Perkins Discusses Priorities for Texas Statehouse with the Houston Business Journal

Partner Val Perkins was profiled in the Houston Business Journal article, “The Influencers: These Lobbyists, Government Affairs Professionals Represent Houston’s Industries at the Statehouse,” where he discussed the interests and industries he represents before the Texas state capitol including the Texas Business Law Foundation and real estate developers.

“Oftentimes, the client is actually a developer or a homebuilder that wants to form a district to help finance infrastructure in the property that’s being developed,” Perkins told the Houston Business Journal. “So, I form those districts and provide them certain powers. We do that legislatively when we can.”

The Bayou City can attribute a lot of its population expansion to municipal utility districts, and homebuilders, developers and architects can attribute many revenue dollars to MUDs, as well. Perkins is currently pushing pieces of legislation for the creation of a new district in Montgomery County and to expand the powers of an existing MUD in Fort Bend County.

“Houston owes a lot of its tremendous growth to the formation of these districts,” Perkins said. “They permitted property to be developed much quicker than it otherwise would have been if the developers had to wait for city services to get out to them. And that’s true in other parts of the state, as well — [MUDs] are getting more and more popular in north Texas.”