Peggie and Paul Jones never imagined that they would be forced into annexation into the city when they moved to their rural property outside of Joshua.

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Annexation is nothing new in Texas. In 2017, the Texas State Legislator passed State Bill 6 requiring voter approval before an unincorporated area could be annexed into a city. There was just one problem with this bill, as Paul Jones pointed out.

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“Johnson County is a Tier 2 county, which means we have less than 500,000 residents,” he said. “There is an opt-in clauses to SB6 that will provide protection to smaller communities, but you have to do a petition.”

Peggie Jones took the initiative and wrote a petition, knowing that she would need to get 10 percent of the counties registered voters to sign.

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Peggie and Paul organized the group "Stop Forced Annexation", which successfully placed a county wide proposition on the ballot in November of 2018, which passage switched Johnson County’s designation from Tier 1 to Tier 2. 

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Following that success, which provided Johnson County property owners a say in whether or not their properties become annexed, Peggie and Paul set their sites on making things right for every county in the state.

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And they did just that, with the passage of House Bill 347 (HB 347) in May. As State Senator Brian Birdwell stated, “HB 347 eliminates forced annexation statewide, giving all property owners the same right to consent to annexation.”

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The Senator also lauded the work of Peggie and Paul Jones: 

 

“It is because of their efforts, and the efforts of all my constituents, fighting for the ability to determine the fate of their private property, that I am proud to announce HB 347 will soon become law.”

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Peggie and Paul will share with us their lessons learned, and how to apply those to any and every issue for which you wish to advocate. And they'll bring their own special energy and enthusiasm as well.

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Please let us know you'll join us on Thursday, August 27th, at 7 PM, with your RSVP.

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