Marziani
HOUSTON - The City of Houston needs to withdraw itself from two political bodies, taxpayers say in a lawsuit alleging it has "flouted" is own charter.
Three plaintiffs filed suit against Houston Mayor John Whitmire and the city's councilmembers on May 27 in Harris County District Court. Representing those taxpayers is Mimi Marziani of the political law firm Marziani, Stevens & Gonzalez.
That firm earlier this year filed suit on behalf of fired federal workers over Elon Musk's actions as head of the Department of Governmental Efficiency, which he has since left.
Now, the firm is taking aim at Houston's involvement in the Houston-Galveston Area Council and its Transportation Policy Council. The H-GAC is an association of local governments from 13 counties in Southeast Texas.
The suit says Houston residents are granted only up to 10% of H-GAC votes even though they make up nearly one-third of the represented population. Houston's charter says it can't participate in councils of government or metropolitan planning organizations if those groups do not provide for representation proportional to population.
That measure was passed by voters in November 2023.
"(T)he City continues to expend public funds, staff time and political capital to remain a member of those bodies," the lawsuit says.
"The Charter is explicit: the City 'shall withdraw' from any COG or MPO that fails to adopt proportional voting within 60 days of Proposition B's effective date. Houston's refusal to do so is ultra vires and its continued expenditure of public resources to participate in those entities must be enjoined."
H-GAC spent more than $500 million in government funds in 2024 and oversaw how another $1.1 billion would be spent on regional transportation projects. A board of directors makes these decisions, but Houston holds only two spots on its 37-member body.
There are two Harris County members, two from Houston and one from the Houston Independent School District General Assembly. The Transportation Policy Council has 31 voting members, three from Houston.
The lawsuit complains H-GAC's Transportation Improvement Program sends more than $3 billion to the North Houston Highway Improvement Project, though ever Houston and Harris County member of the TPC voted against it.
"The NHHIP has only moved forwards because, despite collectively representing two-thirds of the region's population, these board members have a minority of the votes on the H-GAC and TPC," the suit says.
And $488 million received for storm-mitigation in 2022 resulted in only $9 million for Houston, even though the City and Harris County suffered half of the damage caused by Hurricane Harvey, the suit says.
Despite not reaching a voting compromise, Houston still voted on Oct. 30 to pay $92,000 in H-GAC dues.
