The Texas Legislature is meeting in Austin through June 2nd, and Farm&City is again working with House and Senate members to make Texas streets and roads safe, empower TxDOT and local and regional governments to do a better job of meeting the multimodal access needs of all Texans, and reform our urban planning systems to give Texans the freedom to find affordable options to live how they want.
There are many good and bad bills proposed in this session. However, these are all the bills that we are directly working on and are available to help anyone understand these bills and support their passage. Please get in touch at info@farmandcity.org or 713-244-4746 if you want to help.
Every day, eleven Texans lose their lives in preventable traffic crashes. These tragedies affect families across the state, regardless of political affiliation, income, or where they live. Texans deserve common-sense, bipartisan solutions that make our streets safer for everyone—whether driving, walking, biking, or using a wheelchair. Texas has long been a leader in transportation, and it’s time to lead on roadway safety by investing in proven solutions that save lives while respecting local control, personal freedom, and fiscal responsibility. The following legislative package provides practical, data-driven policies to make our streets safer while ensuring Texans can travel freely in their communities.
Safe Neighborhood Streets – HB 5253 (Anchía) / SB 2725 (Cook | West | Zaffirini)
Texas families want slower, safer neighborhood streets designed to protect lives. Currently, lowering speed limits in residential areas to 25 mph requires costly speed studies and signage. The Safe Neighborhood Streets bill empowers cities to sign and design for neighborhood speed limits of 20 or 25 mph, reducing both financial and human costs.
Addressing our High Injury Network – HB 5300 (Goodwin)
Over 80% of traffic deaths and serious injuries in Texas occur on less than 10% of roadways. This bill directs TxDOT to collaborate with Texas research institutions and local governments to systematically identify and fix the most dangerous streets, saving lives as efficiently as possible.
Safe Passing – HB 535 (Lopez, Ray)
Everyone traveling along Texas roads deserves to use the road safely. HB 535 creates a uniform, statewide standard of giving active mobility users 3 feet of space, ensuring all individuals are safeguarded from harm.
Accountability for Reckless Driving – SB 1088 (Eckhardt)
This bill enhances penalties for reckless driving by making it a Class B misdemeanor if a driver causes bodily injury in a crash while either excessively speeding or using a handheld device. While this bill leaves it a personal decision of whether someone thinks they can drive a vehicle while using a cell phone, it makes it clear that we must be accountable for our actions if our decision to drive distracted results in someone’s serious injury or death.
Local Alternatives in NEPA – HB 5391 (Morales Shaw) / SB 2899 (Cook)
HB 5154 would establish a system to allow local governments to propose their preferred alternative(s). This would not guarantee that an alternative be selected or funded, but it would ensure they were meaningfully considered and the public had the right to understand the trade-offs and costs and benefits of meaningfully different proposals.
Safe Driveways – SB 1013 (Eckhardt)
This bill closes a loophole in pedestrian safety laws by ensuring that crosswalk protections extend to sidewalks crossing driveways. By aligning the law with common-sense expectations, SB 1013 reinforces the responsibility of drivers to yield to pedestrians using sidewalks, improving clarity for enforcement and enhancing safety for all road users.
We are also supporting these important bills:
- Street Impact Fees Can Be Used for Safety Improvements – SB 887 (Eckhardt)
- Fully Fund TxDOT Request for Fixing Neighborhood Railroad Crossings – SB 1555 (Nichols, Alvarado) / HB 3727 (Patterson, Hernandez, Perez)
- Consistent Statewide Hands Free – SB 47 (Zaffirini)
- RMA Infrastructure Bank – SB 1384 (Eckhardt) / HB 4888 (Canales)
- Safe Crosswalks – SB 662 (Huffman)
- Defining Sidewalk Users – SB 2039 (Hancock) / HB 4706 (Paul)
The Texas legislature and local governments also have a lot of work to do to reform our land development codes and regulations that impact affordability. There are a lot of groups with a lot more funding than Farm&City working on these issues this session. We are engaging to ensure that legislative changes will actually benefit low income people and will truly give Texans freedom to fine affordable options living how they want, including urban, walkable lifestyles. We are leading on a bill to help one small affordable housing model that provides housing today in Texas and could provide more.
Nonprofit Cooperative Housing Tax Relief – HB 4750 (Anchía)
Nonprofit cooperative housing for students in Texas has had a special property tax exemption in Texas for many decades, helping provide an important affordable housing option for students. This bill will simply expand this exemption to all 501c3 nonprofits providing cooperative housing, beyond just student housing. There are several nonprofits across the state providing this housing model and this exemption will help provide this important niche that provides a healthy, affordable lifestyle to a growing number of Texans.