the County of La Salle v. Joe Weber, in His Official Capacity as Executive Director of the Texas Department of Transportation The Texas Department of Transportation Ted Houghton, in His Official Capacity as Chairman of the Texas Transportation Commission, 03-14-00501-CV

SB 1747 created a Transportation Infrastructure Fund grant program for counties affected by increased oil and gas production.
TxDOT/TxDOT officials administer the program and adopt implementing rules; counties must apply with specified plan and zone requirements.
County eligibility is based on counties being affected by oil and gas production and meeting application requirements; counties determine whether they are affected via a local process.
The statute sets a non-discretionary allocation formula across four categories, while allowing discretionary administrative rules to implement the process.
The County of La Salle challenged the Department’s allocation as ultra vires and sought injunctive relief; the trial court granted a plea to the jurisdiction and dismissed.
The appellate court affirmed, holding that SB 1747 grants broad departmental discretion, precludes common-law judicial review of past allocations, and that § 2001.038 is the proper vehicle for related challenges to rules, not to undo past actions.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether ultra vires claims permit review of past allocations.	La Salle	TxDOT	No; ultra vires cannot undo past action.
Whether the Department acted intra vires in administering SB 1747.	La Salle	TxDOT	Yes; acts within statutory discretion.
Whether § 2001.038 provides proper jurisdiction for the County’s claims.	La Salle	TxDOT	Not in this appeal; proper forum is § 2001.038, but not for the current petition.
Should an appellate injunction issue to suspend the nationwide funding program?	La Salle	TxDOT	No; insufficient basis to issue appellate injunction.

Bacon v. Tex. Historical Comm'n, 411 S.W.3d 161 (Tex. App.—Austin 2013) (ultra vires claims limited when statute grants agency discretion)
Creedmoor-Maha Water Supply Corp. v. Tex. Comm'n on Envtl. Qual., 307 S.W.3d 505 (Tex. App.—Austin 2010) (ultra vires cannot undo past agency action or intrude on discretionary rulemaking)
City of El Paso v. Heinrich, 284 S.W.3d 366 (Tex. 2009) (limits on common-law judicial review of administrative action)
Tex. A&M Univ. Sys. v. Koseoglu, 233 S.W.3d 835 (Tex. 2007) (standard for jurisdiction in agency-review contexts)
Little-Tex Insulation Co. v. General Servs. Comm'n, 39 S.W.3d 591 (Tex. 2001) (foundational limits on inherent judicial review)