How to Choose Texas Government Affairs Support in 2026
Judge the scope, the people who will do the work, and the record you will see before a city, county, or related state decision.
By James Dickey | Published January 2026 | Updated September 28, 2026
TL;DR
- •Start with the arena. In Texas, the vote is often at a city council or a commissioners court. A bill or an agency rule can be part of the same hire when the agreed scope includes it.
- •Ask who will listen, who will map support and objections, and who will help willing constituents contact their own officials.
- •Ask for names, the share of time committed, and a report you can read. A broad firm and a small firm can both do this.
- •Keep counsel, technical specialists, lobbyists, and public relations professionals who are already doing their jobs. Write down how the new scope meets theirs.
- •Before you sign, ask for a conflict check, a named lead, and a 90-day plan with a reporting cadence.
Executive note: A useful hire produces a contact record while the plan can still change. The sequence is monitor, interpret, decide, act, and report.
What this comparison is for
Company leaders use this page to compare scope and working methods. The question in front of you is who will do this work, in this place, on this date.
Which team can show the local record, the technical facts, and the report your leaders will use?
The rubric below is repeatable. For the decision to add local help, see Why Companies Need Local Public Affairs Help. For how that work sits beside a lobbyist or a communications firm, see government affairs and lobbying and local public affairs and public relations.
The evaluation rubric
Score each candidate from 1 to 5. Put the most weight on the arena where your decision will be made.
1) Decision fit
What you learn: Whether the scope names the city or county, and whether any legislative or agency task is named in that scope.
2) Named people and committed time
What you learn: Who will attend the meetings, who will write the report, and what share of their time is committed.
3) Technical understanding
What you learn: Whether the team can explain water, power, traffic, or other site facts with your specialists, in language a hearing can check.
4) Conflict process
What you learn: How the firm finds conflicts, tells you about them, and offers a way to handle them.
5) Plan and reporting
What you learn: The milestones, the contact record, and the cadence that will reach your leaders.
Executive lens: A strong team turns local and legislative information into risk, cost, timing, and options.
Compare by the work you need
Local city and county decisions
Fits when: A council, a commissioners court, or another local body will hear zoning, a permit, an incentive, or a similar project decision.
What to verify:
- • Which cities and counties are in the scope
- • Who listens, maps support and objections, and tracks each outreach
- • How willing constituents are invited to contact their own officials, in their own words
- • Who gives interviews, writes opinion articles, or testifies, and how they handle a public statement
Broad coverage across many issues
Fits when: Several bills, committees, or stakeholders will move during the same session.
Breadth helps when many issues move at once. Ask which person owns each task and what share of senior time is reserved for yours.
What to verify:
- • Who is the named day-to-day lead?
- • What share of senior time is committed?
- • What is the weekly reporting format?
Principal-led practices
Fits when: You want the principals on the strategy and on the local conversations.
Ask which principals will do the work, which tasks they will perform themselves, and how they will coordinate with the lobbyist, counsel, and communications team you already use.
Agency rules and implementation
Fits when: The exposure sits in a rule, a filing, an enforcement posture, or the conditions attached to a local approval.
What to verify:
- • How does the team track the relevant docket or local calendar?
- • How does it take part, through comments, filings, or a hearing?
- • How does it explain who decides, and on what schedule?
Narrow subject experience
Fits when: One subject carries the risk, and depth in that subject matters more than a wide client base.
Ask which tasks the team has performed in that subject and who did the work. Your technical specialists remain the source of engineering and scientific facts.
How JD Key works on a local decision
JD Key Consulting is an Austin practice focused on Texas local government and public affairs. James Dickey leads strategy. He served as Chairman of the Republican Party of Texas from 2017 to 2020. Blake Sbrocco is Vice President and brings municipal experience as an elected member of the Bee Cave City Council. The scope of each engagement names the work they will do.
The work starts by listening. James and Blake talk with residents, local groups, and city or county staff. They write down who supports the proposal, who objects, and the reason each person gives. Willing constituents then contact their own council members, commissioners, or other officials. Those residents speak for themselves.
James and Blake also make the public case. That includes interviews, opinion articles, testimony, and direct conversations. Advocacy may omit the client’s name. A named client is disclosed at the client’s request. Every outreach is tracked: the person, the question, the answer, and the follow-up.
They explain technical operations, including water, power, and site activity, from facts the company and its specialists can support. Counsel, technical specialists, lobbyists, and public relations professionals keep the assignments they already have. JD Key adds local relationships, an outside reading of the objections, and a public voice tied to the client.
A company with operations across the country identified three local areas where proposals had been rejected and hired JD Key to understand the support and opposition in each place and to add a public voice. State or federal assistance is added when the scope says so.
The questions to ask any firm, including this one, are in Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Texas Lobbyist. The longer account of when a company adds local help is in Why Companies Need Local Public Affairs Help.
What to confirm in the proposal
The proposal names the people and the tasks each person will perform.
The scope names each city or county, plus any state or federal task that was agreed.
The proposal says how counsel, technical specialists, lobbyists, and public relations staff will share the work.
You can see a sample of the contact record and the reporting cadence.
The conflict check is described in writing.
How to choose in one meeting
- 1Write one sentence: the city or county, the decision, and the date.
- 2Add a state or federal task when the agreed scope includes it.
- 3Score three to five candidates with the rubric.
- 4Require a conflict check, a named lead, a 90-day plan, and a reporting cadence.
- 5Choose the team that names the work, the people, and the report you will receive.
What to do now
- ☐Name the decision, the date, and the operational harm you are trying to limit
- ☐Confirm where the decision will be made: city, county, agency, legislature, or a defined mix
- ☐Request a 90-day plan with milestones and a contact record
- ☐Confirm who is called when the calendar moves, and the weekly reporting format
Two questions for a 2026 hire
Who stays after the bill or the vote?
A statute, an agency rule, and a local permit condition can shape the same project. Ask who will read the order, the agenda, and the next hearing, and how that work will be reported to operations.
Who can explain the operation?
Water, power, traffic, and site design often decide the local conversation. Ask who will learn those facts from your technical specialists and explain them in a hearing or an interview. The specialists remain responsible for the engineering.
See the calendar before the hearing
The Texas Government Affairs Intelligence Briefing goes out twice a month.
Subscribe to NewsletterFrequently Asked Questions
What should we compare when hiring government affairs support in Texas?
Start with the decision. Name the city or county, the date, and the result you want. Ask who will listen to residents and officials, who will map support and objections, who will help willing constituents contact their own officials, and how you will see the contact record. If a bill or an agency rule is in the scope, ask who covers that work and how it is reported.
How do lobbying, public relations, and local public affairs fit together?
A lobbyist can carry a legislative or agency assignment. A public relations team can carry the company message. Local public affairs covers conversations with residents and with the officials who will vote, plus a record of those conversations. Counsel and technical specialists keep their own work. These teams can share one project when each assignment is written down.
What does JD Key do on a local assignment?
James Dickey leads strategy. Blake Sbrocco, Vice President, takes part in the local outreach and the public case. They listen, map support and objections, help willing constituents contact their own officials, and track each outreach. They also give interviews, write opinion articles, and testify for the client. Officials make the decision. Your existing advisers keep their assignments.
Does JD Key take state or federal work?
Texas cities and counties are the center of the practice. State or federal assistance can be included on an agreed scope. JD Key coordinates with the advisers already involved.