Comal County commissioners are asking state legislators to review or repeal the State Sales Tax Exemption for Qualified Data Centers.

Learn more: The commissioners are asking the Texas Legislature to designate an independent assessment on regional water availability and drought contingency planning for counties with Priority Groundwater Management Areas, or PGMAs, to appropriate legislative committees.

PGMAs are areas in Texas experiencing or expected to experience critical groundwater problems, according to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

This would allow the committees to evaluate water consumption and help enact statewide legislation to address the impacts of large-scale data center developments, especially in water constrained areas, such as counties with PGMAs, according to a May 14 resolution approved by the court in a 4-1 vote. Precinct 2 Commissioner Scott Haag was the single dissenting vote.

A locally owned interior design business is celebrating a big milestone this fall.

The details: True Design, located at 186 E. Garden St. in New Braunfels, is celebrating its 10-year anniversary in August, Owner Allyson Buck said in an email to Community Impact.

Buck said it was "incredibly rewarding" to own and operate a business in her hometown.

"I once questioned whether a smaller town could support an interior design firm, but New Braunfels has continually proved me wrong," Buck said in the email.

What they offer: True Design is a full-service interior design firm that guides projects from conception to completion. Buck said many of their projects are remodels. True Design offers space planning, construction drawings and material selections.

"We also curate and install the finishing touches of a space, including window coverings, furniture, artwork and accessories," Buck said in the email.

• 186 E. Garden St., New Braunfels

Hofmann’s Supply, a welding supply business, was founded in San Marcos in 1937 by Fred Hofmann. His granddaughter will soon transform the original shop location into an art supplies store and personal studio.

The gist: Local artist, graphic designer and creative Lauren Hofmann Larkin will turn her grandfather’s shop into Legacy Arts, a space carrying a variety of art supplies for Texas State University students and local creatives.

Her grandparents lived in the location in the 1930s before Hofmann opened his business in what was their garage, Larkin said. Larkin’s father then built the current building sometime between the 1970s and 1980s.

While Hofmann’s Supply is now under new management, Larkin will carry on the family torch of operating within the original space.

About the owner: Larkin opened an art aisle in her father’s shop in 2022, selling supplies that were necessary for Texas State art students. Larkin makes artwork in a variety of mediums.

Another thing: The Legacy Arts building may require repairs due to its old age, possibly impacting an expected opening date.

The Texas Supreme Court on May 15 denied Gov. Greg Abbott’s request to remove state Rep. Gene Wu from office after the Houston Democrat led his colleagues in a walkout to protest congressional redistricting last summer.

The details: In the court’s majority opinion, Chief Justice Jimmy Blacklock ruled that because Wu and other House Democrats “voluntarily returned” to the Capitol two weeks after their August departure, it was not necessary for the court to get involved.

The court also rejected a petition by Attorney General Ken Paxton to expel Wu and 12 other Democrats over the walkout, consolidating the two requests in one ruling.

What they're saying: Wu celebrated the ruling in a May 15 statement, saying that "the Constitution does not let a governor erase voters’ choices when their choices are inconvenient to him."

Abbott's office argued the governor's August lawsuit helped end the walkout and said the state was prepared to fight future quorum breaks: "If Democrats abandon their offices again, the governor will bring them right back to the Texas Supreme Court."