Dallas City Council members are scheduled to vote Wednesday, Oct. 14, on the positions the city will carry to Austin when the 90th Texas Legislature convenes in January. The proposed list, laid out for the council's Ad Hoc Committee on Legislative Affairs on Oct. 1, ranges from property taxes and casinos to traffic cameras, crossing guards and fentanyl test strips.
The resolution is item 25 on the agenda for the 9 a.m. meeting at City Hall. It directs the city attorney to share the program with legislators, to back bills that uphold Dallas' home-rule authority and to oppose bills that cut city resources or that authority.
When an issue comes up with no official city stance and no time to convene the committee or the council, the committee chair could speak for the city. A companion item, 26, sets the city's federal program for the 120th Congress.
The posted resolution says the committee recommends amendments, and the final list is attached as an exhibit that was not included with the agenda materials, so the version adopted Wednesday may differ from the October briefing.
Money and taxes
The briefing slides list opposition to expanding casino gambling and support for letting voters approve city tax increases above the current 3.5% cap on property tax revenue growth. The city would oppose any new state limits on local revenue, including further caps on appraisals or tax rates.
Other finance items ask for the $25 fee on school zone traffic citations to go to cities for child safety programs, more flexibility in spending hotel occupancy tax money, and a change that would let appraisal district directors win office with a plurality instead of a majority, which the slides say would avoid costly runoffs.
Streets, transit and safety
Under transportation, the city wants authority to set speed limits on residential streets, permission to use automated traffic enforcement, and an end to the city's responsibility for school crossing guards. It would back legislation tied to a new governance model for DART that Dallas is developing with other member cities.
The public safety section seeks tougher penalties for firing a gun in a public place and for making false reports or bomb threats, a rule that police must destroy seized guns that nobody claims, and the decriminalization of fentanyl test strips.
