Texas bill could threaten Houston laws
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A bill that officials in Houston and other Texas cities worry would dismantle many local regulations is quickly making its way through the Texas Legislature.
Driving the news: The Texas Senate could vote on House Bill 2127 any time, after it passed the House and a Senate committee approved it last week. Its passage in the Senate would send it to Gov. Greg Abbott, who supports it.
Why it matters: The bill could scale back more than a century of cities' home rule authority in Texas, per the Texas Municipal League. Home rule essentially gives cities the power to govern themselves, implementing anything that is not specifically counter to state law.
- It would create uncertainty and lead to court battles if signed into law, the Texas Municipal League argues.
State of play: Texas home-rule cities have authority to adopt ordinances on everything from development to water protection to health and safety.
Details: The goal of the bill, per its author, Republican Rep. Dustin Burrows of Lubbock, is to smooth out a patchwork of local regulations impacting business across the state.
Yes, but: Local officials worry the bill is so broad that it's not clear what cities could make laws about.
In Houston, the bill could ban the city's pay-or-play program, which provides health insurance for uninsured city contractors.
- Plus, it could put into jeopardy the city's ordinances regulating fireworks, boarding homes, and vehicle towing and booting, according to Houston's office on governmental relations.
What they're saying: "The over 300 Texas home-rule cities, including its largest, my city of Houston, are unquestionably the engines of the state's booming economy," Collyn Peddie, a staff attorney for the city, wrote in opposition to the bill in March. "This bill will place their economic stability and vitality in grave danger because the [bill] is terrible for business."
- "Because the Texas Constitution already provides the means to displace conflicting local laws, there is no need for the unconstitutional, unworkable, and radical 'fix' House Bill 2127 represents or the economic trainwreck it will cause," Peddie wrote.
The other side: "We want those small-business owners creating new jobs and providing for their families, not trying to navigate a byzantine array of local regulations that twist and turn every time" they cross city limits, Burrows said, per the Texas Tribune.
Zoom out: Progressive organizations are worried it would stop cities from passing local laws to protect workers, like rest break requirements for construction workers in Austin and Dallas.
- The bill also gained attention from the National Federation of Independent Business, which supports it.
The bottom line: The bill appears increasingly likely to make it to Abbott's desk before the legislative session wraps at the end of the month.