The proliferation of urban special-district governments by private means has far-reaching consequences for the public domain. The utility district is the most rapidly growing form of government in the United States today. There are almost one thousand of these units in Texas; nearly four hundred are in the greater Houston area alone.
Utility districts have been the mechanism through which suburban development has occurred over the past three decades. Millions of people live within their jurisdiction, and virtually no one in the United States is unaffected by them, for their influence on...