AUSTIN, TX – Yesterday, interim charges for the Senate Committee on Inter-Governmental Relations (“IGR”) were announced, identifying six areas for the Committee to examine. One such area is annexation. The IGR Committee will review existing annexation policies that allow cities to force unwilling property owners to become city residents, and make recommendations on ways to improve the system.
“Under current law, cities can unilaterally absorb outlying areas, without even asking the affected property owners,” said Allegra Hill, Policy Analyst with the Texas Public Policy Foundation. “Such forced annexation is so contrary to private property rights and basic democratic principles that many Texans have a hard time believing it’s possible. That is, they have a hard time believing it until it happens to them. It’s encouraging that the IGR committee is taking a serious look at reforming this broken system.”
To read more about annexation, see the Texas Public Policy Foundation’s August 2015 report: Ending Forced Annexation in Texas.
For more information or to request an interview with Ms. Hill, please contact Caroline Espinosa at [email protected] or 512-472-2700.
Allegra Hill is a Policy Analyst with the Center for Local Governance at the Texas Public Policy Foundation.
The Texas Public Policy Foundation is a non-profit, free-market research institute based in Austin, Texas.