Texas Supreme Court to decide whether Austin has a charter election this year

The Supreme Court of Texas has accepted a petition for a writ of mandamus in the Save Our Springs Alliance lawsuit against the city of Austin regarding alleged violations of the Texas Open Meetings Act. If the court agrees with the plaintiffs that the city violated the Open Meetings Act in setting a charter election for Nov. 5, the part of the election related to 13 proposed changes to Austin’s charter could be halted. The remainder of the ballot would not be impacted by the lawsuit.

A Travis County judge has already issued a temporary restraining order in the case and set a temporary injunction hearing for Thursday.

As Bill Aleshire, attorney for the SOS Alliance, explained in his request to the Supreme Court, the deadline for setting items on the November ballot is this Friday for Hays and Williamson counties. The deadline for Travis County is Sept. 5. Regardless of who wins the injunction battle in the Travis County District Court, there will be insufficient time for either party to appeal.

Normally, the case would go from the District Court to the Court of Appeals and then on to the Supreme Court. But this is an unusual case, and the Supreme Court has recognized that and requested that the city file a response to the plaintiffs’ petition at 9 a.m. Wednesday. If the Supreme Court issues a ruling before the parties go to the Travis County courthouse for their temporary injunction hearing on Thursday morning, there will be no need for that hearing.



https://www.austinmonitor.com/stories/2024/08/texas-supreme-court-to-decide-whether-austin-has-charter-election-this-year/