Rogers HB 5406 Tabled, For Now
Local Texas State Representative Glenn Rogers and staff have been working for months to coordinate and introduce HB 5406 that would establish the Cross Timber’s Regional Utility Authority.
The bill is designed to unite local entities to create a louder voice to organizations funding infrastructure projects water development. It’s an effort that has brought over 25 letters of support from three different counties and other governing bodies to show solidarity for the bill. Those counties include Palo Pinto, Parker and Stephens County.
In a much surprising halt, the local bill was tabled this past Saturday after the objection of Texas State Representative Tony Tinderholt, of Arlington, raised concerns on the Texas legislature floor about the bill Representative Glenn Rogers had introduced.
Tinderholt elected to speak on the floor against the bill for 10 minutes on May 6th and in his speech indicated he had seven phone calls to his office about the bill. His concern was the composition of the governing board was weighted to the advantage of The City of Mineral Wells. He was also concerned with board’s ability to use eminent domain. He spoke of an alleged $103 million lawsuit of misappropriating of funds by the City of Mineral Wells.
Mineral Wells Area News is unaware of any existing lawsuit but knew the City had been released in March of 2020 from a suit brought on by American Precision Ammunition, a since defunct company previous city officials had once attracted to relocate to Mineral Wells.
When asked about the lawsuit Tinderholt mentioned on the floor, Mineral Wells Mayor Regan Johnson said she will be making a statement on social media but confirmed the City had indeed been released from the APA lawsuit that was brought up on the legislative floor. Wallace indicated she had met with Rogers staff and discussed the situation.
Local legislation is rarely debated on the legislative floor so it was a surprise to hear any objections to those close to the bill.
“We were very disappointed with Representative Tinderholt’s procedural motion and negative comments regarding the bill and the City of Mineral Wells. If he had contacted us prior to his comments, we could have provided him with information that would have addressed his concerns. This is a good piece of legislation that will help bring much needed water resources to the region and we plan to bring it back to the House floor as early as Wednesday”.
Representative Glenn Rogers
