Catch up on Houston's challenge to the preemption bill

• The law will strip local governments of the ability to make certain rules and regulations under eight codes of government: agriculture, business and commerce, finance, insurance, labor, natural resources, occupations, and property.
• It will also nullify several current protections, like Austin's and Dallas' break requirements for workers and Houston's background checks on prospective tow truck drivers, the city argues.

The other side: Proponents of the law say it's necessary to prevent a patchwork of local regulations to make it easier for businesses to operate across the state.

Background: Houston is a home-rule city, which gives it the power to govern itself and implement anything that is not specifically counter to state laws.

• Think of Laredo's plastic bag ban or Denton's fracking ban. Both of those were overturned after being declared unconstitutional by the Texas Supreme Court, because state law preempted the cities from making such regulations.

The City of Houston does not have an exhaustive list of ordinances it believes will be upended because of the law, in part because of how broad it says the law is. But here are a few examples the city has mentioned:

• Fireworks regulations.
• Boarding home regulations.
• Vehicle towing and booting.
• The city's pay-or-play policy, which forces contractors to pay for workers' insurance or pay into a city fund that provides insurance for workers.

Details: Houston's challenge hinges on how broadly the new law is written, the city argues in its lawsuit.

• Previous Texas Supreme Court decisions ruled that a state law preempting local control over a specific issue must have "unmistakable clarity" in its intentions of limiting local governments.

• The new law, as its Republican author Rep. Dustin Burrows said during a House State Affairs Committee hearing on the bill, is a "living document," per Quorum Report.

What they're saying: "It is not unmistakable, and there's certainly no clarity," Bill Kelly, director of government relations at the Houston Mayor's Office, tells Axios.

• "[The bill] mentions outdoor music festivals," Kelly said. "Does that mean that the state now [regulates music festivals]? Does our comprehensive ordinance we just passed post-Travis Scott now fall by the wayside? It's just so unclear that we don't know."

Of note: Other cities, including San Antonio and Austin, are mulling whether to join Houston in challenging the law in court.

• Harris County is planning to file an amicus brief in support of Houston's lawsuit soon.

The bottom line: This is just the beginning of a legal battle that could take months to resolve.