Less than two weeks after San Antonio City Council approved its priorities for the upcoming state legislative session, Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones is calling for changes to the agenda following Democrats’ sweeping victories in the Nov. 3 election.
In a memo to council members Thursday, Jones outlined six additional legislative priorities, including expanding Medicaid, repealing state laws restricting local government authority and removing barriers to voting and reproductive healthcare.
The proposals represent a shift from the city’s previously approved legislative agenda, which largely focused on protecting San Antonio’s publicly-owned utilities, securing funding for major infrastructure projects and preserving local control.
“Elections matter, and as we prepare for the 90th Legislative Session, we are going to ask for more,” Jones said in a video posted to social media. “We have not had this opportunity in a generation, and we have some time to make up for.”
The push comes after Democrats won control of the Texas House and statewide offices, including the governor’s office, where Democrat Gina Hinojosa defeated Republican incumbent Greg Abbott.
Republicans retained control of the Texas Senate, meaning many of the proposed changes would still require bipartisan support to become law.
Jones has asked her colleagues to submit proposed amendments to District 2 Councilman Jalen McKee-Rodriguez, who chairs the city’s Intergovernmental Relations Committee, before it convenes to develop an amendment to the legislative agenda.
The amendment is expected to go before City Council for approval Dec. 3. Lawmakers began prefiling bills Monday ahead of the legislative session, which begins Jan. 12.
Speaking on Texas Public Radio’s The Source on Monday, Jones said the election results present an opportunity for cities to pursue policies that have faced opposition from Republican state leadership for decades.
“I don’t think the message from Tuesday was, you know, ‘hey, take your time, go slow,'” Jones said. “No, I think that the message was on Tuesday was we want change and we wanted it yesterday.”
At the top of her proposed additions is expanding Medicaid coverage to approximately 1 million Texans and addressing a backlog of more than 210,000 applications awaiting processing by the state.
Jones pointed to Texas’ high uninsured rate, particularly among children, as a reason to make expanding healthcare coverage a priority.
“Texas is the most uninsured state in the country. We have the highest number of uninsured adults, and the highest number of uninsured kids,” Jones said. “One in four kids in this country that is uninsured lives in Texas and that is just inexcusable.”
Another major priority is repealing House Bill 2127, commonly known as the “Death Star” bill, which restricts the ability of Texas cities and counties to regulate certain matters already governed by state law.
The 2023 legislation was backed by Abbott and Republican lawmakers who argued that businesses should not have to navigate different regulations across municipalities.
Jones said she has discussed the issue with other major Texas city mayors, including Houston Mayor John Whitmire and Austin Mayor Kirk Watson, who share concerns about the state’s restrictions on local authority.
“We are just very excited about the state not being in our business in a way that they don’t need to be and traditionally haven’t been,” Jones said. “Letting us govern at the local level in the way in which people want and deserve.”
Her proposal also calls for repealing two versions of Senate Bill 4, passed in 2017 and 2023, which expanded the state’s role in immigration enforcement.
The 2017 law requires local law enforcement agencies to cooperate with federal immigration authorities, while the 2023 legislation sought to authorize state and local officers to arrest people suspected of entering Texas illegally.
Jones said repealing them would allow police officers to focus on public safety without residents fearing that reporting crimes could lead to immigration enforcement.
Other proposed priorities include removing barriers to voting, including those related to congressional redistricting, repealing restrictions on reproductive healthcare and overturning a state law that prevents cities from prohibiting discrimination against renters based on their source of income, including housing vouchers.
The proposed changes come as the political landscape surrounding some of San Antonio’s original legislative priorities has shifted.
One of the city’s primary concerns heading into the session was an August proposal from Abbott to open San Antonio’s electricity market to private competition, potentially threatening revenue generated by municipally owned CPS Energy.
The utility is expected to contribute approximately $559.7 million to the city’s general fund in fiscal year 2027, helping support services including police, fire and infrastructure.
Asked Monday whether Abbott’s proposal effectively died with his election loss, Jones said she believes it did.
“I believe so. I believe so,” Jones said. “I think many of us always thought that was a talking point.”
She defended CPS Energy’s publicly owned model, saying CPS holds the lowest combined rate for electricity and natural gas across the state while pointing to its role in expanding the state’s electric transmission infrastructure.
The city’s existing legislative agenda still calls for protecting local ownership and governance of CPS Energy and the San Antonio Water System, along with securing state support for Project Marvel, flood infrastructure improvements and the proposed South Texas Parkway.
Jones is not the only council member seeking to capitalize on the election results.
McKee-Rodriguez filed a council consideration request last week seeking an economic study of legalizing medical and recreational marijuana, including potential tax revenue, job creation and changes in criminal justice spending.
The councilman said the study could eventually support adding marijuana legalization as an explicit legislative priority.
