HOUSTON – Texas General Land Office Commissioner Dawn Buckingham visited Harris County on Tuesday as she and Harris County leaders held a joint news conference to discuss disaster recovery funding.
Buckingham announced the news conference saying she has “made it her commitment to serve all Texans impacted by natural disasters and to do it well.”
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A news release from her office said one of her top priorities is to “streamline communication between local and state officials and the General Land Office.”
“As a former member of the Texas Senate, she recognizes that it is essential to work together to ensure remaining unspent disaster recovery funds are used to benefit the people of Harris County and Houston both efficiently and effectively,” the news release said. “Commissioner Buckingham understands the necessity for collaboration with Harris County leadership in order to best serve our mutual constituents, and this press conference will mark a new beginning for disaster recovery in the Harris County region. All members of the Harris County Commissioners Court, including Judge Lina Hidalgo, have been invited to participate.”
Harris County Precinct 2 Commissioner Adrian Garcia, who is hosting the event in his district, issued this statement ahead of the visit:
“Harris County having a better working relationship with the Texas General Land Office is beneficial for everyone. Since Precinct 2 resides in an area downstream of five other counties, I will always be laser-focused on strengthening our infrastructure to reduce our risk of chronic flooding. In her short time in office, new GLO Commissioner Dawn Buckingham has already become a friend, and we’ve spoken with each other several times. Those conversations have led to an agreement that moving forward, we will work toward improving the relationships between Harris County and the GLO. This would benefit all our constituents.”
“I’m excited to host Commissioner Buckingham in Precinct 2 as I have been working to show the progress we have made, and that we have a number of projects that can be substantially completed by 2026, but that currently lack funding. I am hopeful that our conversations point toward a turning of a new page, between Harris County and GLO. We can show that different levels of government are able to work together for the betterment of the entire state and our shared constituents.”
The so-called “turning of a new page” comes after years of issues with funding following natural disasters. In 2022, the Texas Tribune shared the findings of a federal report that said Texas discriminated against communities of color when it denied Houston flood aid.
As the Texas Tribune reported, the Texas General Land Office — the agency charged with distributing approximately $2 billion in federal funds for future flood preparation — initially awarded Houston and Harris County nothing when deciding where to send the money. At the time, local officials blasted the state agency, headed by Land Commissioner George P. Bush, for denying much-needed aid and called on the federal government to intervene.
HUD officials said the state agency’s method of doling out the funds “discriminated on the basis of race and national origin” and “substantially and predictably disadvantaged minority residents, with particularly disparate outcomes for Black residents,” according to a Friday letter detailing the result of a HUD probe. The land office is in violation of the Civil Rights Act as well as federal housing law, federal housing officials said.
Hidalgo said at the time: “It’s not complicated: Harris County was ground zero for the heartbreaking impacts of Hurricane Harvey, and continues to be exceedingly vulnerable. The share of mitigation funds we receive from the federal government should reflect that reality.”
RELATED: Feds say Texas discriminated against communities of color when it denied Houston flood aid