The city of Austin announced on Aug. 30 that 13 charter amendments initially approved by the Austin City Council will no longer appear on the November ballot following a lawsuit filed last month by the Save Our Springs Alliance.
The lawsuit alleges city staff failed to allow public testimony on the amendments, violating the Texas Open Meetings Act. District Judge Maya Guerra Gamble placed a temporary injunction on the amendments during a court hearing on Aug. 29, preventing them from appearing on the ballot. The city agreed with the ruling and moved to pull the amendments from the November ballot the next day.
“Staff takes full responsibility for any inconsistency with the Texas Open Meetings Act,” a city spokesperson said in an emailed statement. “Staff will ensure that future council action items are posted to provide notice and opportunity for public comment in full compliance with the Texas Open Meetings Act.”
The proposed amendments would have allowed the City Council to increase the recall election threshold from 10% to 15% of registered voters, appoint and remove the city attorney and would allow annual adjustments to campaign contribution and expenditure limits by Jan. 1.
Before the city scrapped the amendments, the Save Our Springs Alliance urged for the public to vote “no” on all of the proposed amendments on its website.
“Only heard a bit about the proposals to reduce direct democracy by making it harder for citizen petitions for initiative and recall?” the Alliance said on its website. “That’s the basic idea — minimize public awareness of these moves that will reduce City Council and City Manager accountability to voters.”
District 9 Council Member Zohaib “Zo” Qadri voted in favor of including the charter amendments on the ballot at the Aug. 14 City Council meeting.
“I thought they all called for a level of transparency,” Qadri said. “It makes your elected officials and those that serve you more accountable and just more present.”
Bill Bunch, executive director of the Save Our Springs Alliance, spoke about the amendments at the July 18 City Council meeting, including raising the required amount of recall signatures to 15% of registered voters. He said raising the requirements would not stop well-funded recall campaigns but instead would limit public participation in the democratic process.
Qadri said the proposed change in the number of required signatures was developed by city staff in response to changes in how City Council districts operate and are classified on the ballot.
The removal of the amendments will not affect the City Council or mayoral elections set to appear on the ballot this year, the city spokesperson said. While the 13 amendments will not appear on the ballot, Qadri said there are still really important races in November.
“I encourage students to make sure that they are registered to vote,” Qadri said. “It’s important to make sure you vote where you live.”
