Special Session on 2027 State and Federal Legislative Priorities – June 11, 2026
Special Session on 2027 State and Federal Legislative Priorities – June 11, 2026
On June 11, 2026, the San Antonio City Council held a special session to receive briefings on the 89th Texas Legislative interim session and the 119th U.S. Congress, and to begin developing the city's state and federal legislative programs for 2027. Government Affairs Director Sally Basurto presented an overview of recent legislative activity, grant successes, and the timeline for crafting the next agendas. Council members provided feedback and outlined their priorities.
Discussion Items
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State Legislative Overview: Sally Basurto reported that over 9,000 bills were filed during the 89th Texas Legislature (2025), of which 2,200 were tracked by the city and 260 enacted impacting municipalities – a 12% increase in bills filed and 22% more tracked compared to the 88th session. The city secured over $174 million in competitive grants in 2023-2024. In 2025, 15 grant applications were submitted. The presentation covered interim charges, property tax reform proposals (governor's plan capping local spending growth to the lesser of population plus inflation or 3.5%, and lieutenant governor's alternative plan increasing the homestead exemption to $180,000 for homeowners aged 55 and $240,000 for seniors), and key federal priorities including surface transportation reauthorization, housing funding (CDBG, HOME, CSBG), and military affairs (DHA consolidation, new VA medical center).
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Councilmember McKee Rodriguez (IGR Chair): Outlined a theme of affordability and opportunity, emphasizing the "big four": housing, education, healthcare, and transportation. Stressed protecting local ordinances, municipal utilities, and opposing discriminatory bills. Called for a pro-worker agenda including raising the minimum wage and expansive public school education and child care. Encouraged building relationships with delegation members and other Texas cities to align efforts.
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Councilmember White: Expressed opposition to taxpayer-funded lobbying but acknowledged the professionalism of the city's team. Criticized the city's lobbyists for opposing a state bill that exempted small business equipment from property taxes without prior council discussion; the bill passed and costs the city $9.2 million annually. Supported the governor's property tax proposal requiring two-thirds voter approval for tax increases and appraisal caps. Called for a clearer legislative agenda with specific priorities rather than broad language like "protection of fiscal stability."
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Councilmember Corr: Questioned whether the $9.2 million lost could have been redirected to actual small business support, noting the majority of the exemption benefited large commercial businesses. Suggested the city could have sought amendments to target smaller businesses.
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Councilmember Castillo: Highlighted district priorities including corrections re-entry (Bexar County Reentry Center), juvenile justice reform, environmental regulation of auto metal recyclers, mental health facilities diversion, homelessness prevention, public education, and healthcare worker wages. Requested tracking of specific interim charges and monitoring bills on obscene material possession.
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Councilmember Mesa Gonzalez: Emphasized the importance of collaborating with smaller South Texas cities due to San Antonio's smaller congressional delegation. Asked about the status of the new VA hospital (funding in president's budget for land acquisition, environmental impact statement completed). Inquired how council-approved priorities guide bill positions; staff noted the IGR committee provides regular direction.
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Councilmember Viecaran: Stressed advocating for quality of life, economic opportunities, infrastructure, and working with school districts. Noted the value of National League of Cities and Texas Municipal League memberships for region-wide perspective and household-level impacts.
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Councilmember Galvan: Supported public health, Medicaid expansion, ACS, education funding, childcare, and data center regulation regarding local control (citing governor's recent PUC directive). Asked for better alignment of legislative agenda with SA to DC trip priorities and further collaboration with chambers.
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Councilmember Mungia: Appreciated the team's work, noted the value of San Antonio's collaborative public-private approach in grant applications. Encouraged partnership with South Texas cities for economic development and supporting CPS Energy and SAWS on transmission projects. Inquired about the RFQ for state lobbying services; staff confirmed it is open, with recommendations expected in August/September via the IGR committee.
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Mayor Jones: Asked for a performance scorecard to assess the effectiveness of the lobbying team compared to other Texas cities like Houston and Dallas. Requested faster fiscal impact analysis during sessions and a cumulative unfunded mandates count. Highlighted priorities: public health, transportation, affordable housing, veterans, trade agenda (USMCA renewal), immigration (visas for tech and healthcare), public education (school voucher impacts), and supporting SAWS and CPS Energy. Called for understanding consequences of a potential doubling of voucher funding.
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City Manager Jeff Dailey and Staff: Responded that fiscal impacts are calculated quickly but require focus on moving bills. The city uses the adopted legislative agenda to guide positions. The IGR committee will provide detailed updates and allow for adjustments. The team is conducting outreach to potential new federal lawmakers. The RFQ for state lobbying services is open until later in June.
Key Outcomes
- Next Steps: The IGR committee will continue meeting to gather departmental priorities and develop a draft legislative program by August/September 2026. Full council briefings are planned for October, with bill pre-filing on November 9, 2026, and the 90th Texas legislative session beginning January 12, 2027.
- Direction: The council directed staff to provide more explicit fiscal impact analyses and performance metrics for lobbying consultants, including comparisons with other large Texas cities on grant awards. Council members will submit memos with specific priorities.
- Process: The state legislative agenda will focus on preserving municipal authority, protecting fiscal stability, and opposing unfunded mandates. The federal agenda will emphasize housing, transportation, military, aviation, and community development block grants. The city will monitor interim charges on local government spending, property tax relief, mental health, homelessness, and economic development tools.
Meeting Transcript
The time is now 103 p.m. on Wednesday, June 11, 2026, and the City of San Antonio special session is called to order. Madam Clerk, please call roll. Councilmember Corps. Councilmember McKee Rodriguez. Councilmember Viacron. Here. Councilmember Mungia. Councilmember Castillo. Here. Councilmember Galvan. Councilmember Allerete Gavito. Here. Councilmember Mesa Gonzalez. Councilmember Spears. Councilmember White. Mayor Jones. Mayor, we have quorum. Great. Thanks, Madam Clerk. So this special meeting will include briefing on the 89th Texas Interim legislative session and the 119th U.S. Congress and the development of the next state and federal legislative programs. Maria, over to you. Thank you, Mayor. Good afternoon, Mayor and Council. So today's presentation, we are going to give you an update on state and federal legislative efforts as well as ongoing activities and more importantly, talk about the process and timeline to develop the state and federal agendas that will begin in January of 2027. Our government affairs director, Sally Basurto is here to provide those briefings and also, of course, to get your feedback as we begin this process. So with that, Sally. Thank you, Maria. Good afternoon, Mayor and Council. Sally Basurto, Director for Government Affairs. As Maria stated, my presentation today, I will be providing an overview on state, federal legislative activity, federal legislative activity, as well as a grants update and the process that involves the grant funding advocacy efforts between us, elected officials, our community partners, and our federal consultants. We are involved in these efforts in order to expand the opportunities for San Antonio and to garner additional funding opportunities through the state and federal level funding opportunities. We do this in partnership with city departments, city council, and the city manager's office and other stakeholders across the community. Our work is amplified in Austin and in DC through the support of our Austin and DC consultants. Key functions to look at here in coordination with the mayor council city manager and city departments, development of the city's legislative programs, review of federal and state legislation to determine that impact to the city, engaging in advocacy with San Antonio's elected delegations and local issues, and ultimately to secure state and federal funding for the community priority projects to help supplement uh the city's general fund. On to the state legislature uh bill filing history, a little bit of background information here. There is a clear trend at the legislature. More and more city impactful bills are being filed year after year. As you see here, in the 88th legislative session in 2023, 8,000 plus bills were filed, a thousand eight hundred bills were tracked by the city, GA, city departments, and the city attorney's office. 230 bills were enacted impacting municipalities. Fast forward one year, two years to 2025 during the 89th. Over 9,000 bills were filed, 2200 bills were tracked by the city, and over 260 bills were enacted impacting municipalities. This equals to an increase of about 12 percent more bills filed in the last session and approximately 22 percent additional bills filed that had to be reviewed, monitored, and analyzed by GA and city departments to determine the COSA impact. Our work is complemented by regularly reporting uh regular updates to the IGR committee and the city council. Uh, by way of background, uh I presented a session recap to the full council on June 12, 2025. We sent an end of session report to the council on June 25th after the special sessions. A report was also sent to the city council on September 5, 2025. Uh special note, we couldn't do this without the participation and the active collaboration of city departments across the city. Here is another uh data slide related to competitive grants.
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