Fair for Houston members Ally Smither, from right, and Terri Chen deliver three boxes of more than 23,000 signatures to Houston City Secretary Pat Jefferson Daniel and staff Dana Dixon at City Hall Annex on Wednesday, July 5, 2023 in Houston. Since mid-January, volunteers of the newly formed Houston-Galveston Area PAC have been collecting signatures from Houston voters with the aim of putting a city charter amendment on the ballot in November.
Houston Chronicle
Yilun Cheng, Staff writer
While Houston represents over 30 percent of the population under H-GAC's jurisdiction, the city only has two seats on the council's 37-member board. To boost the city's influence, about 200 Fair for Houston volunteers canvassed the city over the past four months. They submitted 23,665 signatures to city officials Wednesday.
Pending the city’s verification, the number of signatures is enough to add a charter amendment to this year's municipal elections in November that would compel H-GAC to revise its voting structure.
“We feel really confident about the counting because we have done so much verifying ourselves,” organizer Alexandra Smither said. “We are seeking to fundamentally restructure the way Houston receives its federal funding for things like infrastructure, flood mitigation, and just create a fairer system for our city.”
H-GAC covers 13 counties and consists of around 100 local governments, which include cities, counties and school districts. Over the years, the organization has largely stayed out of the public eye despite its role in distributing federal and state funds for key projects like flood protection, workforce development and large-scale infrastructure, according to Michael Moritz, another organizer with Fair for Houston.
“Probably 90 percent of the doors that I knocked didn't know about H-GAC at all,” Moritz said. “People were frustrated that they didn't know about it … it was exciting to be able to share with them specific instances of how this had been bad for their neighborhood or for Houston.”
While its day-to-day operations often go unnoticed, tensions flared when the H-GAC board assigned only 2 percent of $488 million in federal flood funds to Houston in early 2022. The same year, H-GAC’s transportation committee approved the controversial I-45 expansion project over objections from Houston and Harris County.
“We didn't get a fair share of (the flood mitigation) funding based on size and population,” said District A council member Amy Peck, one of the two Houston officials on H-GAC’s board of directors. “While all of the other entities in each county definitely deserve to have representation and funding as well, it has to be based on something other than what we have right now.”
Mayor Sylvester Turner has repeatedly expressed frustration with H-GAC’s “inequitable” fund distribution. He said Wednesday he shares the advocates' concerns.
"We have also voiced concerns that the voting at H-GAC does not reflect the proportional population of its members especially considering that Houston-Harris County is a major reason why significant dollars flow into the region," the mayor said in an email response. "We will continue to try to work through these issues. We have no objections to the people expressing their view.”
Under the proposed charter amendment, Houston would have to withdraw from any regional planning group without a proportional voting structure based on population size. While the goal is to have H-GAC revise its voting system, advocates said, federal regulations would allow Houston to continue to receive funding even if it chooses to leave the council. This would hold true until a new regional group is established.
The initiative has garnered endorsements from a number of local groups and figures, including three mayoral candidates — District I council member Robert Gallegos, former Metro Chair Gilbert Garcia and attorney Lee Kaplan.
Waller County Judge Carbett "Trey" Duhon, chairman of the H-GAC board of directors, did not immediately respond to a request for comments but previously said the regional council was designed to give a voice to all covered jurisdictions, big or small.
“What is being proposed would essentially kill the essence of a regional planning council of governments,” Duhon said in a statement when Fair for Houston first started its petition drive in March. “It would allow two jurisdictions to essential control and dominate regional decisions amongst the 13 counties. That undermines the entire purpose of the council of government.”
Houston at-large council member Sallie Alcorn, who serves as the chair-elect of H-GAC’s board, declined to take a stance on the proposed charter amendment. Aside from flood fund distribution disputes, she said, most of H-GAC's funding allocation appears to be proportional. At the same time, she voiced support for reviewing the council's current board composition to potentially give Houston more representation.
“I do think a thorough discussion of board composition is essential,” Alcorn said. “I do feel like Houston and Harris County deserve more representation.”