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Legislation that would take away Cameron County’s authority over SpaceX-related beach and road closures has been revived in the House State Affairs Committee after being narrowly voted down in the same committee a couple of days earlier.
Sen. Adam Hinojosa’s (R-Corpus Christi) Senate Bill 2188, taken up by the committee in lieu of identical House Bill 4660 from Rep. Janie Lopez (R-San Benito), passed 8-6 on Wednesday— recommended without amendment to a vote by the full House — after failing 7-6 on Monday. The Senate passed SB 2188 on April 5.
The legislation would hand over to Starbase — a newly minted municipality likely to be approved in the May 3 election — authority over closures over S.H. 4 and Boca Chica Beach except from Friday at noon to 8 a.m. Monday, during which authority would remain with the county.
Although the bills’ reference municipalities with spaceports and beach access, without specifically mentioning Starbase, they appear tailor made to accommodate SpaceX’s wishes when it comes to its operations at Boca Chica.
County officials are staunchly opposed to handing control over closures to Starbase’s municipal government, which doesn’t exist yet. County Judge Eddie Treviño Jr., who has argued against the legislation from the start, said he knew the matter wasn’t settled.
Treviño said he doesn’t buy the argument from SpaceX and other proponents of the legislation that it’s necessary to streamline the process of implementing closures.
“There is no good reason to change the current protocol,” he said. “I don’t think that the process has proven to be inefficient whatsoever — quite the opposite. As I think as we’ve gotten more and more experience and more accustomed to it, it’s become much more efficient.
“The whole point I think is to make sure that the public is aware of when potential closures or delays may be taking place. We’ve done that. On occasion the county has said no (to SpaceX), but we’ve tried real hard to work with them and we’re going to continue to do that.”
Those behind the legislation would be hard pressed to show how not passing it would negative impact SpaceX’s operations, Treviño said.
“I think the history shows that the county’s been extremely supportive, while at the same time trying to safeguard the public access to the beach,” he added.
Treviño said the county will continue to argue its position among state and local officials, and encouraged county residents who are against the change to contact as many state representatives as possible to register their opposition.
“Until the session’s over, then we need to keep trying,” he said.
Treviño said he can see how SB 2188 and HB 4660 might be viewed by some as further evidence of SpaceX’s intent to consolidate control of Boca Chica at the expense of the public — though Treviño emphasized that he hopes that’s not the case.
“I can certainly understand that sentiment,” he said.