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Senator Paul Bettencourt: District 7
 
Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 17, 2020
Contact: Robert Flanagan
(713) 464-0282
Robert.Flanagan@senate.texas.gov
Houston Area Legislative Delegation Files Amicus Brief for GLO, not Houston, to Manage Harvey Relief
Five State Senators and Nine State Representatives join in Amicus Brief to the Texas Supreme Court

Houston, TX - Senator Paul Bettencourt (R-Houston), along with Senators Kolkhorst (R-Brenham), Creighton (R-Conroe), Taylor (R-Friendswood), and Huffman (R-Houston), as well as Representatives Bohac (R-Houston), Harless (R-Spring), Huberty (R-Kingwood), Cain (R-Deer Park), Davis (R-Houston), Murphy (R-Houston), Paul (R-Houston), Oliverson (R-Tomball), and Swanson (R-Spring) filed an Amicus Brief with the Texas Supreme Court to overturn the 3rd Court of Appeals decision letting the City of Houston keep possession of Harvey recovery funds and block the GLO from accepting any new applicants as that would potentially jeopardize federal funding and "run counter to statute”, from HB 2776 (Sponsored by Senator Creighton) from the 85th Session.

"Houstonians have spent the last three hurricane seasons waiting for the City of Houston to provide disaster recovery assistance," said Senator Bettencourt. "The Senate Finance Committee heard testimony on this mismanagement as far back as 2019, and that is why the GLO has taken the action that they have. To allow this mismanagement to continue could potentially create a $1.25 billion liability to the State."

Court testimony highlighted that only 245 Houston families had received assistance in the City's homebuyer assistance and homeowner’s assistance programs, with only 65 homes built in the last two years. This is compared to the General Land Office building 1,618 homes for Texas families through the state-run Homeowner Assistance Program during this same time period.

“The City should stop wasting taxpayer’s money and let the GLO finish the job,” added Representative Harless. Representative Swanson added, “The City of Houston continues to demonstrate a remarkable talent for mismanaging and wasting taxpayer dollars. Their incompetence now puts Houston at risk of losing vital disaster recovery assistance, which if not spent, will be returned to the federal government. The General Land Office should and must regain administrative authority to see these funds disbursed before it is too late."

As noted in the brief, if the disaster recovery funds allocated by Congress have not been spent by August 17, 2024 the State of Texas would lose access to those funds. Therefore, the burden of closing this shortfall would then fall on the State of Texas to allocate money to assist with disaster recovery due to the City of Houston's inability to adequately manage the program and fulfill their fiduciary obligations to their residents.

Under a program managed by the GLO rather than the City of Houston, residents would likely see an increase in services. This would result in better administrative oversight and more efficient services to those who need them.

Instead of recognizing the obvious as Harris County did when they returned control of the program to the GLO, the City of Houston has elected to spend additional time and money in litigation," concluded Senator Bettencourt. "Houstonians should not be forced to spend another hurricane season waiting for this case to wade through the legal system and get relief from that flooding."

 

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