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Houston, Texas, Proposition B, City Firefighters Charter Amendment (November 2018)
| Proposition B: Houston Firefighters Charter Amendment |
|---|
|
| The basics |
| Election date: |
| November 6, 2018 |
| Status: |
 Approved
|
| Topic: |
| Local charter amendments |
| Related articles |
| Local charter amendments on the ballot November 6, 2018 ballot measures in Texas Harris County, Texas ballot measures Local law enforcement on the ballot |
| See also |
| Houston, Texas |
A charter amendment concerning firefighters' pay was on the ballot for Houston voters in Harris County, Texas, on November 6, 2018. It was approved.
| A yes vote was a vote in favor of amending the city charter to grant pay parity with the Houston Police Department to Houston firefighters. |
| A no vote was a vote against amending the city charter to grant pay parity with the Houston Police Department to Houston firefighters. |
Proposition B was put on the ballot as a citizen initiative. The Houston Professional Fire Fighters Association campaigned for the initiative.
Aftermath
Proposition B ruled unconstitutional by district court
On May 15, 2019, Judge Tanya Garrison of Texas District Court 157 ruled against Proposition B, stating that the measure "is unconstitutional and void in its entirety." The ruling granted the Houston Police Officers' Union's motion opposing Proposition B. The proposition was designed to match city firefighters' pay to that of city police officers. Judge Garrison denied the motion in defense of Proposition B made by the Houston Professional Fire Fighters Association, stating that the measure conflicted with state collective bargaining laws.[1]
Response from mayor
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner stated that the ruling would immediately end the 29 percent raises for firefighters enacted under Proposition B. He also tweeted, "Prop B being ruled unconstitutional means there will be no layoffs of city workers and no demotions in HFD. I have always said firefighters are deserving of a pay raise. I look forward to working with them on a pay raise within the city's budget."[1]
Response from firefighters' union
The Houston Professional Fire Fighters Association said in a statement following the ruling, "We will continue to strive to force Sylvester Turner to respect the will of 298,000 [sic] Prop B voters who sent a strong message that Houston should equally value its police and fire personnel."[2]
Proposition B upheld as constitutional by appeals court
On July 29, 2021, the Texas Fourteenth District Court of Appeals reversed the district court's order, ruling that Proposition B was constitutional. Judge Meagan Hassan wrote, "Preemption is not a conclusion lightly reached — if the Legislature intended to preempt a subject matter normally within a home-rule city’s broad powers, that intent must be evidenced with ‘unmistakable clarity'."[3] The case was sent back to the district court.[4]
Marty Lancton, president of the Houston Professional Fire Fighters Association, responded that Mayor Turner is "running out of options and he just needs to stop, sit down with us and get this issue resolved, once and for all."[3] City Attorney Arturo Michel responded, "The City of Houston respectfully disagrees with today's Fourteenth Court of Appeals decision where, in a divided 2-1 vote, the majority reversed the trial court's determination that the firefighter pay parity charter amendment was unconstitutional."[4]
Election results
|
Houston (Full and Limited) Proposition B |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Result | Votes | Percentage | ||
|
|
291,964 | 59.24% | ||
| No | 200,903 | 40.76% | ||
Text of measure
Ballot question
The ballot question was as follows:[5]
| “ | Shall the City Charter of the City of Houston be amended by adding a separate section that reads as follows:
|
” |
Full text
The full text of the measure is available here.
Path to the ballot
This measure was put on the ballot through a successful citizen petition campaign.
The Houston Professional Fire Fighters Association collected signatures from registered Houston voters in 2017 in order to place Proposition B on the ballot. Initiative proponents must collect signatures equal to 15 percent of the total votes cast for mayor of Houston at the previous mayoral election. For the November 2018 election, the requirement was 20,000 signatures. The firefighters' union submitted approximately 32,000 signatures, of which 20,228 were verified by the office of the city secretary on May 3, 2018.[7]
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 KHOU 11 ,"Mayor Turner: 'No layoffs, no demotions' after judge rules Prop B unconstitutional," May 15, 2019
- ↑ Twitter, "Houston Firefighters," May 15, 2019
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Houston Chronicle, "In bombshell reversal, appeals court restores Houston firefighters' pay parity measure," July 29, 2021
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Houston Public Media, "Appellate Court Reverses Prop B Ruling That Blocked Pay Parity For Houston Firefighters," July 29, 2021
- ↑ Harris Voter Info, "Harris County Local Elections," accessed October 24, 2018
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Houston Chronicle, "Houston city secretary: Firefighters have enough signatures on pay ‘parity’ petition," May 3, 2018
