State Senator Claims City of College Station is Violating Law

COLLEGE STATION, Texas – A high-ranking lawmaker in Texas, State Senator Paul Bettencourt, is alleging that the City of College Station is in violation of a state law he authored and helped pass in the last legislative session. The law, Senate Bill 2038, concerns how cities in Texas can interact with their ‘extraterritorial jurisdiction’ (ETJ), which are lands beyond a city’s boundaries but still under their partial control for planning purposes.

The Law and the Controversy

The law has a straightforward objective: allowing people to own their property and decide if they want to be part of a city’s ETJ. According to the law, residents can exit an ETJ either through a petition initiated by residents or landowners that gathers signatures from “50 percent of the registered voters or a majority in value of the titleholders of land” or through a local election where a petition has been signed by at least five percent of the registered voters.

The senator lashed out at the City of College Station on Thursday through a social media post accusing the city of implementing a “Sanctuary City-Style Resolution” to obstruct the law’s application.

City’s Response

In response, the City of College Station claimed that SB 2038 violates its legislative authority and is unconstitutional. Furthermore, they cited a conflict with various sections of the Texas Local Government code.

The city issued a statement which read: “Texas Local Government Code Chapter 42 Subchapter D. (SB 2038) is an unconstitutional delegation of the City’s legislative authority and conflicts with the City’s grant of legislative discretion under Local Government Code Section 42.023. It is in the best interest of the City to deny any petition and the removal of any property from the City’s ETJ.”

Few Words from the Senator

Senator Bettencourt warned that the city’s refusal to implement the new ETJ law could result in court challenges from taxpayers. He also emphasized that at least three dozen cities are disputing SB 2038 in court.

The Road Ahead

The City of College Station clarified that they wouldn’t comment further on the issue since it is involved in legal proceedings about the matter. In recent months, they’ve rejected several ETJ requests.

As this legislative dispute rages on, Texans anxiously wait to see how this issue will develop, and what consequences it might bear on the relationship between local and state government, and the rights of landowners and citizens.