---
type: "Bill"
title: "Relating to granting an easement to the City of Austin."
description: "Relating to granting an easement to the City of Austin."
jurisdiction: "us/states/tx"
legislature: "Texas Legislature"
session: "86"
identifier: "HB 2978"
citation: "Texas HB 2978 (86)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["AUSTIN", "CITY OF (G0324)", "City Government--Land Use & Zoning (I0064)", "FACILITIES COMMISSION", "TEXAS (V0780)", "GENERAL LAND OFFICE (V2808)", "STATE LIBRARY & ARCHIVES COMMISSION", "TEXAS (V0027)"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Howard", "Watson"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 55
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2019-03-04"
last_action: "2019-06-14"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/bc1ee096-5e82-4f36-913f-0bd4b5610450"
source_url: "ftp://ftp.legis.state.tx.us/bills/86R/billhistory/house_bills/HB02900_HB02999/HB 2978.xml"
source_hash: "3c5d726142a1ac834a56cfe2c0156d0c5d56154d71aec3e3498034cfda38d0a4"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-tx"]
---

# Texas HB 2978 (86) — Relating to granting an easement to the City of Austin.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Introduced** (filed) — [source](http://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/86R/billtext/html/HB02978I.HTM)

## Votes

- other — **118–23** (fail) · upper
- passage — **118–23** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Howard — primary (person)
- Watson — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2019-03-04** Filed `filing`
- **2019-03-12** Read first time `introduction, reading-1`
- **2019-03-12** Referred to Land & Resource Management `referral-committee`
- **2019-04-23** Considered in public hearing
- **2019-04-23** Testimony taken/registration(s) recorded in committee
- **2019-04-23** Recommended to be sent to Local & Consent `referral-committee`
- **2019-04-23** Reported favorably w/o amendment(s) `committee-passage`
- **2019-04-28** Comte report filed with Committee Coordinator
- **2019-04-28** Committee report distributed
- **2019-04-29** Comm. report sent to Local & Consent Calendar
- **2019-04-30** Considered in Local & Consent Calendars
- **2019-05-03** Placed on Local, Consent, and Res. Calendar
- **2019-05-03** Read 2nd time `reading-2`
- **2019-05-03** Passed to engrossment
- **2019-05-03** Nonrecord vote recorded in Journal
- **2019-05-03** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2019-05-03** Passed `passage`
- **2019-05-03** Record vote
- **2019-05-03** Statement(s) of vote recorded in Journal
- **2019-05-03** Nonrecord vote recorded in Journal
- **2019-05-03** Reported engrossed
- **2019-05-06** Received from the House `introduction`
- **2019-05-13** Read first time `introduction, reading-1`
- **2019-05-13** Referred to Business & Commerce `referral-committee`
- **2019-05-16** Scheduled for public hearing on . . .
- **2019-05-16** Considered in public hearing
- **2019-05-16** Left pending in committee
- **2019-05-17** Considered in public hearing
- **2019-05-20** Reported favorably as substituted `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-05-20** Recommended for local & uncontested calendar
- **2019-05-20** Committee report printed and distributed
- **2019-05-22** Placed on intent calendar
- **2019-05-22** Rules suspended-Regular order of business
- **2019-05-22** Vote recorded in Journal
- **2019-05-22** Read 2nd time & passed to 3rd reading
- **2019-05-22** Vote recorded in Journal
- **2019-05-22** Three day rule suspended
- **2019-05-22** Record vote
- **2019-05-22** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2019-05-22** Passed `passage`
- **2019-05-22** Record vote
- **2019-05-22** Senate passage as amended reported
- **2019-05-22** Senate Amendments distributed
- **2019-05-22** Senate Amendments Analysis distributed
- **2019-05-24** House concurs in Senate amendment(s)
- **2019-05-24** Record vote
- **2019-05-24** Statement(s) of vote recorded in Journal
- **2019-05-24** Text of Senate Amendment(s)
- **2019-05-24** House concurs in Senate amendment(s)-reported
- **2019-05-25** Reported enrolled
- **2019-05-26** Signed in the House
- **2019-05-27** Signed in the Senate
- **2019-05-29** Sent to the Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2019-06-14** Signed by the Governor `executive-signature`
- **2019-06-14** Effective immediately

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/bc1ee096-5e82-4f36-913f-0bd4b5610450`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Texas legislature records).