
Taking a cue from Nancy Pelosi’s “we have to pass the bill so we can find out what is in it” let’s take a peek at Houston’s Proposition No. 1 to “find out what is in it”, shall we?
Proposition No 1 seems innocuous enough. It makes sense to amend a city charter by removing obsolete language, right? Who would be against unequal treatment of the disabled? Who would disagree with the notion city employees should be absolved from jury duty?
No, it’s the territory annexation language and HISD references that caught my eye.
Article I, Section 2-a, annexation of territory; Article I, Section 2-b, extension of city boundaries
AND
Article II, Sections 14 and 14a, operation of the Houston Independent School District;
The current language of Article I, section 2-a and 2-b is:
Section 2-a. – Extending City Limits upon Petition.
The City of Houston, whenever a majority of the qualified voters who are citizens of the State of Texas and inhabitants of any territory adjoining said City of Houston, desire the annexation of such territory to said City they may present a written petition to that effect to the City Council, and shall attach to said petition the affidavit of one or more of their number to the effect that said petition is signed by a majority of such qualified voters; and thereupon the City Council at any regular session held not sooner than twenty days after the presentation of said petition mayby ordinanceannex such territory to the City of Houstonand thenceforth the said territory shall be a part of the City of Houston, and the inhabitants thereof shall be entitled to all the rights and privileges of other citizens and shall be bound by the acts, ordinances, resolutions and regulations of the said city. (Added by amendment October 15, 1913)
Section 2-b. – Extending Limits by Action of City Council.
The City Council shall have power by ordinanceto fix the boundary limits of the said City of Houston, and to provide for the extension of said boundary limits and the annexation of additional territory lying adjacent to said city with or without the consent of the territory and inhabitants annexed; that upon the introduction of such an ordinance in the Council after it has been reported upon by the ordinance committee and has been amended as desired by the Council for final passage, it shall be published in some daily newspaper published in the City of Houston one time, and shall not thereafter be finally passed until at least 30 days has elapsed after said publication, and when said ordinance is finally passed the said territory so annexed shall be a part of the City of Houston, and the inhabitants thereof shall be entitled to all the rights and privileges of other citizens, and shall be bound by the acts, ordinances, resolutions and regulations of the said city. (Added by amendment October 15, 1913)
Here’s the link to the City of Houston 2012-2014 Annexation Plan for the Navigation District and the Jacintoport Industrial District.
The current language of Article II, section 14 and 14-a addresses (bold emphasis is mine):
- School Trustees, How Appointed, Terms of Office, etc.
- Right Of Mayor To Veto Any Pecuniary Liability
- City Treasurer Custodian of Funds
- How Funds are to be Paid Out
- Duty of School Board to Make Financial Statements
- Members of School Board not to Receive any Pay or to be Interested in any Contract or to Buy or Sell any School Warrants, etc.
- School board to furnish free school books
WHOA! Stop the presses!
…or be interested in any contract….
That reminds me…
Texas Watchdog has written extensively of HISD School Board contracting, bidding, and ethics policies involving people with close personal connections to HISD trustees Paula Harris and Larry Marshall.
And while we’re discussing the operations of the Houston Independent School District you ARE aware of a plan to use RFID chips for Texas students….ostensibly to improve the operations of the school ….er, I mean prove how many kids are in attendance each day?
I’m going to the Westin Galleria tomorrow to learn more about Proposition 1; you should too.
Thank you, Yvonne, for posting this analysis. As I have said before, in high school, we were taught to vote against any proposition we did not understand. (That usually works, except for the Metro proposition on this ballot.) Now I have a better reason to vote against the first proposition. The details are appalling!
I had already resolved to vote against this thing, as well as the rest of the propositions below it, just because no one had seen fit to publicize it.
This proposition, along with its brothers, proves that conservatives in Houston need to find candidates among us for City offices in 2013, and work to get them elected.
Once upon a time, Houston had strong men like Oscar Holcombe and Louie Welch as Mayor. It is my belief that the offices of Mayor of Houston and the Council positions have been de-valued by the likes of Kathy Whitmire and Lee Brown. Only a strong conservative can provide the leadership Houston needs to crawl out of the fiscal and moral morass into which it has sunk.
Building Hike and Bike trails is nice when the City has extra money. Electric charging stations for vehicles at our public libraries do nothing to resolve issues of safety for our citizens, nor to improve access to the knowledge preserved inside the libraries.
In sum, I’m voting against all of the numbered resolutions (and FOR the Metro proposition.) I’m still not happy about the Rain Tax nor the Light Rail initiative.
Is someone going to dissect Proposition 2? The rest are easy–what have they done with the money we already gave them?
OK. I give up. Where is the full text of Proposition 1 (and 2), for the City Charter Amendment?
Also, why are there no State of Texas Constitutional Amendments on the Sample Ballot I find for my own precinct at http://www.HarrisVotes.com ?
Peggy, constitutional amendments are normally in odd-numbered years because that is when the Legislature meets.
Full text is on your ballot or the sample ballot: http://www.harrisvotes.org/SampleBallot/SampleBallot_ENG.pdf
Yvonne…THANK YOU. Nobody is really taking at look at these to see what the rats are up to…..Now help us understand PROP 2….
Good work….keep us posted.
Prop 2 is even more insidious. Mayor Parker comes up for reelection in 2013. She does not want to run on a ballot that might also have citizen-led petitions on them to repeal the Rain Tax or have entities use Everify or vote for a repeal of the Feeding Ordinance. And once the word gets out too that over 150,000 people (net) have left the City of Houstonfor the burbs in the past few years..and that enrollment at HISD has dropped..and that enrollment/ attendancee at HCC physical campuses has dropped; lots of folks will wonder why in the world HISD and HCC want to build more campuses or renovate existing ones…their narrative of being a "cool "city will be in shambles. We don't need to be cool, we need Houston to get out of debt and be a shining city on the bayou…
I've heard a couple of folks say something along the lines of, if the city charter amendments pass then it'll be a couple of years before another one can be put on the ballot (i.e. effectively squelching any proposed citizen-led charter amendment in the meantime), but I've never seen this in writing — and I don't see anything in the Prop 2 ballot language that states this, either.
What does Prop 2 have to do with any citizen-led petitions that might come up for a vote in 2013?
Indeed, thank you for taking the time and effort to research and share what you have found about Prop 1 & 2. I fear both of these confusing measures are likely to pass due to a lack of info in the general public forum. Is there a specific movement afoot to enlighten folks about these propositions?