Overview
- Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows directed a new oversight panel to study whether Texas could add one or more contiguous New Mexico counties and to map the steps required to do it.
- The assignment calls for analysis of constitutional, statutory, fiscal and economic effects and a review of U.S., Texas and New Mexico law and court rulings.
- The push follows New Mexico’s House Joint Resolution 10 from Reps. Randall Pettigrew and Jimmy Mason, which would put county secession on the ballot if petitions reach 15% of voters in at least three adjoining counties.
- The New Mexico measure has not advanced, and any boundary change would also need voter approval plus further action by both states and the federal government.
- Burrows has signaled support by posting that Texas would welcome Lea County back to Texas, while coverage notes key leaders have not joined the effort and describes the odds of near-term annexation as low.