A group of 100 Buda residents filed an amicus brief in support of BudaFirst members Jim Hollis and Christopher Juusola. Meanwhile, The Texas Municipal League, a non profit association that represents more than 1,100 cities, filed an amicus brief on behalf of Buda.

The brief in support of BudaFirst argued that citizens should have the right to referendum, even for contractual agreements such as development agreements outside city limits.

If the lawsuit failed, it would “embolden cities to use land-use agreements in ETJs to circumvent referendum power and will substantially shrink the power of citizens to control their local government through the referendum process,” the brief said.

But the Texas Municipal League brief noted that both case law and the city charter showed that the development agreement amendment was not legislative in nature, and therefore exempt from a referendum election. The brief noted that the ability of cities to negotiate development agreements outside of city limits actually gives citizens their only means of shaping development in the ETJ.

“Without this control, development in unincorporated areas would go almost totally unchecked,” the brief states. “This would leave city councils and the citizens they represent with no power to preserve and shape the future development of the city. It is critical that cities maintain their ability to fully-utilize this limited authority without being subjected to piecemeal referendum elections concerning specific provisions of each contract.”

The BudaFirst amicus brief tapped into the populist and anti-incumbent sentiment exhibited by many voters who are now angry with Washington, D.C.

“The power of a governing body to pass legislation that its citizens do not want, without regard for its citizens’ wishes, is something many Americans are all too familiar with right now on a federal level,” the brief states.