There is some new hope for the town of San Elizario in its effort to become a city.

The fight for San Elizario's land is no longer just inWest Texas, it has now gone all the way to the Texas House of Representatives.

Texas Rep. Mary Gonzalez, D-El Paso, has introduced a new bill in the Texas Legislature that makes it easier for San Elizario to become a city. Under current state law, a town has to get the permission of surrounding cities if they want to incorporate into a city.

Each city has a buffer zone around it called Extraterritorial Jurisdiction, or ETJ, that a city has control over. San Elizario falls in Socorro's ETJ, and a spokesman from Socorro has told KFOX 14 News that the city does not plan on giving towns in its ETJ permission to incorporate. Under the new bill that wouldn't matter.

"San Elizario wouldn't have to ask for consent, they would just have to incorporate. However, they would still have to go through the other steps. They would still have to get a petition, they would still have to get the election, and all those things would have to happen," Gonzalez said.

Despite all the obstacles in their way, the residents of San Elizario refuse to quit.

"We're not giving up. Our community is getting together with committees and working very hard to research incorporating  We're also finding out through lawyers what we can do to incorporate. So all the obstacles haven't stopped us," San Elizario resident Grace Sanchez said. 

Rep. Gonzalez says that in this case, the bill would only apply to the San Elizario, and not other areas.  She considers this as a special case, because of the rich history of the town. 

A second bill, introduced this legislative session, however may also keep Socorro from annexing San Elizario's land. That bill would take the power of annexation away from the City Council.  That bill would require a public vote in the area for cases of annexation. In that case, voters of San Elizario would actually be able to cast a ballot on whether their land could be annexed or not. Rep. Gonzalez has also sponsored that bill, in the Texas House of Representatives.