A mid-March weekend two years ago was interrupted by a Saturday afternoon fire at Exxon Mobil’s Baytown refinery. News reports stated that the blaze was extinguished after about four hours. Details of that incident was forgotten by area residents less than 24 hours...
Texas Municipal Law Blog
Tiny Texas town under the TCEQ microscope
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) says that it “strives to protect our state's public health and natural resources” in a way that allows for “sustainable economic development.” Its goals are clean air and water, it says, but environmentalists aren’t...
Parents sue Texas school district over mask mandate
If you drive about 50 miles northwest of League City, you will arrive in Katy, Texas. The city of about 20,000 residents is home to a group of parents that is suing the Katy Independent School District (ISD) over its decision to require masks in schools. In court...
Rio Grande Valley mayor runs afoul of Texas Ethics Commission
You can’t go any farther south in Texas than Cameron County in the Rio Grande Valley. Back in December of last year, San Benito – one of the fast-growing county’s 18 cities and towns – held a run-off mayoral election. Though Ricardo “Rick” Guerra won the tight race,...
When and why small Texas cities use outside counsel
While large Texas cities employ a city attorney who has a full-time staff, many smaller cities have just one attorney on staff to handle their legal needs. Some of the smaller cities use a combination of staff and outside counsel, while others use outside counsel...
New Shareholder Announcement
Shareholder Announcement The law firm of Denton Navarro Rocha Bernal & Zech is proud to announce that as of January 1, 2021 Clarissa M. Rodriguez, Robert Drinkard, Scott M. Tschirhart, Rebecca S. Hayward, and T. Daniel Santee. II and have been promoted to...
Former lawmaker alleges El Paso is disguising a tax as a fee
Cities and counties in Texas rely on several revenue streams to finance their operations, including property and sales taxes, user fees and funding from the state and federal governments. Former state representative Joe Pickett says the city of El Paso has come up...
Voters in Texas city to decide fate of police union
Every year, May 1 commemorates the struggles and gains of workers around the world. This year, International Workers’ Day will have added significance in San Antonio, where the city’s voters will decide that day the fate of the police union’s collective bargaining...
Rio Grande Valley city challenges state statute
Sometimes legal disputes involving Texas cities and counties jump around the map. The Hidalgo County city of McAllen has filed a lawsuit in Travis County over a state law passed in Austin to resolve a problem in Progreso (another Hidalgo County city). Pharr – also in...
Pandemic stalls Texas courts and fills some county jails
The pandemic has upended much of everyday life, including in the Texas criminal justice system. In order to slow the spread of Covid-19 and to avoid having judges and jurors exposed to Covid-19, most counties haven’t held any criminal jury trials since March of last...
