Commercial vehicles could soon have new overnight parking restrictions in Sugar Land.

What’s happening: At a Dec. 2 meeting, Sugar Land City Council unanimously approved the first reading of an ordinance to prevent overnight parking for commercial vehicles in commercial centers. A commercial vehicle is defined as having three axles or holding more than 15 passengers, said Nicole Guevara, assistant director of neighborhood services for Sugar Land.

The details: According to agenda documents, the new ordinance prevents long-term vehicle storage by:

• Prohibiting parking by commercial vehicles on commercial property from 10 p.m.-6 a.m.
• Holding owners of both the vehicle and property responsible
• Authorizing enforcement activities, including removal of the vehicle from the property

Following the $1.26 billion 2023 bond election, Fort Bend ISD projected a one-cent increase to its interest and sinking tax rate. However, Chief Financial Officer Bryan Guinn said that it hasn’t increased due to the administration's strategies to lower interest costs, which include refinancing loans similar to how one would refinance a house.

"The district has an active debt management program, and that has allowed us to maintain a low tax rate while saving taxpayers money,” he said at the Dec. 1 meeting.

The strategy: The district employs a mix of tools to reduce borrowing costs on the 75% of debt that is callable—or have the ability to be refinanced when interest rates are lower—including the district commercial paper program, which was implemented in 2016 and saved over $30 million by providing temporary cash flow from the general fund for capital projects to avoid taking out loans and interest rates.

Looking ahead: With $868 million in authorized but unissued debt remaining, Guinn said he expects the increase will be needed in the future.

Texas State Technical College’s Fort Bend County campus has opened a new state-of-the-art facility, representing a more than $35 million investment from the state in technical education and workforce development for the region.

The details: The over 100,000-square-foot Transportation Technology Center in Rosenberg will house the automotive, automotive collision and management, and expanded diesel equipment programs.

“The vision of what we do is manifested in this new building,” CEO and Chancellor Mike Reeser said in a Nov. 21 news release. “We focus on the big, heavy-duty jobs that are at the core of Texas power.”

How we got here: The building was funded through the Capital Construction Assistance Projects under Senate Bill 52 during the 87th Texas legislative session in 2021, per the release. Following a ground breaking in November 2023, the building is now open to the public. 

Moving forward: Registration for the spring semester is currently open, per the release.

The Houston-Galveston Area Council is hosting public meetings for its Safety Action Plans, a measure to improve transportation safety and reduce serious roadway injuries and fatalities, officials announced in a Dec. 1 news release.

With nearly 20% of traffic deaths in Texas—760 people a year, or two people a day—and another 3,725 people annually experiencing life-altering injuries on roads in the Houston-Galveston region, H-GAC created the SAP projects to generate plans to reduce the number of fatal or serious accidents.

Get involved: Community members can provide feedback on roadway safety online or attend a first-round public meeting for the local SAPs, per the release.

Meetings include:

• La Marque: Dec. 1 from 5-7 p.m. at La Marque City Hall
• League City: Dec. 3 from 6-8:30 p.m. at the Johnnie Arolfo Civic Center
• Sugar Land: Dec. 6 from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. at the T.E. Harman Center
• Pearland: Dec. 10 from 5-7 p.m. at the Pearland Chamber of Commerce
• Regional Joint Meeting (H-GAC/METRO/Gulf Coast Rail District): Feb. 12, 2026, from 6:30-8 p.m. at the Houston-Galveston Area Council

A dozen new Texas laws are scheduled to take effect Dec. 4. The new laws come 90 days after the end of a special legislative session that took place this summer.

The overview: Some of the bills becoming law Dec. 4 include:

• House Bill 8, which will replace the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, or STAAR, with three shorter exams beginning in fall 2027
• House Bill 18, which is designed to deter future legislators from leaving the Texas Capitol to prevent a legislative chamber from considering legislation, known as breaking quorum
• Senate Bill 54, which will roll back a short-lived rule that allowed registered Texas voters who moved within a county to update their address at the polls and immediately vote in their new precinct