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.
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Map of Texas highlighting counties served by the Houston-Galveston Area Council
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| Formation | September 1966 |
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| Type | Voluntary association of governments |
Region served | 12,444 sq mi (32,230 km2) |
Membership | 13 counties |
| Year | Pop. | ±% |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 4,854,454 | — |
| 2010 | 6,087,133 | +25.4% |
| 2020 | 7,297,022 | +19.9% |
| Source: [1][2] | ||
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]
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]
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