About H-GAC

The Houston-Galveston Area Council (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, saving public funds.

The 13-county H-GAC service region is growing, becoming more diverse, and constantly changing. In order to address the needs of citizens and businesses, local governments are providing leadership to guide regional development wisely and manage change constructively.

H-GAC is committed to serving all its voluntary member governments fairly and equitably. With that, in October 2023, the H-GAC Board of Directors and Transportation Policy Council initiated committees to review the voting structures and representation by all participating members and recommend any bylaw changes. The work of the committees will focus on the city of Houston Proposition B and may consider changes beyond the scope of that specific proposition.

Annual Report

The H-GAC Annual Report summarizes the accomplishments of H-GAC’s many programs during the last calendar year.

View the H-GAC Annual Report

Serving The Region

Interested in how our services are delivered throughout the region? Take a look at our Member Services over the last few years.

View our Member Services Report

How We're Structured

As a local regional planning organization, our job is to provide a forum for collaboration among our members to support our region. This means we can’t prioritize one city, county, or school district over another and often means having tough conversations and taking on challenges that affect our entire region.

Our programs are carried out under the policy direction of H-GAC’s local elected official Board of Directors made up of the region's local governments and their elected officials. The board is made up of 37 elected officials representing 13 counties, 107 cities, and 11 independent school district members throughout the region.

Mission Statement

H-GAC's mission is to serve as the instrument of local government cooperation, promoting the region's orderly development and the safety and welfare of its citizens.

The foundation for responsible public service in a rapidly changing region is H-GAC’s program of regional planning. 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, and works together with public and private sector organizations and a host of volunteers.

The 13 counties in H-GAC's service region are: Austin, Brazoria, Chambers, Colorado, Fort Bend, Galveston, Harris, Liberty, Matagorda, Montgomery, Walker, Waller, and Wharton. There are more than 100 member cities in the region.

The Houston-Galveston Area Council is committed to assuring non-discrimination in its programs and activities to the effect that no person shall on the grounds of race, color, national origin, sex, age, disability or income status be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be otherwise subjected to discrimination or retaliation under any federally or non-federally funded program or activity administered by the Houston-Galveston Area Council.