Rep. Gary Gates’ nine-member committee will take invited and public testimony on how four new zoning and lot-size laws are working, and on whether trimming city fees and speeding up permits can make homes cheaper.
- When: 9:00 AM CT, Monday, July 20, 2026
- Where: Room E2.026, Capitol Extension, Austin
- Chair: Rep. Gary Gates, R–Richmond (HD-28)
- Vice Chair: Rep. Suleman Lalani, D–Sugar Land (HD-76)
- Format: Invited and public testimony; public testimony may be limited at the chair’s discretion; interim charges only — no vote on legislation
- Live video: house.texas.gov/video-audio
- Submit comments online: comments.house.texas.gov/home?c=c360 (open until the hearing adjourns)
- Full agenda: Official hearing notice (capitol.texas.gov)
The Texas House Committee on Land & Resource Management will gavel in at 9 a.m. Monday, July 20 to take stock of four housing laws the Legislature passed in 2025 and to study whether reining in local fees, expanding third-party permit reviews and letting builders reuse pre-approved house plans could make Texas homes cheaper to build. The panel will hear invited and public testimony on both interim charges.
Chaired by Rep. Gary Gates, R-Richmond, the nine-member committee carries a 5-4 Republican majority and holds jurisdiction over public lands, eminent domain, annexation, zoning and land use. Monday’s hearing is the panel’s first crack at measuring the real-world rollout of the housing package Gov. Greg Abbott signed in June 2025 as an answer to what he called a statewide housing crisis — and the committee has posted a second hearing for 9 a.m. the following day.
The Monitoring charge names four laws, all of which took effect Sept. 1, 2025. House Bill 24 rewrote the state’s zoning-protest rules, raising the threshold for neighboring property owners to force a supermajority council vote on a rezoning — a mechanism the Mercatus Center says effectively ends the “valid petition” veto that let a handful of neighbors block housing projects.
Senate Bill 15 bars large cities from requiring lots bigger than 3,000 square feet, and limits setback, parking and ceiling-height mandates on those small lots, according to an analysis by the Foley & Lardner law firm. Senate Bill 840 requires those same cities to allow multifamily and mixed-use residential projects in areas zoned for office, retail or warehouse use — including conversions of existing commercial buildings — without a rezoning.
The fourth law, Senate Bill 1567, restricts how home-rule college towns of fewer than 250,000 people may cap the number of unrelated occupants in a dwelling, according to the House bill analysis. Committee members will probe city rulemaking and any early litigation under all four statutes.
The Housing Affordability charge opens three fronts. On fees, the committee will examine impact fees, utility connection charges, permit and inspection fees and drainage charges that cities levy on new construction — fees governed in part by Chapter 395 of the Local Government Code — and whether cities spend them as the law allows. Fort Worth staff, for example, have already briefed their council on how the 2025 land-use laws reshape the city’s zoning ordinance and impact-fee program.
On third-party review, members will study whether letting private reviewers approve plats and building plans speeds up permitting, and what other states have done. On pre-approval of residential building plans, the panel will weigh letting cities pre-clear standard house designs for repeated use — a step supporters say would shorten permitting timelines and cut carrying costs for builders.
Because the committee is meeting in the interim, it will take no vote on legislation. Its findings will feed recommendations to the 90th Legislature, which convenes in January 2027, and Texans who cannot attend can submit written comments on any agenda item through the committee’s online portal until the hearing adjourns.
Committee members
- Rep. Gary Gates, R–Richmond (HD-28) — Chair
- Rep. Suleman Lalani, D–Sugar Land (HD-76) — Vice Chair
- Rep. Daniel Alders, R–Tyler (HD-6)
- Rep. Yvonne Davis, D–Dallas (HD-111)
- Rep. Gina Hinojosa, D–Austin (HD-49)
- Rep. Todd Hunter, R–Corpus Christi (HD-32)
- Rep. Ray Lopez, D–San Antonio (HD-125)
- Rep. Matt Morgan, R–Richmond (HD-26)
- Rep. Wes Virdell, R–Brady (HD-53)