Coppell to ask Texas Municipal League to back state changes on public comment, e-bike rules and budget notice timing

At a work session on Aug. 26, the Coppell City Council reviewed three proposed resolutions it plans to submit to the Texas Municipal League asking the state to: codify local public‑comment language, revisit e‑bike classification, and change the deadline for publishing pre‑budget notice from 30 to 21 days so the notice can reflect certified values.

Council members said the package aims to reduce legal exposure, give cities clearer authority on e‑bikes and improve the accuracy of budget notices. “If it's in the state law, then it's gonna remove a lot of the liability from us,” the mayor said when outlining the first request to codify public‑comment language.

The first proposed resolution would ask the Legislature to adopt language similar to what Coppell and other cities already use for public comments so municipalities do not face a patchwork of rules and potential liability. The council said this is intended to standardize practice among cities.

The second request would ask TML to support a reclassification of electric bicycles. Council members and staff said they are receiving increasing complaints about e‑bikes and want the state to recognize that many e‑bikes function more like motorized vehicles than traditional bicycles. Council discussion focused on whether the city should ask the Legislature to specify regulatory language or simply request authority to treat e‑bikes differently; no final text was adopted at the work session.

The third proposed resolution would ask the state to move the deadline for the required pre‑budget publication so municipal notices can rely on certified appraisal district values. Under the current schedule, staff said, cities often must publish estimated tax numbers before the county appraisal district has certified values; the proposed change is to shorten the pre‑budget publication window so certified values are available. Council members discussed an alternative option—asking the appraisal district to publish certified values earlier—but flagged that appraisal timing is a state‑level process with many constraints.

City staff said the three items would be prepared as separate resolutions, must be approved by the council before submission to TML, and must be submitted by Sept. 15 for consideration at TML’s annual business meeting. The mayor noted that mayors are the voting members at TML’s business meeting and that the resolutions are often addressed there.

No formal vote on the resolutions was taken at the Aug. 26 work session; staff said the three resolutions will appear as separate items on the next council agenda for formal action.