HTX-COM: Impact 8/27/2025

After Gov. Greg Abbott signed House Bill 1481 on June 20, which requires school districts to prohibit students from using devices such as cellphones and smartwatches on campus during the school day, districts are adopting or amending their policies.

What you need to know: Conroe ISD expanded its policy to address cellphones and other electronic devices, restricting their use in grades pre-K-12 to before or after school. Meanwhile, Willis ISD announced its policy on Facebook on Aug. 1, which prohibits the use of personal communication devices during the school day. Montgomery ISD maintains its policy adopted in July 2024, which requires students to keep cellphones off during the school day while on campus, per prior reporting.

Also of note: HB 1481 does provide exceptions for students with medical needs or special education accommodations, and the bill would not apply to devices supplied by school districts for academic purposes.
 

Lone Star College-Montgomery marked its 30th anniversary with a convocation event welcoming faculty, staff and students for the start of the fall semester, according to an Aug. 25 news release.

The details: Opened in 1995, the Montgomery campus has grown, with more than 18,000 students enrolled in fall 2024, per the release. 

The anniversary celebration included a speech from Dana Pritchard, the college’s first enrolled student, who shared her journey and encouraged students to “never give up,” according to the release.

Stay tuned: Throughout the year, the college will host a series of “30 for 30” service events to highlight its community engagement. More information on anniversary events is available online. 
 

Montgomery County commissioners voted in support of the creation of the 523rd Criminal District Court, citing growing caseloads and overcrowding at the county jail. 

Quote of note: “We're growing significantly here in Montgomery County, and that trickles down to all of us, and we are at the point now where we need a new criminal District Court, and the reasons are clear,” Judge Phil Grant said. “I think you guys have been talking a lot over the last few months about jail overcrowding. We are seeing longer and longer times before we can get cases to trial.”

The details: Grant said, according to a weighted caseload study by the Texas Office of Court Administration, Montgomery County is “significantly short” on courts needed to keep up with filings. In 2024 alone, about 7,500 new felony cases were filed, while the county’s four existing criminal district courts disposed of about 10,000 cases.

Grant said the largest percentage of people who make up the population in the Montgomery County Jail are pretrial detainees. 
 

The Houston-Galveston Area Council announced the return of a campaign focused on reducing air pollution levels by providing free use of certain mass transit routes on Fridays in September.

What you need to know: As part of Ozone Action Month, multiple transit agencies across the Houston region will allow riders to use mass transit routes free of charge on Fridays in September, according to H-GAC’s website. The initiative aims to reduce the amount of air pollution generated by vehicles on Houston area roads.

The participating agencies include:

• Harris County Transit: All routes
• Fort Bend Transit: All routes
• City of Conroe: Fixed and paratransit routes
• The Woodlands Township: All routes

The Texas Transportation Commission officially approved the 2026 Unified Transportation Program on Aug. 21, outlining an additional $2.2 billion in state transportation funds for the Greater Houston area.

The big picture: The UTP is a 10-year project plan crafted and funded by the Texas Department of Transportation, and reviewed and updated on an annual basis according to feedback from communities and metropolitan planning organizations. The 2026 UTP allocated an additional $2.2 billion for projects in the Houston region through 2035.

Quote of note: "This more than $146 billion investment in our roadways will help Texas meet the critical needs of our growing state as more people and businesses move here for the freedom and opportunity they can’t find anywhere else," Gov. Greg Abbott said in a news release. "We must strengthen our roadways and improve congestion and safety to keep our economy booming and keep Texans moving. By investing billions of dollars in our transportation network today, we will build the future of Texas for generations to come."

The number of leased listings for single-family homes and rentals available in the Greater Houston area both increased compared to last year in July, according to the Houston Association of Realtors’ July 2025 Market Update released Aug. 20.

The details: Leased listings rose 6.5% compared to July 2024, with a total of 4,645 single-family rentals leased in July this year, according to the report.

Texas House lawmakers voted Aug. 25 to tighten limits on local property tax growth, advancing a bill that would require cities and counties to seek voter approval before raising tax rates by more than 1%. Cities and counties can currently increase taxes by up to 3.5% annually before going to local voters.

What happened: House lawmakers substantially amended Senate Bill 10 before returning it to the Senate. State senators sought to tighten the voter approval rate to 2.5% and impose the changes only on cities and counties with more than 75,000 residents. House lawmakers voted to apply a 1% threshold to all cities and counties, regardless of size.

Cities and counties' public safety expenditures, such as salaries and equipment for police, firefighters and paramedics, would not be subject to the 1% limit.