Austin light rail project survives after opposition bills fail

Austin Light Rail Project Bills Presumed Dead After Missing Legislative Deadlines

Two bills that would have sabotaged the city of Austin’s multi-billion-dollar light rail project are presumed dead after missing key legislative deadlines.

Details of the Bills

• Senate Bill 2519, authored by Republican Sen. Paul Bettencourt of Houston, passed the Senate and a House committee earlier this month, but was not scheduled for a vote in the Texas House before Sunday’s deadline.
• House Bill 3879, filed by Austin-area Republican Rep. Ellen Troxclair, advanced out of committee but was never brought to the full House for a vote.

Reactions to the Bills' Defeat

Austin City Council Member Zo Qadri said the defeat of the bills was good news and “means a lot to the people of Austin.”
“With all due respect, if you don't represent Austin, you don't know Austin,” Qadri said in an interview Tuesday.
Council Member Vanessa Fuentes echoed Qadri’s sentiments but said she remains cautiously optimistic, as the bill could resurface as an amendment to separate legislation that is still under consideration.
"A lot can happen in these last few days of the Texas Legislature,” Fuentes told the American-Statesman.

Background on Project Connect

Austin voters approved Project Connect in 2020 via an ongoing 20% increase to property taxes. The project has seen numerous legal and legislative challenges from critics who have seized on the significant downsizing — and the project’s novel funding mechanism.

Ongoing Challenges

Voters approved the creation of a local government corporation, the Austin Transit Partnership, to plan the project and take on debt to finance it. However, no debt has yet been issued as the city and the Transit Partnership face lawsuits from a group of local taxpayers and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who argue the financing model violates state law.
“The City continues to monitor all legislation and will comply with whatever is passed,” city of Austin spokesperson David Ochsner said in a written statement.

Previous Attempts to Derail the Project

This is not the first time Troxclair and Bettencourt attempted to derail the project. Troxclair, a conservative former Austin City Council member who has led the charge to kill Project Connect, filed a similar bill in 2023 that would have forced the city to get voter approval before issuing any debt for the project. It died on a last-minute technicality.
In a Tuesday statement, attorneys Rick Fine and Bill Aleshire, a former Travis County tax collector and judge, blamed House Speaker Dustin Burrows for the failure of the bills, stating they could not secure his “blessing” and vowing to continue opposing the advancement of the transit project.
“We hope that the abuse those bills addressed does not happen to other communities in Texas,” the statement said.
This story was updated to add a video.