Houston-Galveston Area Council

Houston-Galveston Area Council
Logo
Map of Texas highlighting counties served by the Houston-Galveston Area Council
Formation	September 1966
Type	Voluntary association of governments
Region served	12,444 sq mi (32,230 km²)
Membership	13 counties

Historical population
Year	Pop.	±%
2000	4,854,454	—
2010	6,087,133	+25.4%
2020	7,297,022	+19.9%
Source: ^[1]^[2]

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.

The organization

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

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

Austin
Brazoria
Chambers
Colorado
Fort Bend
Galveston
Harris
Liberty
Matagorda
Montgomery
Walker
Waller
Wharton

Largest cities in the region

References

^ Total Population Estimates for Texas Councils of Governments Archived 2007-12-07 at the Wayback Machine - Texas State Data Center.
^ "Redistricting Data for Texas Counties, 2000-2020". Texas Demographic Center. Retrieved October 28, 2021.
^ HGAC Info
^ 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.