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.

As you can see here, this slide focuses on grants that we received in the previous Congress, grant submissions in the current.

Through proactive efforts, we helped secure over 174 million in competitive grants.

In 2025, a presidential transition year, as expected, agencies had a slow start in rolling out grant opportunities.

Sometime latter part of 2025 was when these funding opportunities started to become available.

Since this time frame, we have submitted over 15 grant applications.

At 15 submissions, we have met our target, but we will continue to move forward through the remainder of the year to submit additional opportunities for San Antonio.

I want to give kudos to the grants teams that are within not just GA but the city departments staff who handled grant agreements in an expeditious way during the presidential transition year, allowed us to be able to keep many of those grants that other cities saw reduction in funds by the previous administration.

Here's a closer look at grant partnerships, collaborating across all levels to secure funding and deliver results for the community.

The pursuit of grants is a multi-layer process that requires the GA team and consultants to proactively advocate at the state and federal level.

This advocacy includes outreach, engagement of elected officials, external stakeholders, in coordination with city departments.

The IGR committee will help to enhance these efforts through their guidance and leadership.

Government affairs provide support to city departments throughout the life cycle of a grant.

This includes the strategic planning and development of a project to submit funding opportunities in order to bring those wins to San Antonio.

Additionally, launched in 2024, GA manages the grant managers hub channel on teams.

This is a tool for city departments that allows them to have access to GA technical support, templates, city plans, and access to past trainings.

Our support to the city departments includes pre-award and post-award activities.

A little bit more on the state legislative program.

We're working towards the new session in 2027, and currently the state legislature is in its 2026 interim session.

This is a working period between the regular session when lawmakers and committees are actively holding hearings to study specific interim charges to help prepare for the next legislation year, the 90th regular session in this case beginning in 2027.

This last March, the speaker and the lieutenant governor released their interim charges.

These charges are comprised of key topics that committees will review before the next session.

The GA team will monitor all relevant hearings and those discussions and share that information with the city manager, city council, city attorney, and of course the IGR committee.

These committee discussions and reports will help to inform our advocacy efforts as we prepare for 2027.

Of interest so far, there have been two committee hearings that we have been closely monitoring.

On May 21st, the Senate Water Ag Committee heard testimony on water utility to utility revenue transfers and wastewater utility revenues to general funds.

The chairman highlighted that there were still many more discussions to be had and that the needs were significant for investments across the state to improve infrastructure that was water related, and this would happen only through partnership with state, federal, and local levels.

On June 4th, the House Select Committee on Government Oversight her testimony on the Texas Regulatory Consistency Act or HB 2127.

2127 was a law that was passed in 2023 that prevents cities and counties from enacting or enforcing local ordinances that overstep state laws.

Of course, that law passed, and there's still ongoing discussions on how this particular law has evolved.

Here, the chair too expressed interest in understanding how 2127 had been enacted and whether significant problems had emerged.

There are other various interim charges that we are still monitoring throughout this period that include local government spending, property tax relief, mental health impacts, homelessness, housing affordability, and some other economic development tools, such as the project finance zones.

As well as a special note here, state agencies are awaiting the governor's guidance and instructions on submitting legislative appropriations requests.

Guidance is expected later this month, and we will be tracking that information closely.

Mostly because there is speculation that agents will be asked by the governor for some reductions that will impact their budget somewhere within the range of one to three percent.

That guidance remains to be seen, so we will track that and continue to provide updates to you.

Property tax reform proposals will be at the forefront again in 2027.

In November 2025, the governor's proposal includes sweeping overhaul of property tax systems, including capping local spending growth to the lesser of a population plus inflation or 3.5%.

In January of this year, the Lieutenant Governor's Plan was released, and it includes an alternative plan that builds on previous legislation from the previous sessions, including increasing the homestead exemption.

That homestead accession proposal includes increasing it to 180,000 for homeowners at 55 years of age and for senior homeowners, increasing that to 240,000.

There's more to come there.

We are expecting that the governor will release additional priorities in the beginning of 2027 for his uh during his state of the city address, state of the state address.

Here's the 90 session program development milestones that I wanted to share with you.

February through the summer, we have been diligently coordinating with city departments and communicating on preparing a draft program for year review feedback and authorization throughout the month of August and September, we will be providing briefings and obtaining feedback from the IGR Council Committee.

In October of 2026, we are aiming to bring the program and obtain feedback from the non-IGR council members, the full council.

November 9, 2026 is bill pre-filing, and we're working towards the beginning of the 90 and session on January 12, 2027.

This work encompasses many months with the assistance of city departments, and we will continue to provide those reports back to the IGR committee.

Regarding the state legislative program and its composition, in order for us to be able to provide you a solid draft for your consideration and ultimate approval, we need to make sure that there is a lot of effort behind and thoughtfulness as we put this draft program together.

It is very important to say that through the preservation of municipal authority and self-governance, that needs to be part of those programs.

Protection of fiscal stability and local revenue authority against unfunded mandates is one of the guiding principles that we need to ensure as we're working to protect the city's interest in Austin.

The recommended program is generated through many discussions and coordination.

We will bring you this program for your evaluation and authorization.

We accomplish this through policy direction, legislative advocacy, and collaborative sessions with you, the city manager, and community partners.

It is important to note that we anticipate again that in 2027, the majority of our advocacy efforts will be on defense mode.

On to the federal legislative program, we're working towards the 120th Congress to begin in 2027.

However, we are still working on the 119th Congress, so there's still work to be accomplished.

For the 119th Congress, here's a look at recent advocacy efforts.

On the housing and transportation fronts, for housing funding, as expected, the president in his FY27 proposed budget proposed significant cuts to HUD programs.

Those are programs that our housing teams and cities across the country depend on for housing related support services and initiatives and programming.

We communicated our concerns in coordination with our housing team to ensure that our appropriators and the rest of our congressional delegation were aware of those concerns, and we requested their support.

These priority programs include the community development block grants, CDBG, home investment partnership, and the community services block grant.

On the transportation policy and funding front, the Surface Transportation Act will expire in September 2026.

Some of the priority programs that we are tracking and monitoring closely and requesting support that these programs must be included, include safe streets and roads for all, build grant, and the surface transportation block grant, which includes a large block of funds for cities across the country in order to be able to advance transportation infrastructure projects.

This Congress has been engaged in these discussions, and in particular, the House released their Build America 250 Act, which is the renewal of the Surface Transportation Bill.

Last month, the House Infrastructure Committee passed the bill overwhelmingly with a vote of 62 to 2.

Continuing recent advocacy efforts extends to supporting aviation funding, in particular for terminal development and airfield improvements.

Congratulations goes out to the airport team for two grant awards through the ATP program totaling over 30 million dollars.

Military affairs advocacy to preserve, protect, and grow military missions is always at the top of our federal advocacy agenda.

Those priority programs include consolidation of the Defense Health Agency and the proposed new VA medical center.

Continued efforts to consolidate DHA at JBSA are ongoing.

The city obtained a DAG grant of $5 million for the South Beach Pavilion Restoration and renovation of the pavilion to better position San Antonio as a long-term hub for military medicine, healthcare administration, and medical readiness operations.

The city also supports the creation of the new VA Center in San Antonio.

This project would replace the Audi Murphy Memorial Veterans Hospital with a modern state-of-the-art medical center.

Good news: a recently completed record of decision made a significant milestone in this process that demonstrates continued federal commitment to this project.

Additional 119th items to watch.

There is a limited amount of time of working days for Congress in 2026.

These are the key legislative items being tracked this session.

Appropriations, surface transportation reauthorization, and a very large road to housing act.

As we shared with the council members during in DC during SA to DC and with the IGR committee members, congressional appropriations is an annual process, but it is almost never completed on time.

Again, this year we anticipate an appropriations continuing resolution or CR will be passed in order to keep agencies funded and to give Congress more time for bills to be passed for 2027.

There are 12 spending bills that fund federal agencies, and the House committees have considered 10 of those 12 bills.

However, the Senate is lagging behind and they are yet to consider any bills.

The Surface Transportation Reauthorization was considered by the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and passed with a vote of 62 to 2.

The Road to Housing Act passed in May, and it is now back at the sentence for the Senate for concurrence.

Federal program dates of interest and milestone.

This month we are beginning our collaboration and communication with city departments that will extend through the summer months.

We look forward to August and September, we will engage the IGR committee, the chairman and the committee members to obtain feedback and provide briefings in October of 2026, taking us November 2026 for full council briefing and feedback, and we'll work towards a session a session briefing and adoption to be ready for January 2027.

Mayor and Council, this completes my presentation.

We are available for questions.

Thank you.

Thank you, Sally.

Appreciate the presentation.

Thanks, Jeff, for my for my pre-brief.

I will highlight some of the questions that I asked in my preview, just pre-brief rather, excuse me, for my colleagues' edification and for the public's edification.

Could you highlight for us uh the ways in which we assess how well we did in the previous session, not only we, but also, you know, as you mentioned, the critical partners that the consultants serve, both at the state and at the federal level.

Um, how do we, frankly, ensure we've got the right team, right?

Helping us advocate uh for each session.

Sure, Mayor.

So, as I mentioned earlier, we um outsource some of the consultant work to Austin firms and in Washington DC.

I feel confident, Mayor, that uh based on all the bill filing that happened at the state level and the collaboration with our consultant teams and with cities across the state, we fared fairly well, considering none of that work would be accomplished if we didn't have a diverse bench of expert consultants in Austin.

That work extends to Washington DC.

The data of the received grants speaks for itself in 2023 and 2024, as I mentioned in my data point, we brought in over 174 million dollars.

Um, the Aiken consultants in DC have a broad range of expert consultants that we are able to involve as emerging issues for the city of San Antonio arise.

Our current team is somewhere between seven and eight consistent uh consultants in DC.

We discuss emerging issues and ongoing work on a bi-weekly basis.

I talk to them every week.

They also provide us with a monthly grant opportunities, briefings related to legislation that is moving.

So there are performance measures that are part of the agreements that we have for these two particular consultant teams uh in Austin and N DC.

I hope that answered your question.

Yeah, I look forward to looking at something in writing that better captures that.

I um appreciate the um the confidence and certainly I can recognize the numbers in terms of the grants, but um whatever kind of scorecard you've got that helps us understand if that's the right team for the next session would be super helpful.

Thank you in advance.

Um I also asked uh as we are obviously always competing with others, it's not just what we get, but how well are we doing with respect you know to Houston and Dallas and and others?

Um, do we have a sense of how well we're faring um against those cities, for example, on the the grants received.

Mayor, we don't track grant funding for other cities.

The focus of my team and I'm sure other city departments, they're focusing on bringing funds from Washington and Austin to San Antonio.

So I I can't say that I have seen numbers where we've had to compare with other cities.

I'd welcome understanding that because I think when we understand kind of what's in the realm of possible, what we are and are not getting, and then understanding why we may not have competed well for that.

I think that's important an important part of our calculus to determine if it's something in our approach or it's something maybe in and who's on their team that's helping us.

So I think some type of assessment that helps us understand that would be very helpful.

Thank you.

Mayor, if I may, what I will add is that the geography of large cities across the state are very different.

And competitive grants we have to compete with large cities across the country like LA, New York, and other large cities.

What I will tell you is that every time we submit for a grant opportunity, it is well vetted to make sure that it aligns with the opportunity.

Additionally, if we are unsuccessful to obtain that grant, we do a lot of outreach with uh the grant funding agency to learn why we did not were able to get that grant opportunity at that time, and those are certainly lessons learned for further opportunities.

Thank you.

How do we, and I I understand that you know, once the agenda is set, it has traditionally been used for the two years, right?

That term, however, at least with this administration, right, and this came up in my conversation with Jeff.

There's a lot of change that is quite consequential.

So I'd welcome your your kind of as you look back on on even just this term, how much has happened, one big beautiful bill, for example, and the impact of that.

And while public health, for example, wasn't necessarily a part of the agenda, certainly we'd have to consider those consequences given the types of bills that are being passed and the immediate and long-term consequences of those.

So can you help us understand how you would work with the council on maybe kind of an interim, right?

Maybe as those big things are coming up, so we can ensure that not only is our advocacy with through the partners sufficient, but also things like SA to DC, that those are actually reflective of the challenges and opportunities that the community is facing at the time.

Thank you, Mayor.

So that's probably a multifaceted uh response.

We are continuously evaluating what the opportunities are for federal funding in Washington, DC.

A lot of that encompasses understanding the administration's uh priorities.

It only makes sense for me to come to the council and the IGR committee and recommend opportunities that I believe will be have a higher opportunity for success.

And so we do that continuously.

We're also working with the National League of Cities and other trade organizations that specialize in whatever area we're looking at housing, transportation, it's homelessness, etc.

And we use their tools in the toolbox as well.

When we're forecasting in this case, uh in election year, there will be a lot of shift within the uh San Antonio Congressional delegation membership.

And so what we're doing there is that our federal consultants have already for months now been doing outreach to uh policymakers that will potentially be filling those seats that will bring opportunities uh to San Antonio because those relationships will have already been built.

We will extend uh that engagement to the IGR council committee, to the chairman and the members, because we believe that their leadership will also be beneficial, as yours would as well, to be able to build those relationships and enhance them once they are in Congress and holding their seats.

We also had a um at the end of last year, we had a um an opportunity that wasn't necessarily part of our agenda, but uh was seen as an opportunity that we had a very short window to take advantage of, which was frankly writing the coattails of Dallas and moving the municipal election from May to November.

So those kinds of things that would not necessarily be our that were not articulated on our legislative agenda, so you wouldn't have known it was a priority.

However, how do you how does the team think about those opportunities for which um may be of interest and and certainly of consequence to a community like ours?

How do we what's what's kind of like a catch-all approach to those kinds of things?

So we at least know that they're an opportunity if we in fact wanted to act on them.

How could we better help you do that?

Sure, mayor.

Well, um, as you saw, just the sheer number of bills that are filed every state session, the bill that you're referring to, I believe is a state bill.

And so even at the federal level, of course, there are thousands and thousands of bills.

Uh, it's not the GA team, uh the only ones that review those bills, it's also other city departments, so I appreciate their support.

Organizations like TML also has um a very broad and deep uh tool to be able to catch those city bills.

Um you did point out that uh some bills are not part of the state or federal program, so those are more difficult, of course, to capture.

Um, however, if you or um the IGR committee or any of the council members bring items to my attention, uh we put those on a short list so that we're able to track those uh for you and be able to provide those regular updates.

We use many toolboxes, uh, many tools in the toolbox.

Um, it isn't a um scientific method to be able to capture everything, but we will I commit to you that we will do our best, um, that if we're aware of a bill that is of interest to the city or concern, we will track it closely.

In addition to everything Sally said, uh mayor, I think this is the value of the IGR committee.

We're we're ready and excited to get back to meeting with the committee as a on a regular basis because that's the opportunity for us to talk about things as they're happening.

Uh executive orders come out of the administration, bills come up that maybe weren't anticipated when the program was put together, and that gives us a chance to discuss and and get feedback from the council and ultimately when we're up in front of all of you in sessions like this, we can gather that feedback and and pivot and adjust if necessary.

But when you look at our agenda, it's really the big picture stuff that we want.

It's housing, it's transportation, it's military, it's airport, it's health, it's um a number of community priorities, and so we can still operate within what the council's told us they want us to try to advance, even if things are changing in DC or Austin.

Yeah, certainly.

Um, appreciate that.

The uh, of course, even absent and IGR though, flagging something like that would not have been um prohibited.

Okay, thank you.

Okay, I'm gonna recognize um our IGR chair, uh Councilman McKee Rodriguez.

I'm really thankful that uh he's agreed to serve as the chair and of his leadership and his expertise in two areas uh are going to be critical for our community education as well as transportation infrastructure.

Uh, we'll ensure that our our city's equities are heard, um, defended, um, and well advocated for.

Councilman.

Thank you, Mayor.

Uh, it is a privilege to be appointed uh to serve as chair of the IGR committee, so thank you for uh placing your trust in me over the past uh several months.

I think since the, and maybe it's only been a month, but since the constitution of this uh committee, I think we've heard a lot about some of our legislative goals and priorities at various committees and at various B sessions, and when I share the news with my constituents and we talk about what our uh about our legislative efforts at the state and federal level, I think we have a duty to explain why it's important and necessary that we do this work, why is it important that we have a legislative agenda to begin with?

And we need to make clear that our goal is to fight for our residents and their communities and that uh and make sure that they know that we're carrying issues that they brought to us that may not be within the city's purview, and we're taking them to the most effective level of a government for that particular issue.

So if I were to summarize what I've heard from my colleagues and constituents alike, our theme for both the state and federal legislative agenda should be affordability and how we make it more affordable for families to succeed in San Antonio, and how do we make San Antonio a place where people from all walks of life know they will be safe and have the opportunity for a vibrant future.

I think this includes the big four.

Uh tried to make it a big three but couldn't do it.

Housing, education, health care, and transportation.

Uh there are some obvious areas that are consistently on our agenda, including protecting our local ordinances and ability to govern, as well as opposing efforts to undermine them.

And we also want to protect our municipal utilities.

That continues to be a subject of uh of legislation legislative efforts.

Uh I think it's also been clear that we want to work as loosely as we as closely as we can with local public school districts because our fates are intertwined, and it's becoming a little bit more, it's becoming more difficult for us to separate our issues from the issues of our neighbor of our school districts, and people are constantly expecting and uh demanding that we engage and that we uh fight for fight for our public schools.

Uh we also need to make sure that our city and state are welcoming to, you know, it's Pride Month, the LGBTQIA plus community, women and other minorities, and that we should actively oppose bills that discriminate, disenfranchise, or otherwise intend to harm marginalized communities.

In addition, you know, going back to affordability, we need to focus on a pro-worker agenda, realizing that San Antonio is a working class community that's made up of a strong hospitality workforce.

We need to work to address affordability, including affordable housing, increased wages.

When was the last time our legislative agenda included uh raising the minimum the minimum wage, as well as expansive public school education and child care?

These are issues that are all pertinent to members of our community and areas where we've been asked to step in.

Over the next several weeks uh and first few months, I've asked staff to compile uh a list of legislative priorities from city departments.

As I mentioned, we've heard from animal care services, development services, SAPD, and others.

So creating a comprehensive review of these needs helps build our foundation.

Uh and this will be shared at a future committee meeting.

And my goal is to also ensure that information and updates given to the committee members are also available and proactively shared with the rest of council.

Uh over the next several months as well.

My hope is that we'll continue to build relationships with those members of our delegation we know will be here and start to build some relationships with those who may be strong contenders in November.

Uh it's every day that we have to build a relationship, is an opportun opportunity for us to uh collaborate.

And I think you know, if we begin those preliminary conversations about who's best to carry our legislative priorities and identify some of those areas where we'll have strong common ground, everyone everyone wants to ensure our infrastructure is improved, we want Texas to be viewed as a place where economic growth can happen, and we want people to know that Texas is a safe place to be, and so how do we move our agenda forward in a strategic way, knowing that a lot of our needs are not partisan in nature.

It's also gonna be critical that we build relationship with those leaders outside of San Antonio and outside of Texas for some of our greatest needs, and we know that the issues and challenges that we face are not dissimilar from uh what's going on in other cities and states uh across the country, including much needed improvements to our affordable housing stock, elimination of egg-grade rail crossings and uh other needs that have been identified.

It would also be to the to the mayor's point, it would also be helpful to know what some of the legislative priorities of other major Texas cities are, uh and maybe we allow them to expend some of their political capital uh and we play a supportive role if needed.

Uh I think this may have helped if we knew in advance what you know what Dallas was doing, what Houston and Austin are really prioritizing, um, I think that may have helped us engage earlier on the topic of November elections.

Uh so what's going on, as I mentioned, in other cities is not uh unrelated to our own context here.

Overall, I'm looking forward to hearing from my colleagues on their priorities and working with you all to build a strong state and federal legislative agenda and to utilize our shared strengths to bring big wig big wins back home to San Antonio.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you.

Councilman White.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um I agree with a little bit of of what's been been said um today.

Uh I want to begin, and I'm not gonna take up too much time again on it, but the issue of taxpayer-funded lobbying um is something that I have a real problem with.

Um I uh again, I'm I'm not gonna repeat the things that I've said over the past year on it, but but I do think it's something that this body should should seriously consider moving forward.

That said, I do want to say that if it's if it's this body's will um to continue with with taxpayer funded lobbying, I do think the folks that we have doing the work for us are really really fine professionals who who go about things and um in the right way, and and Sally and you and your team are um are great and are um trying to carry out the will of this body, and so um, if we are gonna do it, I think we have good folks um working for us there.

Um I think we need a really clear legislative agenda.

And um, and Jeff probably knows I was gonna bring this up because it happened last time around where um our folks were uh I guess against a state bill that would have exempted small business equipment, it would have provided tax relief for small business businesses related to their the equipment that they use.

Yes.

Point of clarification when you say our folks, who you who do you who are you referencing?

Our our lobby.

Our lobbying team.

And um didn't find out about it till till till too late, but that's something that I think this council, if we would have discussed it, would have said we like the idea of providing tax relief to our small businesses.

But we didn't do that, and we actually opposed it, and I believe it's because of this line right here on item 10 on slide 10.

If we could go.

Where it talks about protection of fiscal stability, um the the rationale that was given to me is that if if that bill would have gone through, the city of San Antonio would have lost, you know, X dollars in revenue.

And I think the bill did end up passing, right?

It's in it's in place, and so we did we are gonna lose some revenue there, but again, that's a discussion that I think we should have had.

We should have had.

Uh adds more to their bottom line, allows allows them to hire more San Antonians, allows them to pay our people better wages, uh, but we didn't at that time, and and we actually opposed it.

And so uh using our our lobby folks to do that, I think was was inappropriate, and I think that could have been rectified by having a clearer idea of what our legislative agenda and priorities are or were, and so I think we should do that now.

Um last thing I'm gonna say is um, and again, maybe it relates to this line as well, but the governor has put forth a property tax proposal that I think is really really good.

Um, it would require common sense spending limits uh for cities, it would require two-thirds voter approval for tax increases, it would empower voters to roll back taxes themselves, and it would create appraisal predictability and cap appraisal growth.

Uh, the citizens of Texas are being crushed by property taxes, and I believe the governor's proposal um is a good one, and it's one uh that we should that we should support.

Now, if that is in direct contradiction to this line here on slide 10 about protecting the fiscal stability of this city, I have an issue with that then, and I think that line there protection of fiscal stability is frankly too broad.

Um, because of the example that I that I stated earlier regarding um helping small businesses, and I'm sure there are other examples where this council may be in favor of some things that might not be technically the best for or what some people would view as the best for the bottom line revenue that comes in to our city.

So those are my comments today, Mayor.

Um, I'm glad we're having uh the discussion today, and uh I look forward to to more discussions in this regard because I think it's important um that that we get our priorities straight.

Thank you, Councilman White.

I think that's a I was gonna say if we could spend a little bit of time on that in case it informs anyone else's comments and and questions here.

Um let me go ahead.

You may answer my question, so go ahead.

Okay, Mayor, thank you.

Um, yeah, a couple just to sort of uh relive the history a little bit.

Um that bill applied not just to small businesses but to all businesses, and it exempted personal property taxes, so inventory for whether it's a massive corporation or a small business.

Um you're not wrong.

That language is general in our program that we, as a position over many, many sessions and many years, the council has wanted us to defend our ability to generate revenue for the organization to provide services.

Um bills come fast and furious during the session that there's there they evolve though.

There's hearings in each chamber, there's other committees they move to, there's house debates, and you're right.

We took a position in opposition to that bill at its first hearing early in the session.

We talked about it here at the council.

We ultimately didn't take a position the second time, and it did pass regardless, and uh and is having a fiscal impact on us right now.

So the direction that I got last uh year after that whole discussion from our city manager was we need to be very explicit about fiscal issues.

If you remember, we had a B session then focused specifically on fiscal related legislation, and I think we'll probably do that again going forward, both with the IGR committee and with the whole council.

But we welcome more clarity and more specificity.

We do the best job we can taking the directions we get from this body and acting on them.

And and you're not all gonna agree every time on the positions.

That's kind of the point of an agenda that represents the whole organization.

Thank you, Jeff.

And to your point, if you would if you would actually just.

That's okay.

Um the to the extent as as things are moving through that quickly, and for us to be able to make as data informed decisions, um, and fiscally responsible decisions and and guidance to you as able, um, how quickly can you, you know, kind of run the numbers and help us understand to determine whether or not we'd actually support something, not on you know, like principle, but no kidding, like on the math, right?

You all are able to provide that those kinds of numbers quickly, so we have an understanding of what we are foregoing potentially by supporting.

That's critical.

Our finance department and our budget department uh are hard at work during the session analyzing the impacts of bills to us.

We try to limit what we ask of them to bills that are actually moving, and because there's a thousands as Sally said, but they are quick.

And and what we do is while IgR generally meets monthly out of session, during session, the city manager has put a standing item on council agendas to do briefings here so that we can act more nimbly and make adjustments if directed.

Yeah, thank you.

I want to make sure that we certainly have that, because as you point out, it is an effect uh and it is having um a fiscal uh impact on on us as we are now contemplating raising property taxes to offset the gap in our budget.

Thank you.

Mayor, if please, I may just wanted to add to what um Jiv mentioned that we calculate the fiscal impact of those bills as we are reviewing them.

Specifically the one that accepted exempted personal property from business, it had a financial impact of $9.2 million to our city budget.

Thank you.

Did you want to add something?

Go ahead.

Yeah, and I was gonna say again, I think it got missed last time because that previous city council, we also maximized the uh home the the local homestead exemption um for for our residents.

So that had a financial impact to to the city too, just like this one did for businesses.

I don't know what the council would have done if we would have got to consider it, but we never caught it before, again, after that first hearing, and our folks had already been up there to lobby uh against it.

So I just I'm with you, Mayor, that we need to have, and with Jeff, we need to have clarity on broad statements like this before we get up there next session.

Okay, Maria, do you want to add anything?

Uh thank you, Mayor.

So um what we will continue to do is brief the council at the IGR committee level, and then we come to this body on a regular basis to let you know where we are in the process.

So we will continue to provide those updates and be uh clear on what is it our position is and um and address any questions that you may have as we go through that process.

And you know, as Jeff mentioned, it's so fluid, right?

I mean, you don't know until the end of the session, of course, the cumulative number of your unfunded mandates.

And so, as you're able not only to help us understand the the fiscal impact of these individual bills, but also kind of the aggregate, right?

What is that counter that is helping us?

Okay, that's now it's add this million, add this million, so then we can clearly see because I think what that also does is help us understand as we get to the end of this how hard we've got to push back on some of these things because there's just no more give on these unfunded mandates.

Thank you.

Councilwoman Corr, I know you have to leave.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um to council member White's point, if we had not argued against that, that nine million dollars.

I'm curious, what could we have spent that for for actually our small businesses?

Like if that bill hadn't passed, we that nine million dollars spread apart for all of the businesses in our city, probably the majority of that um was going to our larger commercial businesses that don't actually need that.

So if we took that $9 million dollars and actually translated it in real supports for our small businesses, I think they would have appreciated it more if we were gonna take the loss on that anyways.

So if our goal is truly to help the small businesses, we have to think about how we could have modified that language to help them, but at the same time, we can't actually.

I mean, maybe our lobbyists could have tried for an amendment, but at the at the same time, we have only so much power at the federal level.

I don't know if you want to come or state level.

That's okay.

Nadia isn't freeze the time, thanks.

Okay, our our our uh state uh legislative personnel is just reminding me of some other details that exemplify just how fluid it is, and to your point about modifying.

First of all, the bill was filed on a Friday and heard on a Monday.

So that was part of the challenge, and why we had to make a decision in the hearing.

We then talked about it at council the next week and the debate ensued.

There were two different versions of the bill.

The House, I forget which one, but one was $25,000 exemption, the other was 250,000.

So there was a big difference.

And after the opposition that was heard during the session, it was ultimately reduced to a hundred thousand dollar exemption.

So the impact to cities was smaller than initially filed.

So it is fluid and fast moving, and we try to do our best to keep you posted.

But I guess my point to make it a little clearer was we probably it probably wouldn't have passed if we said only businesses with revenues less than a million dollars would have to be um eligible, right?

Then it would be a smaller business, and that wouldn't have made it in the language.

I mean it's all hypothetical, but I guess I'm just saying it's for all businesses, which is why the majority of this body probably still would have said that yeah, and at the same time we losing nine million dollars when you're facing a deficit of 60 million, and now we're having to increase our property tax, potentially having to increase our property taxes to pay for the the revenue that was just taken by us without even our voice to be able to be put into it.

So I think that's why it's just my thoughts on that's why that we have that line item in there so we have more control about what we are doing to support the folks in our community that we really want to.

Um I just want to say thank you to Sally and Jeff and the team for this year's trip for SA to DC.

I learned more this year from the work that you guys put together for us than I have in the last couple of years, particularly around the federal agenda.

We had a whole session, some of us went the first day that we got to hear from our federal lobbyist team about specifically about the Road to Housing Act.

We had eight we had an overview on aviation work as well as the transportation reauthorization act, and I learned those are the two priorities that highest priorities that we have in District One.

And so there was so much that I gained from that that I could then go and further ask questions for throughout the SA to DC trip.

So I just wanted to say thank you for that opportunity and hopefully we can do it again next year.

Um, and for those two bills for the IGR committee, if those could be continuously presented to see where they go.

I know the House has passed their version.

I'm sure the Senate's gonna try to figure out.

I don't know if they'll get to an agreement, but I think both of those bills could really impact us with CDBG funds too.

And so I actually was at a conference last week and asked about the difference in San Antonio and Houston CDBG funding because I didn't know how different it was, and it's because it's simply based on a formula, and I'm curious if we could run the numbers to see if it would change with the new bill, because we we have a lot of flexibility on how to use those dollars, and so that helps support our housing bond work.

The other thing on the transportation reauthorization act, like for example, I didn't know about the safe streets for all grant program, like I kind of knew about it in the back of my head, but didn't really understand it in full detail, and along with the transportation or the transit-oriented development tithia program that they're modifying.

So both of those things I think would be really great if we could take advantage of.

I think my only request for the Safe Streets for All grant program is I is for us to be able to give input on what we are submitting for those grants.

I know the NOFA came out and I reached out to you guys, and I think I was a little too late to um provide input on what we're submitting, but I think it would be really great for us to have a chance to either add, depending upon which grant it is, if it's the Transportation and Infrastructure committee or uh PCDC, if it's housing, if there is an opportunity for us to give input, that would be wonderful.

I think the my favorite part about the the day before SA to DC was learning about all of the politics of what's possible if things change in November.

It gave me hope, and that was really great to hear because I didn't quite understand how funding gets determined just based on uh leadership dynamics.

And so I'm hopeful that with Congressman Castro's leadership there now and being a potentially being a very senior leader that we'll get some more funding for our communities that we deserve and need because as we've heard so much, the federal government keeps cutting, and then who's left to supplement the work that's happening, and so we want to make sure that we advocate as much as possible for some of that, and that means everybody needs to go out and vote in November, and um hopefully we'll have a better result for our community members.

But thank you, and lastly, um, shout out to Sally.

I'm gonna get to join the NLC Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, and I'm excited to be able to be a part of that leadership group because it'll give us an opportunity to continue to advocate at the national level for San Antonio.

So thank you for your help with that.

Thanks, Mayor.

Thank you.

Um, Councilmember Castillo.

Thank you, and thank you, Sally, for the presentation.

And uh, of course, I know you all always try and y'all's best to coordinate with the county, and I'm hopeful that we'll continue to see that cross-collaboration.

Uh, I'm going to work myself through the charges in alphabetical order as laid out.

And while my allotted time isn't enough to go through all of the district five priorities, I'm going to try my best to work my way through, but we do intend to send uh send a memo with what those priorities look like.

Uh, and I like to start with corrections.

Uh, so for example, a priority is with evaluating the Texas Correctional Industries Workforce and Procurement Programs.

Uh, District 5 is home to the Bear County Reentry Center, and what this priority intends to do is make recommendations to improve workforce development, accountability, uh, as well as streamline re-entry services.

So, this is something that would be a value not just to District 5 residents but Bear County residents because everyone from every Bear County precinct is sent to District 5, and every council district is sent to District 5 when they're uh re-entering society from the county jail.

So, valuing us uh continuing to follow that, uh, and that aligns with our public safety and workforce programs as well.

Um, with the juvenile justice, I'm interested to see what this means, right?

Um, or what angle or bills are going to be submitted around evaluating the effectiveness of intermediate and determinant sentencing and promoting accountability.

So typically what that looks like for folks is potentially if a juvenile is in the system has an opportunity for probation, it could potentially mean getting an increased set off, meaning denied probation andor parole and incarcerated for a longer period.

So I'd like to understand uh what bills get filed and what that means in terms of this charge, specifically rather.

Um I'd also like for us to track um uh improving the regulatory processes under environmental regulation.

Um, district five has a second highest concentration of auto metal recyclers, and our constituents continue to ask that we uh continue to advocate for more regulation of these industries.

We did recently have a state and local town hall, and this was an item that surfaced in terms of how can we further regulate this industry to protect and improve public health and public uh quality.

Um I'd also like for us to track, let's see, under human services, right?

Um, the provision for Texas with intellectual and developmental disabilities and uh the to follow the construction expansion and operation of certain inpatient mental health facilities and the designation of residential treatment facilities, uh specifically for juveniles is what this charge states.

So I think that's something for us to follow, particularly as the diversion ad hoc committee continues to convene and identify solutions to um uh house individuals that could potentially go through a diversion process.

Uh, under intergovernmental affairs, preventing homelessness for fath foster youth is something we could should continue to track as well as uh mental health impacts, homelessness, and systemic recidivism.

Again, this is going to make recommendations regarding pre-arrest diversion alternatives to inpatient hospitalization and best practices and sharing data.

So uh this is something that uh would be of priority.

There's uh some charges in here that have big question marks next to, but I'll set up a briefing with you all uh to get y'all's perspective on that.

Um, of course, with public education, as my colleagues have mentioned, where there's opportunity um to advocate alongside our uh teachers unions to protect public education, public programming is something I'd like us to continue to do.

And then, of course, today, right, we accepted six state grants for metro health, so uh in terms of public health continuing to track those public health trends and prevention items.

Um one thing that also came another item rather that came up during our town hall, we had a health care provider um that brought up the need to increase the wage for Texas healthcare workers.

He shared that their minimum wage I believe is about $7, and he's a healthcare provider and uh asked that um both the state rep and I uh prioritize increasing the wages if any bills come to the state regarding Texas health care workforce.

So uh that's something I would hope that the team could track uh and advocate for.

Again, safeguarding workforce security.

There's some items in terms of AI centers, and it there's broad bills from the environmental to the workforce.

Uh so I think if we could track that, I know that's a priority for council.

Um, so that's something I hope we can continue to follow.

I did want to highlight um uh an item under the criminal justice committee because uh within the public safety committee, we saw um the crime for upsea material go up by 15%.

It's one of the few crimes that we've seen a drastic increase in.

Uh so there is an intent to monitor um uh uh bills on the creation of criminal offense possession of upscene material.

So there's just like a handful of bills that they're monitoring that I think we should be tracking so that way we can see that line item within the public safety increase decrease.

And then I already shared the preparing the Texas workforce for AI intelligence.

And again, uh there's a lot of highlights within this packet.

Uh, we'll send a memo, but also set up their briefing to walk through some of the items that I have the big question marks next to.

Those are my comments.

Thank you.

Um, Councilmember Mesa Gonzalez.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you for the presentation.

Um, and for all the work that our uh government affairs team does at the state and at the state and federal level.

Um a couple of questions, and I and I think too, just with our obviously the challenges that every government agency is facing right now.

I think it's important that we can continue those state and federal uh relationships, right?

Because our 10 um our our 10 member delegation is nothing to the Houston delegation of 20 plus members uh that can overtake a whole lot, and so you end up seeing San Antonio connect with not necessarily the big cities, but they're connecting with the smaller communities in the valley because of that size difference.

And so I appreciate wanting to know what the other big cities are doing, but if you just take a look at um how many folks are just literally there, and how many times we end up collaborating more with those uh south southern cities, I think that's helpful for us to understand how that works in context.

Um I had a couple of questions, and I uh really do agree with all the priority programs that we have in here, but um, in in relation to the VA hospital, which I think is so crucial.

Um, what's the current status of the funding commitment for the new VA hospital?

Is it a budget request or so the funding um is in the president's proposed budget for this year?

So that's neither appropriations bill at this point.

That is the president's proposal.

It was 30 million dollars for land acquisition for a new hospital, and then what Sally mentioned was we just got word this week.

I know the mayor did too that um they completed their environmental impact statement and have a preferred alternative of a new hospital as opposed to renovating or not doing anything.

So those are the two updates, right?

And I sit on the medical foundation uh board, and so we learned about that uh, which was great news for for us, and so um are there any I I guess are there any city approvals or utility extensions required to make that parcel more viable?

Just so we know that there's nothing that will prevent that from moving forward.

Excuse me, phoning a friend, okay.

Councilman, I think uh we could do a thorough review.

I don't know if we know the answer off the top of our head and certainly be supportive of the development.

So yeah, if we can just make sure that our government affairs team is working with you all because we would not want something like an easement to prevent a VA hospital from nor would we're right, okay.

Uh that's helpful.

Thank you.

Um I think a question I did have.

How do you approach the council approved priorities in addressing uh proposed bills?

Councilwoman, can you repeat the question?

How do you approach the council approved priorities in addressing proposed bills?

Because there's so many of them, right?

Sure, there are.

Um, so as I mentioned earlier, we work towards having a state and federal legislative agenda, so that is our guide.

It's going to be through bringing back and doing regular discussions with the IGR committee first and foremost, and then the full council in the case that we have to pivot.

The all the bills that are being filed in Austin and DC, there's no way that we will be able to incorporate you know a very large agenda.

So I think continuously obtaining direction from the IGR committee uh to be able to get what those policy decisions are so that that gives us guidance to be able to pivot and remain flexible.

Awesome, thank you.

Um those are all my questions again.

I just uh thank you for all the work you are doing and our uh lobby teams are doing.

Um, it takes a big village and um even at the state level, it's not just one team doing that work at the federal level.

We had I remember at a time we had a team specific to our federal or aviation grants at one point, right?

So when big projects happen, we need those dedicated uh folks there that know both sides of the aisle and and have those relationships, and then it's also important for us too as council members to get to know our colleagues in those other big cities and talk about what they're doing and uh what they're seeing as issues.

So uh thank you again for all your work and I uh appreciate the mayor forming the IGR committee.

Um, I just in my time here is in the mayor's office that IGR committee um is is they do a lot of work, and so I'm glad that um to serve on that committee and to uh get to work for our city.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Excuse me, thank you, Councilmember Viecaran.

Thank you, thank you, Sally, uh, for the presentation.

Uh, just want to give you kudos for the work that you've done uh when I got here in 2021 through the special sessions, then uh 2023, 2025, and what we've continually had and been following this these sessions for a while as a city employee, of course, and then with staff as visit San Antonio when that when they tried the bathroom bill, so and what we have now, which is anyway, we won't talk about what we have now, but thank you for continuing to work as we continue to see the same trends come from uh our state leaders.

So I appreciate the briefing.

I think we do need to see who is going to be where uh after November to get more a little more strategic in terms of of what we have.

So I'm gonna leave my priorities kind of very um very open uh for interpretation.

I think right now my priority is to advocate for a strong and good quality of life for my residents.

What that means is an opportunity for my residents in district three is to work.

So we need to look for economic opportunities, how we can work together at the state and the federal level to continue to bring that and um make sure that they have an opportunity to advance in that.

Because we can talk about affordability, but if there are no jobs, what are what are we gonna do with it?

They're not gonna be able to afford anything.

So uh infrastructure is key, and that seems where the appetite is uh with the current administration with the current leadership at the state is infrastructure and making the whole state of Texas run so you know we can stay on that level in terms of of how we we do that and we move forward.

I do think we do need to work with our um our our ISDs uh as they face challenges and they continue to be what educates our future workforce here in Texas.

Um, the other thing is we need to see how the impacts not only impact us here at the city level and the local level, but trying to get an idea with the lobbyist team that we do have, which I think they are professional and I think we do need them, uh, is to look at how this impacts the households and multi-generational households.

And I think key to those two aspects is National League of Cities, which we're part of, and Texas Municipal League of Cities, because if we look, and I and I'm talking to a lot of nonprofits, if we look a lot of our nonprofits based here in San Antonio are regional, so whether it's Catholic charities, the food bank, the Girl Scouts, United Way, they're serving a region and they are looking at the household.

So I think that's going to be really good information, and what we use as we move up to um as we go into this this 90th session, as we have that conversation with them as as you go and you present to the RGIGR and bring that data that they have and what they're prioritizing also because they are in communication with um our rural cities and regional teams.

So I think Texas Municipal League, and I'm I'm proud I get to serve uh on that that board uh is gonna be critical and key as we move forward because we're all feeling it, we're all coming out of this pandemic.

We're our all our our upper dollars are gone statewide, so we are all kind of all in that same boat.

So as we move forward, um understanding that, and then at the at the level with the ACAM group, which we were uh able to meet with, and um thank you, Phil, for being here.

Um I think that it is key that we continue to get more FaceTime with them.

And I am so proud and happy that we have a IGR committee that's that's ready to serve, but I think it is the responsibility of all council members to make sure that they're advocating and that they are having communication.

And just in response to the newer members that are here, and this will be your first legislative session.

Uh Sally and Jeff are the team.

If you have an issue, they have advocated with me, especially regarding the health to help track something that maybe didn't make the big agenda here, but they have either given me the updates or given me the advocacy groups that are tracking those updates.

So I really appreciate that, and I think we've we've had some, we've had some close calls, and then we've had things kind of go through that you know, we just felt tragic.

And so um, and again I go back to the bathroom bill.

So um uh thank you for all the work you do.

Uh I look forward to seeing what happens in November and seeing how we move uh forward, but in terms of laying the groundwork, I think we have a great opportunity here to utilize not only what we have in lobbyists but our memberships with um National League of Cities and Texas Municipal Leagues.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Galvan.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, Sally, for the presentation um for the work I'll do every day.

Um I'm not gonna go too much onto what my other council colleagues share to join supportive of the things that uh heard from of course Councilor McKee Rodriguez's kind of framework uh looking with the IGR committee about some of the big uh focuses there, um supportive of a lot of things that Council of Castillo said relating to the mental health diversion center and some of the correctional uh juvenile system or uh correctional justice system overall.

Um, of course, the uh things around public health and the Medicaid at the federal level, finding ways to continue to expand that.

Of course, understanding the current landscape, but in the future, seeing what ways we can protect and reinvest back in public health in some way to help some of the programs here that are being impacted directly by those cuts to the federal level.

Um, of course, always ACS front of mind too.

When we think about state level, I think it's already we already know is a priority, but continue to push on that and let us know where we can be helpful on those things.

Um education, of course, a big priority for myself.

Looking at ways to continue to expand teacher recruitment and retention is really critical.

Public education funding, uh full stop.

I mean, that's the biggest one.

I think we got to look at their child care funding as well.

I think is really critical.

Whatever ways are coming together on that.

I know it's been a big priority for our top state leaders as well as here locally, so figuring out what ways we can plug in there would be really helpful.

Um, and then of course, I think the biggest one for myself right now.

Uh, of course, we got the governor's uh recognition of the PUC yesterday, uh really data centers, and so looking a bit into not only that particular update and see how that's impacting our work here with our local uh work that we're doing.

Um, it's something we can talk offline with DSD about about how it impacts the work that we're doing here.

Um, but overall, I think there's been some conversations about um local control in that relation uh to it about our zoning codes.

Uh I know we're seeing it more so in the kind of the housing space, uh the state level, finding ways of the state to kind of intervene there.

Uh, I've heard some different chatter about um data centers being that vain as well.

So understanding a bit more of where where we can play a good role there to make sure that local decisions can still be protected in that realm.

Um, I think in particular when we're looking at plenty of the counties that are struggling with to address some of these this rising growth without uh any kind of zoning code, making sure the city can still protect uh our own uh authority there is really critical in this conversation.

Um those are some of the big ones I think overall.

Um one last thing I was gonna just kind of uh ask I don't know, ask, recommend, think about vocalize, um, was about how do we can better align uh our priorities or make sure the chambers aligning with our priorities when we do some of the legislative agenda uh work.

Uh I really appreciate the opportunity I had to go to DC uh this year, and I think it's just finding ways that we can be a bit more proactive for ourselves to have the kind of information that we need about what's the agenda we agreed upon to set out for, whether it's to DC or the state legislature, and make sure that you know as many eyes we have are going with us are on the same page about what we're looking for versus us kind of going back and forth with them about it.

I really appreciated the collaborative work I got to do with many of the folks in the education space, but I wanted to make sure that you know some of the conversations we're having there that we're all on the same page about about what's our big priorities, what's theirs, where can you be in the middle and work on together.

Um, I think that would just be really uh really helpful.

I think those are all my things for now.

We'll talk more offline about the data center conversation.

Um yeah, thank you so much.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, Councilman.

Uh Councilman Mungia.

Thank you, mayor.

Thank you, Sally and the team for all your work um and advocating for San Antonio.

It's a really tough job these days with Al Potter's partisanship, the um the houses and and the federal and state level.

And you know, I reminded I read a book uh a few months back about uh mostly about Frank Tehala, but talked about Frank Model, and it was just amazing that things they were able to get done back then when it was very workable uh, you know, state house, but we don't really find that anymore.

And so our ability to get things from the state and the federal government I think are severely limited these days.

Uh so it's very, very tough, but we appreciate that.

Um, you know, it was my first essay to DC, so I really appreciate that opportunity also.

And I think what was really cool to see is that when we share the work that happens here locally, and not just our work, but the collaboration work that we have in San Antonio, which I do think is unique to our city, uh, people are very impressed, right?

When they know that all of our public entities are aligned on a certain topic, especially when it comes to housing, it makes them feel more comfortable giving us the resources when they know it's not gonna be a competitive struggle here in San Antonio.

We're all aligned, like for example, ship.

We all know our place and our roles, and we're all working towards that.

And so sharing that I think is very, very important.

Uh, and so to the points about the county and other folks, making sure we're aligned is very helpful because I did see people kind of light up and said, Oh wow, you guys are San Antonio just has it all together, really.

And I think we show we have shown in the past that any time we get a federal grant or state grant, we can spend it effectively.

Uh and we don't ever have any issues with spending the grant the way it's designed.

Um, and we are we're able to keep all of our money.

So I think those are really important things.

So, you know, as we're gonna obviously have some, you know, policy type uh things that we're gonna advocate for and push back against when things are proposed.

But ultimately, we also have to really just get to the finances and the money and the projects to get delivered here, especially with our budget being tightened, um, and especially with things being hard for for CPS and SAWs that they are always looking at utility, needs to be owned utilities and and having a target with that.

Anything also we can add to helping those utilities get funding for projects, especially with like the statewide transmission line projects and work, helps our economy and also takes costs off the utilities, which is ultimately cost off the ratepayers too.

I really like uh councilwoman Messi Gonzales what she had to say about uh partnering with the smaller cities because of a as I've mentioned, you know, we're the largest city all the way down to Mexico, and so we really have to think about the South Texas triangle and look to see how we can utilize this ability, and you know, those areas are also somewhat more conservative, right?

So we want to make sure the state is helping everybody in that in that sense.

But when it comes to the next large, you know, JCBs of the roads, Toyotas, those types of large manufacturing plants, the next one probably won't be in San Antonio City limits.

I mean, we are just really running out of that type of acreage of land, and when you look at those demographics, there's a lot of people coming south of San Antonio to access those jobs.

So when you look at the counties around us and the cities, I mean, to Councilman Galvan's point, there was a city that automatically took in a data center because they said we need the jobs, like we will take this no matter the expense, because it's very important.

We don't have a workforce uh, you know, uh an attraction to other companies.

So we want to make sure we're gonna bring in good quality jobs to people south of us and building our own mega region south all the way to the border and even you know, south of the border.

I think that's gonna be extremely important too.

So I don't know, you know, that kind of goes into South Texas uh business organization, uh Greater SATX, but I think we do have to get a little bit smarter about that, uh making sure we're bringing opportunities, not just for our own folks, but for people all around us too.

Uh yeah, and I think it's uh a quality of life issue, and Councilman Ki Rodriguez laid out some of the big priorities we'll have to have.

Certainly, education is is gonna huge issue for us publicly.

Uh we have a the mayor developed a whole committee just to talk about that because it is such an issue with state funding, and it has just a long-term effect, a domino effect on negative outcomes for people.

I mean, the areas with the closed schools are seeing disinvestment from you know developers and people buying homes.

They don't want to say buy a home next to school that's been closed, uh, and they're just continuing to close because of funding.

So that is a huge issue.

It's not directly under our purview, but certainly um affects all of our families here too.

So really look forward to working with you all and hopefully you can put us in wherever you need to at the state and the federal level.

I understand that uh for the state lobbying effort, we're still there's an RFP that's gonna happen for that group, I believe.

Councilman, uh currently, right now we have an open RFQ for our state uh professional services contracts.

So I'll be coming to the IGR committee um with some recommendations.

Okay, great.

Uh and when do you think that timeline might be?

Just out of curiosity.

So it's currently still open, it should close um in a few more days, probably later this week, and then um the committee will come together, uh, review uh the submissions from the respondents uh and then continue to work with the procurement um division within finance.

So I'm thinking likely we'll have an update for the audit committee first, if I remember correctly.

I have to report back um to the audit committee because it's considered a high-profile contract.

Um, and then likely we'll go to IGR in either August or September.

That's great.

And I know our state delegation are very, very great to work with our county folks uh that represent us.

And I know that there's gonna be some new federal folks um, you know, representing the San Antonio Burke County, so we'll that remains to be seen who those folks are, but hopefully we can, you know, establish some relationships with them on both sides of the aisle and try to figure out how we can you know make San Antonio a better place to live for everybody.

So, absolutely, councilman, I'm glad that you mentioned that for several months now.

I have been receiving regular updates from our federal consultants who have been doing proactive outreach to those uh lawmakers that are involved in the election process and races currently, and so we are covering all our bases.

I'm really proud that we have a very uh bipartisan uh diverse bench in DC, and we're able to utilize our consultants as needed to do outreach with the individuals that uh one that's somebody is gonna end up in those seats, and we will be able to be able to do some outreach, and like I said earlier, involve the IGR committee members uh to join us to enhance and amplify those relationships.

So thank you for that.

However, we can help.

Thank you, Sally, appreciate it.

Thanks.

Would anyone else like to speak on this topic?

Okay.

Thank you again for for the presentation.

Um in case it's helpful to anybody else, and maybe this is for Andy and the team, um, understanding advocacy as it's moving quickly can look uh different, right?

Um so uh signing on, for example, to uh ambicus briefings um as it relates to legislation that might be contemplated.

How do you how do you think about that or or how is that incorporated into the IGR's analysis, Andy?

Uh mayor, that's probably.

Oh, please, thank you.

No problem.

So we base our participation in the legislative session and the adopted agenda, that this is a process that begins that.

So we evaluate all those bills that are going through through that lens.

So when we participate in those hearings, um, either to oppose or be neutral or support those bills, those are funded um or those are founded on the agenda that the council will adopt and approve.

Sure, understood.

Um so I well, maybe you answer the question.

Then in terms of signing on to Amicus briefings, that may actually impact the success of some of those pieces of legislation.

That's also then the levels that you're looking at.

But it's something that is considered, frankly, part of the toolbox, correct?

Yes, thank you.

Okay, that's helpful.

Mayor, if I could clarify when you say amic because I think what you're is it's not.

When we sign on to lawsuits, that's what we're doing.

If you're asking that, that is our purview.

So that's why I asked.

Well, I was confused because when you said Amicus, I thought you were talking about documents we would submit as a legislative process in support of any proposed bill.

Uh, if there is litigation in terms of challenging the bill, I mean obviously we would wait until after the bill passes because otherwise we wouldn't have standing, uh, but that's something we would approach the council and get guidance from the council before we would actually sign to an amicus or actually be a party in opposition or in favor of something.

Helpful.

I think the the purpose, the intent of the question is as we're thinking about best advocating for the city.

How are we thinking about several things that may be in motion previously may have been siloed but don't necessarily have to be in that based on the topic?

Thank you.

Okay.

But uh priorities for both the federal and for the state include public health um ensuring, especially at the state level, but increasingly at the federal, as we're not only seeing cuts in funding, but also increased misinformation, um, not only advocating for a certain level of resource, but also ensuring that there's sufficient investment in the ability to surveil and understand the consequences of the decisions that are being made.

Certainly at the state level, you see that unfortunately we're not tracking um uh things related to the effects of the um legislation impacting reproductive health, for example, which makes it much much harder than for us to understand just how uh difficult the situation is for some in our community.

So public health, uh certainly transportation have had good conversations with uh the SAMCO folks already, and I um appreciate their efforts to to help us really ensure that we're best positioned in light of some of the changes of the leadership uh in Austin, uh as well as some of the projects that may not actually be as as ready for um a certain level of advocacy as we had initially envisioned.

As mentioned uh by several affordable housing, of course, um and I see uh representation from our our military and veterans uh folks.

So at each of those levels, public health, transportation, infrastructure, affordable housing, veterans and military missions.

At the state level, as well, I think protecting as much agency as we can possibly have when it comes to these data centers, as was mentioned by my colleague here at the governor recently issued guidance, and understanding we're in a unique position considering we both own both of those utilities and don't necessarily have all the agency that we would like to when it comes to determining how we support those, so ensuring we're synced up, not only on that issue, but also on the other priorities that are important to those two utilities.

For example, I know there's some discussion about how data centers may be tied, may have like a national security exemption, which would obviously be very difficult in effect how they are treated, for example, an emergency, which then unfortunately only puts a larger load onto the community.

So as much as we can support the SAWs and CPS agenda, ensuring we're we're synced up and speaking with one voice there.

At the federal level, we haven't talked about it, but of course, it's so critical to our community, is ensuring that they are hearing often and loud from us on the trade agenda.

The fact that USMCA review would only allow that to be frankly in place for a year.

It's almost like a CR, right?

And I think I shared with many of you when we were in Taiwan, many of those companies were similarly looking at this the fate of that deal, understanding they're ready to spend billions of dollars, but not necessarily if that deal is either only going to be continued for a year or if there's any uncertainty about what that year looks like.

So ensuring that we're speaking as loudly as we can and are coordinating as closely with some of our major employers for whom that is a significant issue, for example, Toyota.

Of course, as we are looking at additional military missions for the large footprint that we have here, as well as anything we can do, as mentioned by Councilman Meso Gonzalez to ensure that the VA is adequately sufficient appreciation not only for their current presence but also any uh the upgrades that are anticipated.

One thing we also didn't talk about here, but is come up quite a bit in the last several months, immigration.

Uh, we need to make sure that they hear loudly from us uh about the importance that we place on the visas that they have made more difficult uh to attain by tech personnel, for example, technology, right?

IT folks, as well as the critical role that those visas play in addressing the shortages in our community, in particular health care, right?

So making sure that we're loudly and consistently advocating for those things as a means to meet the needs in our community.

There is one I would like us, as mentioned, public education, the the continued impacts of that, and I mean, frankly, the fact that we ourselves also are kind of part of this challenge as we have 17 school districts.

Um, but one of the things that we know for sure is going to be uh is is under consideration is a significant increase in the funding for vouchers in this next upcoming session.

My understanding is potentially even a doubling.

So that would be a very helpful exercise for us to already understand.

Um, and I understand this is not all within you know Sally, Jeff, your team, but uh the the um uh entities that you are experts you would engage with that would help us understand the potential consequences of that for our community, both in the near term and as as long term as they can go out.

That I think is a helpful uh piece of information for us as we engage with our legislative team, both at the federal level and at the state level, frankly, uh, to help us understand how we might be more helpful in shaping that conversation and what the ultimate outcome of that is.

Okay, great.

Um, as mentioned, many shared that they're gonna follow up with a with a memo, but again, appreciate the the the briefing um and laying out your difference in approach both for the federal and for the state level.

Um, and uh let's see, with that, the time is 2 28, and the meeting is adjourned.