City staff review 2025 Texas legislative session outcomes and next steps for Georgetown advocacy

Leah (city legislative lead) presented a high-level recap of the 2025 Texas legislative session, described the city's advocacy activities and summarized bills of local interest that passed or stalled.

City staff said they tracked more than 1,300 bills and engaged in written comments, testimony and constituent outreach. The presentation credited the city's legislative-ambassador communications work and partnerships with groups such as the Capital Area Council of Governments and Texas Municipal League for amplifying Georgetown's positions. Staff reported that some priority items succeeded, including legislation regarding alternative-sourced rainfall/HOA watering (House Bill 517 was cited as enacted) and a city-requested automatic-sprinkler/ASR-related change (staff said an ASR bill is already in effect). Staff described an at-large win in which several potentially far-reaching preemption bills and finance bills did not pass, and they said other items of interest (hotel-qualification projects, a package-plant permitting bill) will require further work during the interim.

Leah summarized bills of particular municipal relevance and their status: several bills concerning housing and zoning passed in bracketed form or with population thresholds that exempted Georgetown (for example, a small-lot bill and some apartment-site provisions were limited to cities over specified population sizes); Senate Bill 1883 (impact-fee changes) was discussed in relation to TIF timing and a three-year pause that staff said would affect local impact-fee authority; and multiple utility and water bills advanced or stalled with possible future impact (the state appropriated one-time funding for water infrastructure and established new programs for water and energy matters). Staff emphasized the need to continue work on the package-plant permitting issue with TCEQ during the interim and to ask legislative committees for interim study charges.

Council members and staff discussed next steps: staff will continue interim outreach, prepare to present at the Texas Municipal League conference, expand the legislative ambassadors mailing list and provide more targeted materials so residents know which offices to contact on specific bills. Staff said they will return with requests for any interim hearings the council wishes to pursue and with recommendations for focused advocacy and possible budget allocations to support sustained engagement ahead of the next session.