Hays County, Texas, Ruben Becerra, Debbie Ingalsbe, Michelle Cohen, Morgan Hammer, and Walt Smith, in Their Official Capacities v. Leslie Carnes, Jim Camp, Cathy Ramsey, Gabrielle Moore, and Ken Paxton, Attorney General of Texas

Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided November 3, 2025·No. 15-25-00121-CV·Published

Opinion

ACCEPTED

15-25-00121-CV

FIFTEENTH COURT OF APPEALS AUSTIN, TEXAS

11/3/2025 3:47 PM

NO. 15-25-00121-CV CHRISTOPHER A. PRINE CLERK

RECEIVED IN

IN THE FIFTEENTH COURT OF APPEALS 15th COURT OF APPEALS AUSTIN, TEXAS

11/3/2025 3:47:10 PM

CHRISTOPHER A. PRINE

Clerk

Hays County, Texas, Ruben Becerra, Debbie Ingalsbe, Michelle Cohen, Morgan Hammer, and Walt Smith, in their official capacities, Appellants,

v.

Leslie Carnes, Jim Camp, Cathy Ramsey, and Gabrielle Moore, Appellees.

On Appeal from Case No. D-1-GN-25-002049, In the 126th Judicial District Court of Travis County, Texas

BRIEF OF AMICUS CURIAE

THE TEXAS ASSOCIATION OF SCHOOL BOARDS LEGAL ASSISTANCE FUND

IN SUPPORT OF APPELLANT HAYS COUNTY, TEXAS

Matthew Hines Rosemarie Kanusky State Bar No. 24120892 State Bar No. 00790999 600 Congress Ave., Suite 2150 112 E. Pecan St., Suite 1310 Austin, Texas 78701 San Antonio, Texas 78205 mhines@mphlegal.com rkanusky@mphlegal.com

MCCALL PARKHURST & HORTON L.L.P.

Attorneys for Amicus Curiae the Texas Association of School Boards Legal Assistance Fund

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS ...........................................................................................i TABLE OF AUTHORITIES ................................................................................... ii I. Identity and Statement of Interest of Amicus ......................................1

II. How Bonds Issue ..................................................................................3

A. An election order seeks permission from the electorate to incur debt....................................................................................3

B. Notice of the meeting to order an election is not notice of the election. ................................................................................5

C. A bond order authorizes the debt to be incurred........................5 III. Argument and Authorities ....................................................................7

A. This Court should reject Contestants’ incorrect construction of TOMA. ..............................................................7

1. Contestants’ interpretation of “subject” goes beyond the term’s plain meaning. ...................................8

2. Contestants’ sliding-scale standard has no basis in the Supreme Court’s TOMA jurisprudence. .................10

3. Adopting Contestants’ sliding-scale standard would increase uncertainty and litigation risk for public entities. ................................................................19

4. Contestants’ requested relief is an extreme and unprecedented weaponization of TOMA’s notice requirement. ...................................................................23

B. Contestants failed to plead or prove the elements of an election contest.........................................................................26

IV. Conclusion ..........................................................................................30 CERTIFICATES OF COMPLIANCE AND SERVICE ........................................32

i

TABLE OF AUTHORITIES

Cases Bahn v. Savage, 120 S.W.2d 644, 646 (Tex. App.—San Antonio 1938), writ refused, 122 S.W.2d 191 (1938)..................................23 Barrington v. Cokinos, 338 S.W.2d 133, 143 (Tex. 1960) .....................................22 Blum v. Lanier, 997 S.W.2d 259, 262 (Tex. 1999).................................................27 Burks v. Yarbrough, 157 S.W.3d 876, 883 (Tex. App.—

Houston [14th Dist.] 2005, no pet.) ..............................................................10 City of Donna v. Ramirez, 548 S.W.3d 26, 35 (Tex. App.—

Corpus Christi–Edinburg 2017, pet. denied) ................................................13 City of Kingsville v. Int’l Ass’’n of Firefighters, Local Union No. 2390, 568 S.W.2d 397, 401 (Tex. App.—Corpus Christi 1978, no writ)....................................................................................27 City of San Antonio v. Fourth Court of Appeals, 820 S.W.2d 762, 765 (Tex. 1991) ....................................................................................10 City of San Antonio v. Tenorio, 543 S.W.3d 772, 780 (Tex.

2018) .............................................................................................................19 Cohen v. Clear Lake City Water Auth., 687 S.W.2d 406 (Tex.

App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 1985, no writ) .................................................26 Comm’n for Lawyer Discipline v. Benton, 980 S.W.2d 425, 439 (Tex. 1998) .............................................................................................19, 20 Cox Enters., Inc. v. Bd. of Trustees, 706 S.W.2d 956, 958 (Tex.

1986) .................................................................................................10, 11, 13 Creedmoor Maha Water Supply Corp. v. Barton Springs-

Edwards Aquifer Conservation Dist., 784 S.W.2d 79, 86 (Tex. App.—Austin 1989, writ denied)........................................................13 Dacus v. Parker, 466 S.W.3d 820, 825–26 (Tex. 2015) ..........................................4 Draughon v. Johnson, 631 S.W.3d 81, 87–88 (Tex. 2021) ..............................28, 29 Flores v. Cuellar, 269 S.W.3d 657, 660 (Tex. App.—San Antonio 2008, no pet.) ..................................................................................29

ii

Greater Beauxart Garden Municpal Utility District v. Cormier, 596 S.W.2d 597, 599 (Tex. App.—Beaumont 1980, no writ)...............................................................................................................25 Guerra v. Rios, No. 13-24-00579-CV, 2025 WL 945566, *6 (Tex. App.—Corpus Christi–Edinburg Mar. 28, 2025, pet. filed) .......................................................................................................24 Hays County v. Water Planning P’ship, 69 S.W.3d 253, 257–58 (Tex. App.—Austin 2002, no pet.) ...............................................................17 Hotze v. White, 01-08-00016-CV, 2010 WL 1493115, at *4 (Tex. App.—Houston [1st Dist.] Apr. 15, 2010, pet.

denied) ..........................................................................................................27 In re Elliott, 504 S.W.3d 455, 464 (Tex. App.—Austin 2016, orig. proceeding) .............................................................................................8 Lewis v. City of Fort Worth, 89 S.W.2d 975, 978 (Tex. 1936) ..........................4, 21 Lower Colo. River Auth. v. City of San Marcos, 523 S.W.2d 641, 646 (Tex. 1975) ..............................................................................10, 14 Markowski v. City of Marlin, 940 S.W.2d 720 (Tex. App.—

Waco 1997, no writ) ...............................................................................13, 14 McCurry v. Lewis, 259 S.W.3d 369, 372–73 (Tex. App.—

Amarillo 2008, no pet.).................................................................................28 Point Isabel Indep. Sch. Dist. v. Hinojosa, 797 S.W.2d 176, 180 (Tex. App.—Corpus Christi 1990, writ denied) .....................................13, 15 Rossano v. Townsend, 9 S.W.3d 357 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 1999, no pet.).............................................................................26 Sawyer v. Bd. of Regents of Claredon Junior Coll., 393 S.W.2d 391, 399 (Tex. App.—Amarillo 1965, no writ) ...........................................29 Silguero v. CSL Plasma, Inc., 579 S.W.3d 53, 59 (Tex. 2019) ................................9 Sorrell v. Estate of Carlton, 504 S.W.3d 379, 383 (Tex. App.—

Houston [14th Dist.] 2016), aff’d, 593 S.W.3d 167 (Tex.

2019) .............................................................................................................12 Stelzer v. Huddleston, 526 S.W.2d 710 (Tex. App.—Tyler 1975, writ dism’d) ..................................................................................23, 24

iii

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Hays County, Texas, Ruben Becerra, Debbie Ingalsbe, Michelle Cohen, Morgan Hammer, and Walt Smith, in Their Official Capacities v. Leslie Carnes, Jim Camp, Cathy Ramsey, Gabrielle Moore, and Ken Paxton, Attorney General of Texas, (Tex. Ct. App. 2025).

Hays County, Texas, Ruben Becerra, Debbie Ingalsbe, Michelle Cohen, Morgan Hammer, and Walt Smith, in Their Official Capacities v. Leslie Carnes, Jim Camp, Cathy Ramsey, Gabrielle Moore, and Ken Paxton, Attorney General of Texas (Hays County, Texas, Ruben Becerra, Debbie Ingalsbe, Michelle Cohen, Morgan Hammer, and Walt Smith, in Their Official Capacities v. Leslie Carnes, Jim Camp, Cathy Ramsey, Gabrielle Moore, and Ken Paxton, Attorney General of Texas) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Burks v. Yarbrough
157 S.W.3d 876 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2005)
Texas Turnpike Authority v. City of Fort Worth
554 S.W.2d 675 (Texas Supreme Court, 1977)
Greater Beauxart Garden Municipal Utility District v. Cormier
596 S.W.2d 597 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1980)
City of San Antonio v. Fourth Court of Appeals
820 S.W.2d 762 (Texas Supreme Court, 1991)
Cohen v. Clear Lake City Water Authority
687 S.W.2d 406 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1985)
Commission for Lawyer Discipline v. Benton
980 S.W.2d 425 (Texas Supreme Court, 1998)
Barrington v. Cokinos
338 S.W.2d 133 (Texas Supreme Court, 1960)
Taxpayers for Sensible Priorities v. City of Dallas
79 S.W.3d 670 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2002)
Flores v. Cuellar
269 S.W.3d 657 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2008)
Lower Colorado River Authority v. City of San Marcos
523 S.W.2d 641 (Texas Supreme Court, 1975)
Markowski v. City of Marlin
940 S.W.2d 720 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1997)
Hays County v. Hays County Water Planning Partnership
69 S.W.3d 253 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2002)
McCurry v. Lewis
259 S.W.3d 369 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2008)
Rossano v. Townsend
9 S.W.3d 357 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1999)
Stelzer v. Huddleston
526 S.W.2d 710 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1975)
Point Isabel Independent School District v. Hinojosa
797 S.W.2d 176 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1990)
Sawyer v. Bd. of Regents of Claredon Junior College
393 S.W.2d 391 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1965)
Blum v. Lanier
997 S.W.2d 259 (Texas Supreme Court, 1999)