Yearly Archives: 2021
Ferae Naturae: What Can I Do about Wild Animals on My Land?
As confirmed by the 2020 U.S. Census, many areas in the State of Texas are rapidly growing in population. Due to this growth, a significant amount of development is occurring on property that has previously been vacant—except for wildlife. Unfortunately, this sometimes causes interaction between the residents of newer subdivisions and wild animals, some… Read More »
Videoconferencing Standards for the Texas Open Meetings Act
An interesting provision of the Texas Open Meetings Act, TOMA, and the focus of this blog, is the use of videoconference technology to allow both members of the governmental body and the public to attend meetings by videoconference call. This is allowed even if there is no emergency causing the use of the videoconference… Read More »
Texas Municipal Courts
The Texas Constitution Art. V. Section 1 states; “the legislature may establish such other courts as it may deem necessary and prescribe the jurisdiction and organization thereof. . .” . The “other” courts (meaning those that are not Justice of the Peace, District or County Courts) are municipal courts. Municipal courts share jurisdiction with… Read More »
Texas Legislature Flips from Opt-in to Opt-Out Confidentiality for Certain Public Officials
Certain recent events occurring across the national, state, and local political landscapes—including the COVID-19 pandemic and related mask and vaccine mandates, election integrity, bail bond reform, and critical race theory, just to name a few—have increased the incidents of doxing public officials and subsequent protests or demonstrations being held at their private properties. For… Read More »
Unsworn Declarations in Texas
There are many instances under the law where an individual is required to swear to the accuracy of a statement or document. The iteration of this which most people are familiar with is the oath a witness takes in court before testifying. In court rooms in movies and tv shows, you frequently hear something… Read More »
New Purchasing Requirements on Public Works Projects
With the new legislative session, several changes in the area of public works stand to impact how cities in Texas implement payments for public works projects in the state. A few of the provisions which will impact public works projects going forward are described below. Under a public works contract, often the municipality will… Read More »
Let’s Talk about Animal Paw-licies!
Pet ownership has been on the rise lately, with up to 67% of households owning a pet, according to a national survey conducted by the American Veterinary Medical Association in 2018. In Texas, the statistics are slightly lower, with 58.2% owning a pet, the majority being dogs and cats. Though pet ownership may be… Read More »
What is a PID?
Texas cities, or local governments, historically use collections from property taxes and sales tax revenues to fund, or provide security for municipal bonds, in order to pay for public improvements. An example of municipally funded public improvements that are crucial to sustain residential development are water and wastewater services. Cities in Texas can pay… Read More »
Tax Rate Scares
The end of September marks two things: (1) the official start of “Spooky Season” and (2) the deadline for certain municipal taxing units to adopt a no-new-revenue tax rate for the current tax year. Under Section 26.05(a) of the Tax Code, the governing body of a taxing unit must adopt a tax rate for… Read More »
Contract Zoning and When It’s Okay
Texas is a very property rights conscious state. For example, we have some of the most robust homestead protections in the nation, contracts involving interests in real property are subject to the statute of frauds, and even the simplified provisions for probating a “small estate” in Texas can apply to real estate having substantial… Read More »