Page 8 - Builder Brief May 2025

2 0 2 5 P R E S I D E N T
MAKING A DIFFERENCE:
ADVOCACY IN AUSTIN MAKES
A DIFFERENCE AT HOME
This year in Austin a record number of bills, over ten thousand,
have been introduced at the Texas Legislature. We have been actively
monitoring the bills that affect our industry and your bottom line.
Several of our senior officers, along with other Texas Association of
Builders (TAB) members, have been in Austin testifying on a few critical
bills. I wanted to give you a brief update on a few of them. House Bill
(HB) 2225, filed by Rep. Brad Buckley (R-Killeen), and Senate Bill (SB)
1883, filed by Senator Paul Bettencourt (R-Houston), would extend
public notice and disclosure times, create a higher threshold for adoption
or fee increases and prohibit a city from increasing impact fees on an
annual basis.
Impact fees directly drive-up future housing costs and decisions
to adopt or raise them should be carefully considered. Before these
burdensome housing supply costs are imposed or increased by a city on
future homeowners, the public should have the opportunity to adequately
review and comment before any vote is taken.
In addition, TAB has consistently supported the responsible and
necessary use of the current building moratorium statutes. House Bill
(HB) 2559, filed by Rep. Jared Patterson (R-Frisco), and Senate Bill
(SB) 1882, filed by Senator Paul Bettencourt (R-Houston), would require
cities to provide more notice and opportunities for input from citizens and
stakeholders and would require a higher vote threshold for the adoption
of the moratorium.
Another piece of legislation we are monitoring is House Bill 23, which
will allow for third party review of development plans, improvements and
inspections. These are a few of the bills which we continue to follow.
This is a great example of the work that this Association does for our
industry, and efforts that aren’t always recognized. Our local government
affairs committee is one of the strongest and most involved committees on
the state level. Their continued work in Austin and Washington is tireless
and committed. It is important that we continue to fund our Political Action
Committee (PAC) in order to have the resources to endorse pro-building
and pro-business candidates and fight some of these battles.
On a local level, as I had mentioned in last month’s article, the City
of San Antonio’s mayoral and council elections are gearing up. The
Association will continue to work with the candidates to have a voice at
City Hall when the dust settles. Election Day is not far away, and I urge
you to vote.
We have had a couple of great events this past month and both
were huge successes. Thank you, Margo Villareal and her Co-Chair
Mitch along with the Young Professionals Leadership Council (YPLC)
J E F F K U W A M U R A
members for your efforts putting together another
great Crawfish Boil. We finished just before the
rain hit. The GSABA Fishing Tournament was
held one week later in Port Aransas. We had a
record number of entries this year with seventy-
three boats entering — leading to an outstanding
tournament. There are so many thank you’s to go
around including Luke and Clint Grothues, Robb
Evans, Misty and Jody Ducharme, plus all their
hard-working committee members. All these
events are so well supported by GSABA staff, and
their work and efforts do not go unnoticed. They
are the backbone of our Association.
As we head into spring, we are focused on
our membership goal of 900 members. The
Membership Committee is wrapping up our spring
drive with over 45 new members in the month of
April, and our plan is to reach our goal of 900
member companies by the end of the summer.
If you have any questions about membership,
please reach out to either Mike Robare, our
Membership Committee Chair, or Darlene Willis,
our Membership Director. I look forward to seeing
everyone at our next membership mixer, check
the calendar at the front of the Builder Brief for
dates, times and locations!
Sincerely,
Jeff Kuwamura
8 MAY 2025 | GREATER SAN ANTONIO BUILDERS ASSOCIATION