Need to catch up on government news from July? Here are six stories from the government beat in Conroe and Montgomery County.

• Montgomery County Precinct 1 breaks ground on new community center

• San Jacinto River Authority reviews 10-year plans for multiple divisions

• Conroe council reverses in-person rule, allows virtual access to executive sessions

• Montgomery County road bond spending tops $102M

• Conroe City Council indefinitely tables 2 Flock camera proposals

• Conroe’s proposed FY 2026-27 budget includes police raises, $29M in capital projects

Several projects were filed in the city of Conroe through the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation in the months of June and July.
All information comes courtesy of filings with the TDLR.

Mister Car Wash

The project is a new construction and will include a tunnel car wash totaling nearly 5,000 square feet.

• 16215 FM 1314 Road, Conroe

Longmire Center

This project will be built along Longmire Road in Conroe and includes constructing a shell building totaling more than 13,000 square feet. The project is privately funded.

• 1008 Longmire Road, Conroe

Convenience store retail center at Hwy. 242

With work scheduled to have begun in January and run for a year, this project includes a new retail building with a convenience store totaling more than 11,000 square feet.

• 17464 Hwy. 242, Conroe

Pit Stop Express C-Store

This project, filed June 11, will be a newly constructed building featuring a gas station and a convenience store. The project's footprint will total 5,500 square feet.

• 1147 N. Loop 336 E., Conroe

Ahead of the 2026 school year, the Texas Comptroller’s Office encourages all taxpayers to support Texas businesses while saving money on tax-free purchases on most clothing and school supplies during the annual tax-free weekend from Aug. 7-9. 

What you need to know: A variety of school supplies and clothing items can be purchased from a Texas store or an online or catalog seller doing business in Texas. In most cases, exemption certificates are not required to buy qualifying items tax free, according to the Texas Comptroller’s Office. 

Qualifying items include:

• Clothing
• Footwear 
• School supplies
• Face masks
• Backpacks

Texas is halting the approval of new data center projects until state regulators can audit all data centers seeking to connect to the power grid, Gov. Greg Abbott announced Aug. 3.

The overview: The governor directed the Public Utility Commission of Texas and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas to conduct “a comprehensive verification and audit” of all data center applicants “before any additional data centers are approved to move forward.” 

Data center regulation has emerged as a bipartisan issue in recent months, and the move comes amid both growing public criticism of Texas’ booming data center industry and recent political pressure for Abbott to respond.

Zooming in: Abbott asked the PUC and ERCOT to collect information about the tax exemptions each data center is collecting; details about each project's anticipated water and electricity usage; and how data center developers will work to limit noise, light pollution and other impacts on local communities.

Officials did not say how long the pause would last or when the audits would begin.