All eyes are now on the Texas Supreme Court after Mayor Sylvester Turner and a majority of Houston City Council doubled down Wednesday in their fight against equal pay for firefighters.
A city charter amendment approved by voters in 2018 — the referendum known as Proposition B — requires that the city pay Houston firefighters "substantially similar" to the city's police officers of similar ranks. A first-year beat cop currently makes at least $58,000 while a rookie firefighter brings home $42,000. Both workforces are in line for pay raises in the coming years, but those adjustments won't bring parity.
Turner has long contended that the city can't afford the series of raises it would take to ensure firefighters are paid similarly to cops and threatened to layoff hundreds of firefighters if pay parity was implemented.
The latest development centers on the city's half-million-dollar payout to Norton Rose Fulbright, an international law firm that the city contracted to help quash the amendment in the ensuing legal battle. Houston City Council on Wednesday voted to increase the amount earmarked for the firm from $500,000 to $675,000, signaling Turner's unwavering position on pay parity. Four council members — Michael Kubosh, Amy Peck, Edward Pollard and Letitia Plummer — voted against.
With the Houston Police Officers Union (HPOU) in its corner, Turner's administration has been contending with the Houston Professional Fire Fighters Association (HPFFA) over pay parity since before the measure was even approved.
The firm is helping city attorneys ask the state's high court to review a lower court's decision that upheld the 2018 charter amendment. Immediately after the amendment was approved in 2018, HPOU sued the city and asked a judge to rule the measure unconstitutional. They claimed the charter amendment conflicted with state law that says firefighters should be paid similarly to comparable jobs in the private sector.
The law, known as the Fire and Police Employee Relations Act, says that it supersedes any local ordinance or rule to the contrary. Both the city's attorneys and those for HPOU argue that means the two standards for pay can't legally coexist. In Harris County's 157th district court, a series of judges issued competing rulings in favor and against the police union. Eventually, Judge Tanya Garrison issued a summary judgment in May 2019 ruling the charter amendment unconstitutional, siding with the city and HPOU.
The fire union, which joined the suit early on to defend pay parity, appealed Garrison's judgment to the state's 14th Court of Appeals, which in July 2021 reversed Garrison's ruling and declared pay parity legal — saying that the standards can indeed coexist.
The city is now asking the Texas Supreme Court to review the case. The process, called a petition for discretionary review, is only asking the high court to take the case, not rule one way or another. If the court decides to take the case, that is when the city and dueling unions will lay out their arguments.
Before the court decides whether or not to hear the case, the city and HPOU both need to file one last response to address the legal arguments raised by the fire union in their February response. That is due March 23.
In a statement before Wednesday's vote, fire union President Marty Lancton said his team is adamant about securing a legal victory with the high court.
"The mayor has lost at every turn," Lancton said. "We are confident he will lose again before the Texas Supreme Court."
Turner previously told Chron in a statement that the city "has no choice" but to fight against pay parity because of the potential financial implications.
The additional $175,000 that council members approved for the law firm Wednesday is strictly for work on the petition. It is unclear if Turner will seek more funds should the court hear the case.
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