The Texas Tribune reports:
Houston officials sued the state of Texas on Monday to stop a sweeping law aimed at gutting all kinds of local ordinances and sapping the power of the state’s bluer urban areas.
The law — House Bill 2127, dubbed the “Death Star” bill by opponents — was signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott in June, marking Texas Republicans’ biggest attempt yet to kneecap local governments in a yearslong assault on Texas’ major metropolitan areas, often governed by Democrats.
The law prevents cities and counties from creating local ordinances that go further than what’s allowed under broad areas of state law, an attempt to overturn cities’ progressive policies. Among those policies are mandated water breaks for construction workers in Dallas and Austin, a component of the law that’s gained more criticism as Texas experiences a drastic summer heat wave.
Read the full article.
Leaders of local governments across the state criticized the proposal as a massive power grab that would prevent them from responding to local needs.https://t.co/7JLWt1iYf0
— Matt Ewalt (@mjewalt) July 3, 2023
Texas Bill Could Ban Local LGBTQ Rights Ordinances – https://t.co/Ac8UPGbztW pic.twitter.com/JPzDGqStsy
— JoeMyGod (@JoeMyGod) April 19, 2023