An already lengthy general election ballot, featuring races for federal, state, and local offices, just got lengthier for Austin voters.
During their meeting last week, the Austin City Council sent thirteen potential amendments to the city charter to voters for consideration. If approved, they would go into effect in 2025.
According to the Austin Monitor, the proposed amendments are as follows:
Prop C: Proposes changes to ensure that the Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission (ICRC) operates independently from the City Council, has the authority to update district boundaries when needed, sets a clear start date for new district maps, increases the pool of potential appointees, provides clarity on filling vacancies and permits city staff to communicate with the ICRC outside of meetings as long as it follows transparency rules.
Prop D: Seeks to delete language requiring City Council to meet at least once each week.
Prop E: Would allow City Council to change its meeting rules by official vote following proper posting as an agenda item.
Prop F: Would change the charter to clearly define “election” and to update limits on campaign contributions and spending every Jan. 1, instead of when the budget is adopted, to match federal and state practices.
Prop G: Would ensure that elections for citizen initiatives and charter amendments are held on the next available November election date in even-numbered years, as long as there’s enough time to meet legal requirements.
Prop H: Would increase the number of signatures needed to recall a City Council member from 10 percent to 15 percent of voters in their district and requires the petition circulator to sign an affidavit instead of the person who signed the petition.
Prop I: Would allow City Council to appoint and remove the city attorney.
Prop J: Would change the deadline for municipal court judges to resign if they want to run for another office, making it the same as the deadline set by the Texas Constitution for other officials.
Prop K: Would align city financial practices with standard accounting rules, modernize budget procedures and contract practices, and raise the limit on how much the city manager can approve in contracts without needing City Council approval.
Prop L: Would remove appointees and employees of the office of the city auditor from the classified civil service.
Prop M: Would eliminate the need for submitting an affidavit to report claims of death, injury or property damage and instead follow the state law’s deadline for such notices.
Prop N: Would allow for fixing spelling, punctuation and grammar mistakes, and allow removal or changing of outdated or unenforceable language due to state laws or court decisions.
Prop O: Would allow officeholders to ask for and accept political donations while still in office to cover unpaid campaign costs or repay personal money spent on their campaign.
While most items appear relatively minor, skepticism could still be warranted.
“I voted no on all of these,” Councilmember Mackenzie Kelly, the lone conservative on the dais, told Texas Scorecard.
Election Day is November 5, 2024.
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