The charter is the fundamental governing law for a home-rule city.  Under state law, any charter amendment must be approved by a majority of the city’s qualified voters participating in an election held specifically for that purpose, which in this case will occur in November 2026.  State law also limits charter amendments to no more than once every two years.

The city council had originally planned to place these amendments on the November 2024 ballot, but that effort was derailed when the council was found to have violated the Texas Open Meetings Act.

Public hearings on the City of Austin’s proposed charter amendments will be held this week on Tuesday, July 28, and Thursday, July 30. The city has posted a short synopsis of the proposed charter amendments, along with council‑initiated amendments, as part of the meeting materials.

These are the most concerning charter amendments:

Amendment 3(Item C)– This amendment eliminates the requirement that the Council set its meeting rules by ordinance, thereby eliminating the necessity of public input on the proposed meeting changes. The importance of a public hearing was demonstrated when the Council attempted to illegally reduce effective speaking times, thereby  limiting citizen communication. The public airing and the ordinance requirement provided the opportunity for the changes to be successfully challenged in court.   This charter amendment would undermine those protections.

Amendment 12 – (Item L) This amendment allows City Council members to solicit and accept political contributions to retire campaign debt while they are still in office, rather than waiting until they are out of office.  This was the only amendment proposed by the City Council (and not the Charter Review Commission). We understand why special interests like paying council members after they have been elected, but don’t understand why that should be allowed.

Amendment 5  -(Item E) This amendment limits elections for initiatives or charter changes that result from citizen petitions to the next November of an even year.  This can result in a unduly long wait for a vote after a citizen petition is validated because of the additional state law requiring two years between charter amendment votes. The Austin Independent demonstrates how delaying the vote can undermine the initiative.

The following amendments are also concerning:

Amendment 1  -(Item A) This amendment eliminates or modifies terms in the Charter designed to keep the redistricting commission independent.  It removes the prohibition of communication with anyone outside of a public hearing and allows council and city staff to interact with the “independent” redistricting commission.

Amendment 6 – (Item F) Recall of a Council member currently requires a petition of at least 10% of registered voters in the district followed by a recall election.  This amendment would change the threshold to 15%.    A 15% requirement, makes a recall petition more expensive, favoring a person or organization with deep pockets, instead of grassroots efforts.

At their meeting on July 30, 2026 the Austin City  Council made the decision to place these charter amendments on the ballot: Items A,  B, C, D, E, G, K and M.

Public Amendments.

The council says it will consider charter amendments from the public. One amendment that Austin desperately needs is an independent Ethics Commission whose rulings can be enforced.