STATE REPRESENTATIVE YVONNE DAVIS CALLS FOR A MORE STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS

(AUSTIN, TX) — Rep. Yvonne Davis, newly appointed chair of the House Committee on Urban Affairs, outlined the framework of the committee’s agenda for the 81st Legislative Session during the committee’s organizational meeting on Thursday, February 26th.

“To meet the critical challenges facing our state and municipalities, the House Committee on Urban Affairs must aggressively accelerate our approach to addressing the needs of our citizens,” Chairwoman Davis stated. “The current fiscal realities have placed constraints on state and local budgets. We can no longer address issues in isolation, we must take a critical look from the entire State’s perspective.

With limited local and state dollars, it is critical that our local and state governments work as strategic partners to maximize the total impact of new available federal dollars in

order to increase the benefits from the limited resources,” continued Chairwoman Davis.

To facilitate Legislators’ understanding of the conditions of our municipalities/communities, mayors representing a diverse snapshot of the State have been invited to testify before the committee in a public hearing scheduled for Thursday, March 5th. The mayors have been asked to provide the committee with an overview of the “state of their city”.

“Our city’s mayors are on the frontline, facing issues such as infrastructure needs, pension and health benefit cost, affordable housing and the affect that our state’s changing demographics have on their tax base. Their input is critical to ensure that meaningful legislation is drafted and implemented that truly addresses the needs of citizens” Chairwoman Davis stated.

Mayors from Arlington, Austin, Corpus Christi, Dallas, Desoto, El Paso, Fort Worth, Galveston Houston, Plano, Round Rock, San Antonio, Katy, Irving, Brownsville and Grand Prairie have been invited to testify before the House Committee on Urban Affairs.

The committee is scheduled to convene at 10:30 a.m. or upon final adjournment of the House in Room E2.028 of the Capitol Extension. The House Committee on Urban Affairs considers all bills pertaining to the powers of municipalities and other units of local government. In addition, the committee oversees the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs which regulates state and federal affordable housing programs.