Houston-Galveston Area Council

The Houston-Galveston Area Council (H-GAC) is the region-wide voluntary association of local governments in the 13-county Gulf Coast Planning Region of Texas. The organization works with local government officials to solve problems across the area. H-GAC was founded in 1966.

Houston-Galveston Area Council
FormationSeptember 1966
TypeVoluntary association of governments
Region served
12,444 sq mi (32,230 km2)
Membership13 counties
Historical population
YearPop.±%
20004,854,454—    
20106,087,133 25.4%
20207,297,022 19.9%
Source: [1][2]

The organization

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Based in Houston, the Houston-Galveston Area Council is a member of the Texas Association of Regional Councils. Its service area is 12,500 square miles and contains more than 6 million people in Southeast Texas. H-GAC is the regional organization through which local governments consider issues and cooperate in solving area-wide problems. Through H-GAC, local governments also initiate efforts in anticipating and preventing problems.

H-GAC provides planning programs in most areas of shared governmental concern. All H-GAC programs are carried out under the policy direction of H-GAC’s local elected official Board of Directors. H-GAC is made up of the region's local governments and their elected officials. The organization works with public and private sector organizations and a host of volunteers.[3]

Metropolitan Planning Organization

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In 1974, the Governor of Texas designated a metropolitan planning organization (MPO) that includes eight H-GAC counties: Brazoria, Chambers, Fort Bend, Galveston, Harris, Liberty, Montgomery, and Waller. The H-GAC Board of Directors serves as the fiscal agent for the H-GAC MPO. The MPO's Policy Board is the Transportation Policy Council (TPC), an independent policy making body. The TPC's responsibilities include: adopting the Regional Transportation Plan; selecting all federally funded and most state-funded transportation projects (all projects with "regional significance"); conducting a continuing, comprehensive, collaborative planning process; and demonstrating that selected projects will not hinder regional progress towards emissions reduction.[4]

Counties served

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Largest cities in the region

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ Total Population Estimates for Texas Councils of Governments Archived 2007-12-07 at the Wayback Machine - Texas State Data Center.
  2. ^ "Redistricting Data for Texas Counties, 2000-2020". Texas Demographic Center. Archived from the original on October 22, 2021. Retrieved October 28, 2021.
  3. ^ HGAC Info
  4. ^ Member Orientation to the Transportation Advisory Committee. Houston-Galveston Area Council. 17 March 2021. Event occurs at Item 2, time 02:00. Retrieved 28 December 2023.
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