As state lawmakers begin to unveil their priorities for this year’s legislative session, city officials are divided on the wisdom of continuing past fights that have long made San Antonio a foil for Texas Republican leaders.
Conservatives who control the agenda in Austin are laying plans to eliminate DEI policies, enact a school voucher program and regulate use of some city facilities by biological sex — all ideas the city has deemed potentially threatening to its residents, according to a presentation the city’s Government Affairs Director Sally Basurto made to the City Council on Thursday.
Despite leading efforts to sue the state over policies it disagreed with in the past, from the 2017 Sanctuary Cities law to the 2023 super preemption bill know as the “Death Star Bill,” it’s unclear how far the city is willing to go to fight them this time.
“It’s a strange moment in American history,” said Councilman Manny Pelaez (D8), an attorney who has been heavily involved in the city’s government affairs efforts and led calls to pursue the Death Star lawsuit. “We’ve got a leadership in Austin who wakes up every single morning and just seems to say to itself, ‘What can we do to hurt things?’”
The November election put Republicans in control of every legislative and executive branch in both D.C. and Austin, as well as the high courts that would hear challenges to the policies they put forward.
Since taking office, President Donald Trump has indicated plans to up the ante even further, vowing to withhold resources and punish municipalities that buck his policies.
For example, his Justice Department has said it will investigate incidents where local officials do not comply with immigration-related requests for possible prosecution, according to CNN.
“We have to work with the state. We have to work with the federal government,” said Marina Alderete Gavito (D7), a centrist on the dais who recently withdrew her support from a plan to fund abortion travel with city funds.
Other council members, however, are eager to see the city keep the heat on Republican state leaders this legislative session.
Some of them, like Councilman Jalen McKee-Rodriguez (D2) pushed earlier this year to include language to the legislative agenda vowing to oppose bills that undermine the city’s non-discrimination ordinance — against the advice of city staff, which said it could complicate their ability to communicate with conservative lawmakers on other issues.
But Thursday’s presentation comes as the city has already been exercising caution on some politically charged fights in the months since November’s election, and some council members say they can’t afford to continue making themselves a target.
For example, in December some council members sought to continue awarding the extra points minority- or women-owned small businesses received in the city’s contract evaluation process — despite legal advice saying they no longer had the standing to do so — and were shut down.
The city still has some DEI programs in place for government contracting that meet the current legal requirements, but has also already started preparing for a world where they might be eliminated altogether.
Last week a separate months-long push to fund out-of-state abortions with city money — once popular with many council members — seemed to take its last gasp when past supporters of the idea peeled off and failed to advance it from a council committee.
And in the clearest sign yet that San Antonio is trying to steer clear of major conflicts, this week SAPD Chief William McManus brought a field director from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to a District 10 neighborhood meeting to assure residents that his department is in lockstep with federal law enforcement on recent immigration crackdowns.
Against that backdrop, Thursday’s meeting mostly focused on legislative asks that have little to do with partisan politics.
San Antonio wants help from the state funding a new East-West business corridor. It’s pushing legislation to crack down on dangerous dogs, car thefts and sales of e-cigarettes near schools.
“We need their help to do what we want to do for our citizens here,” Councilman Marc Whyte (D10) said of the situation at Thursday’s council meeting. “So I would say that moving forward, let’s not poke these other jurisdictions in the eye every opportunity we get.”
