For the second time, it appears a well-positioned San Antonio state lawmakers has killed that bill to limit the ability of the City of annex a large chunk of northwest Bexar County without the consent of the people who live there, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
The State Senate approved the bill requiring residents of an area to be annexed to vote to approve the annexation, and the House appeared poised to go along.
But then State Rep Joe Moody (D-El Paso) derailed it with a legislative trick known as a 'point of order.'
"Representative Moody has raised a point of order under the Texas Constitution, and the point of order is upheld," Speaker Joe Straus ruled.
The point of order derailed debate in the full House, and sent the anti-annexation bill back to the Committee.
With only ten days left in the Special Session, and a flurry of bills coming to the House for the Senate for consideration, returning the anti annexation bill to Committee is seen as a death sentence.
Gov. Abbott called for the item to be passed in the Special Session, and it was expected to be the first bill to be sent to his desk.
"Cities that annex property without the vote of those effected is piracy by government," Abbott declared. "It must end."
The City of San Antonio objected to the bill on the grounds that only the city's strong zoning authority could property protect development around military bases, in this case Camp Bullis, and keep them off the base closing list.
In literally the final hours of the Regular Session, Sen. Jose Menendez (D-San Antonio) killed the anti annexation bill with a filibuster in the State Senate. Menendez had threatened another filibuster if the bill returned to the Senate, but today that looks increasingly unlikely.