HB7 has been hijacked and amended by the Senate.  This bill now prevents your city from protecting your home values and environment.  HB7 is on its way to the House.  0.4% of your day will make a difference.

Please take 5 minutes out of your day and make two quick phone calls.  Here is what you can do:

1. Contact Representative Dade Phelan and ask him to refuse concurrence with the Senate’s amendments to his bill, HB 7. Calls to 512-463-0706 are preferable, but you can email Dade.Phelan@house.texas.gov.
2. Contact The Honorable Joe Straus, Speaker of the House in opposition to CSHB 7. Calls to 512-463-1000 are preferable, but you can email at joe.straus@speaker.texas.gov
3. Please forward this message, especially to friends in Joe Straus’s district.

How did we get here?
The Senate passed SB14 which stripped local control of your neighborhoods, allowing big business interests to develop large tracts of and clear cut trees with impunity.  You can see the public hearing witness list and analysis (see: Now, who’d you say this Senate Bill 14 serves?) then decide for yourself who’s interests are being represented by this bill.  This bill is so terrible the House companion bill, HB70, was never voted out of committee.

The House passed HB7 which addressed the concerns of home owners.  Then the Senate took HB7 and added amendments turning it into much of what SB14 was.  This amended bill is on its way to the House.  If Rep. Phelan concurs with the Senate amendments, the full House will vote. If Rep. Phelan doesn’t concur, a conference committee will be appointed by Speaker Straus and Lt. Gov. Patrick.

The Senate Business & Commerce Committee is planning to add loopholes to HB7 that are designed to benefit developers of large tracks of land, not people living single family homes. The committee meets tomorrow Tuesday August 8th at 9:00 AM. The proposed amendments strip cities of local control & could lead to clear cutting damaging neighborhoods and property values.

We have setup a special HB7 page with links to committee members and information on how you can help.

The senate never even held a committee hearing on the companion bill to HB7.  Now they are attempting to turn HB7 into a version of SB14 which the House has been wise enough to leave in committee while continuing to work on the state’s pressing issues.