly inaccurate to say the least,” Snyder said during one of the hearings on July 29. “As a result, our township staff resorted to regularly driving our CenterPoint service area to report operable street lights to give us somewhat of a reliable indicator that power had been restored somewhat.”

Township members also approved forming a governmental ad hoc committee to provide input to the state Legislature during proceedings relating to:

• Understanding the landscape of electricity service providers
• Monitoring state regulatory and interim legislative activities regarding the preparation and response to hurricanes
• Recommending initiatives for ensuring adequate, reliable electrical service

In their words

“Some of the most powerful politicians and legislators in the state are very upset [about the outages]," township board member Kyle Watson said. "So we want to make sure that to the extent there are discussions, that they know what our position and desires are.”

Going forward

The 89th Texas legislative session will begin Jan. 14 and run through June 2, pending any additional special sessions called by the governor. According to schedules published on the Legislature website, hearings will be held regarding energy resiliency and disaster preparedness initiatives through October.

Any bills proposing changes based on the effects of Hurricane Beryl will not be able to be filed until the first day of the official legislative session. However, in testimony provided to the Senate on July 29, Snyder said township officials would like to have some kind of fix implemented by the end of the session for future hurricanes.

“I'm asking you, on behalf of all of us, everyone who was affected throughout the Greater Houston area, I implore that something must be done. Change must happen,” Snyder said.