Roger Borgelt v. City of Austin

Case Summary

Firefighter unions in Austin, Texas, have negotiated terms in their labor contract that allow union representatives on the force to conduct private union business, including politicking and lobbying, while on the taxpayers’ dime. Sometimes this practice is called “release time,” “association business leave,” or “union leave.” But it’s a misuse of government manpower and public funding by whatever name it goes.  

The cost to taxpayers of these union subsidies easily adds up to millions of dollars each year.  The city – read: taxpayers — contributes 5,600 hours to a “pool” of “release time” annually, which union representatives on the force can use to conduct union business. What do city residents get from the “deal”? They get used, since the union is looking out for its interest, not theirs. Public-sector unions and taxpayers sit on opposite sides of the table in contract negotiations, but Austin taxpayers are being forced to pay for both sides of such negotiations.

But there’s also a question about whether the cozy little arrangement is legal under Texas law, which limits the use of public funds to public purposes and prohibits the giving or receipt of “gifts” that unjustly enrichment favored interests to the detriment of the taxpaying public. Concerned citizens and taxpayer advocacy groups brought suit challenging the practice as unlawful, but the case eventually was pronounced “frivolous” and dismissed, based on the misreading and misapplication of an anti-SLAPP statute that just isn’t relevant to such cases. The court said that the lawsuit would interfere with the union’s First Amendment rights – but there is no First Amendment right to public funding of your anti-public political activities.

MSLF and other amici are asking the Court of Appeals for the Third Judicial District to invalidate that ruling, and to allow this important effort to hold local governments accountable to proceed, because the case was dismissed based on an erroneous misapplication of this statute.