{"id":567080,"date":"2023-03-23T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-03-23T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/texas-preemption-bills-escalate-war-between-liberal-cities-conservative-legislature\/"},"modified":"2023-03-23T13:00:00","modified_gmt":"2023-03-23T10:00:00","slug":"texas-preemption-bills-escalate-war-between-liberal-cities-conservative-legislature","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/texas-preemption-bills-escalate-war-between-liberal-cities-conservative-legislature\/","title":{"rendered":"#Texas \u2018preemption\u2019 bills escalate war between liberal cities, conservative legislature"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_84 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a24c1409f3d4\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a24c1409f3d4\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/texas-preemption-bills-escalate-war-between-liberal-cities-conservative-legislature\/#Texas_%E2%80%98preemption_bills_escalate_war_between_liberal_cities_conservative_legislature\" >Texas \u2018preemption\u2019 bills escalate war between liberal cities, conservative legislature<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h1><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Texas_%E2%80%98preemption_bills_escalate_war_between_liberal_cities_conservative_legislature\"><\/span>Texas \u2018preemption\u2019 bills escalate war between liberal cities, conservative legislature<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h1>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/03\/AP21152743878979-e1679512961521.jpg?w=900\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>AUSTIN, Texas:\u00a0New legislation is\u00a0heating up the long-running cold war between Texas\u2019 relatively progressive cities and its GOP-dominated legislature.<\/p>\n<p>Local officials across Texas are worried that far-reaching state bills could roll back their attempts to ensure construction workers get rest breaks in Texas\u2019 searing heat, run no-kill animal shelters and maintain local water quality.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr1_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>GOP sponsors and conservative groups say\u00a0companion bills\u00a0HB2127 and SB814, which\u00a0would\u00a0prevent local governments from passing or enforcing local rules in several critical areas \u201cunless explicitly authorized by statute,\u201d would protect Texas business owners from an unprecedented and aggressive overreach by the state\u2019s booming, blue-tinged cities.<\/p>\n<p>But local officials and urban advocacy groups contend the legislation would s<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/trip-and-travel\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"10\" title=\"Trip &amp; Travel\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">trip<\/a> cities of their ability to regulate a broad range of environmental, labor and health and safety concerns.<\/p>\n<p>The bills are part of a broader push by conservative groups to take their conflicts with progressive cities up with state legislators, rather than cities themselves, said Bennett Sandlin, executive director of the Texas Municipal League, a trade group for the state\u2019s cities.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s coming out of national think tanks in the last years,\u201d he said. \u201cYou go straight to the state government and don\u2019t have to go city by city.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Last year, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) vetoed a far-reaching preemption bill passed by the GOP-led legislature in his state, which would have exposed local governments to lawsuits over any ordinance that cut a local business\u2019s profits.<\/p>\n<p>The Texas bills are broader yet:\u00a0If passed, they\u00a0would nullify\u00a0any local ordinances that could fall under the rubric of the state\u2019s labor, natural resources, agriculture, insurance or occupations codes \u2014 unless the legislature writes specific legislation directly permitting a rule.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr2_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>The two bills\u00a0would\u00a0also\u00a0allow any citizen to sue their county \u2014 or a neighboring county \u2014 over a local law that they felt violated the state\u2019s new powers, opening blue- or purple-leaning counties to a flood of lawsuits from their more conservative peripheries.<\/p>\n<p>Most bills never pass the legislature, and these ones have a tough road out of committee. When\u00a0the bills\u00a0debuted last week, a bipartisan group of legislators had hard questions for\u00a0one of their authors, state Rep. Dustin Burrows (R), about the broadly worded\u00a0legislation\u2019s potential for unintended consequences.<\/p>\n<p>Those concerns have caused similar (if less-sweeping) bills to fail the last two times they were introduced in the state legislature.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr3_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>But Burrows is a committee chair and powerful legislator backed by a lobby of business and conservative groups determined to curb what they describe as an unprecedented power grab by cities.<\/p>\n<p>Burrows did not respond to The Hill\u2019s request for comment on the measures.<\/p>\n<p>In the cities \u2014 in contrast to the suburbs and exurbs that ring them \u2014 Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R) \u201ccan feel Republican control slipping,\u201d said Harvey Kromberg, founder and editor of the Quorum Report, a venerable Austin-based nonpartisan political <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">news<\/a>paper.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr4_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>The two bills \u2014 like a flurry of other state legislation this session aimed at staving off other potential city ordinances \u2014 \u201care more an effort to staunch the authority of Democrats as to have anything to do with diminishing friction in business,\u201d Kromberg said.<\/p>\n<p>But unlike proposed bills that seek to outlaw bans on gas stoves or gas-powered lawnmowers, or to block Austin from using local bonds to finance light rail \u2014 which opponents say at least clarify what they are opposing \u2014 these bills are far broader, said Sandlin.<\/p>\n<p>At a committee hearing last week, \u201ctwo-thirds of the back and forth was legislators testifying \u2014 does it ban regulations on short term rentals? Well, it\u2019s not clear. Does it ban payday lending regulations? It\u2019s not clear,\u201d Sandlin said.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr5_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>Cities are used to states preempting local authority, Sandlin said. \u201cThat h<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>ens all the time. But we don\u2019t know how to lose when we don\u2019t know even know what is being discussed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The bills\u2019 supporters argue that they are a necessary measure to defend small business.<\/p>\n<p>Over the past five years, Texas cities have embarked on a \u201ccompletely new\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/watch-movies-tv-seriess\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"8\" title=\"Watch Movies &amp; TV Series\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">series<\/a> of ordinances that have involved \u201cstepping out of their traditional jurisdiction,\u201d said Annie Spillman, state director of the National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB), a sponsor and drafter of the bill.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr6_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>The two bills are \u201cnot some sort of aggressor-type move. This was completely a reaction to the aggression against small businesses,\u201d Spillman said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Walmarts, the Amazons, these people \u2014 they can handle this kind of stuff. Small businesses can\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Spillman\u2019s group, the NFIB, was galvanized by the passage of a series of short-lived regulations in Austin, San Antonio and Dallas in 2018 which required business owners to let employees accrue sick time \u2014\u00a0measures many business groups\u00a0staunchly opposed.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr7_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>While state and federal courts struck the measures down in 2019 \u2014 arguing that sick time counted as income, and that the rules therefore violated a state ban on Texas cities raising the minimum wage above the federal level \u2014 the NFIB saw a threat.<\/p>\n<p>The group is also concerned about rules ranging from those requiring workers to receive schedules two weeks in advance to \u201cweirdo\u201d ordinances like Austin\u2019s move to ban the declawing of cats.<\/p>\n<p>NFIB wants legislators to cut such rules off \u201cbefore these get out of hand and we\u2019re trying to fight these all one by one,\u201d she said, adding that the organization was also \u201ctrying to stop the panic before it happens with our small business owners.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Spillman described the legislation as common-sense measures aimed at creating consistent state rules to replace a patchwork of local ordinances that she argued create undue pressure on the small business owners that make up a majority of the organization\u2019s membership.<\/p>\n<p>Local officials and urban advocacy groups, by contrast, argue that this checkerboard of regulation is a necessary and unobjectionable part of having diverse local issues addressed in different ways by local authorities.<\/p>\n<p>They also worry about the method of enforcement.\u00a0Like the state\u2019s notorious abortion ban, the means for carrying out the preemption law would be private citizens filing lawsuits \u2014 in this case against local governments for laws that plaintiffs\u00a0felt\u00a0entered into territories where the state had asserted supremacy.<\/p>\n<p>Local governments warn that could open them up to a flood of frivolous lawsuits, creating exactly the fog of regulatory uncertainty that business groups say they want to avoid.<\/p>\n<p>The gulf between how NFIB and the cities understand the bills gives the don\u2019t a surreal quality, because the two sides can\u2019t agree on what powers the legislation would reserve for the state \u2014 a question that city governments say carries life-or-death consequences.<\/p>\n<p>One example of a local ordinance that the bill would cast into doubt is protections for workers laboring in the\u00a0state\u2019s\u00a0often-extreme heat. Regulations in Austin and Dallas require construction workers to get a rest break of at least 10 minutes every four hours \u2014 a measure Austin officials linked to a rash of workplace heat injuries and deaths.<\/p>\n<p>Under the new bills \u2014 which reserve authority over anything potentially regulated under the labor code for the state \u2014 city officials worry they would lose the ability to regulate workers\u2019 exposure to heat. Such exposure results in 43 deaths per year nationwide.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Spillman downplayed these concerns. \u201cThere are only two cities that have rest break ordinances,\u201d she told The Hill. \u201cIf there were such a big issue of people not getting rest breaks, I feel like there would be some sort of state law.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She also said that the bills would still allow the federal Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) \u201cto issue fines at any workplace.\u201d (OSHA announced an upcoming national heat safety standard last year, but no such rule has yet been passed, as The Hill reported.)<\/p>\n<p>Finally, she argued that if cities felt that heat regulations were a necessary health and safety measure, they could argue that case in court.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf I were a good lawyer I could probably argue that for health and safety you could probably file some sort of ordinance requiring heat and water breaks or keep that ordinance in place,\u201d Spillman wrote The Hill in a subsequent email.<\/p>\n<p>That reliance on legal interpretation to sort out broad laws is exactly the problem, opponents argue.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>If cities believe they are preempted \u2014 or are wary of fending off lawsuits from local interest groups \u2014 then they will be deterred from touching broad aspects of local governance, regardless of whether those are technically allowed, Luis Figueroa of advocacy group Every Texan told The Hill.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re gonna be interpreting this in the courts for decades, as people and the courts try to figure out what\u2019s allowed and not allowed,\u201d he predicted.<\/p>\n<p>Austin city council member Jose \u201cChito\u201d Vela was more pointed in laying out what he sees as potential consequences of the bill.<\/p>\n<p>Texas\u2019 growing cities, with their diverse and urgent infrastructure and public safety needs, are\u00a0 stuck \u201cin a catch-22, where the state doesn\u2019t want to govern \u2014 and it doesn\u2019t want to let cities govern,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Vela expressed concern that the bill would expose Texas cities to \u201cthe floodgates of just a bunch of harassing lawsuits against a local government, which cost us money and time to defend.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That prospect \u201chas the potential to disrupt municipal services,\u201d Vela added. And while he noted that Austin has the resources to adopt a \u201cwait and see\u201d approach and fight challenges under the bill, other cities have fewer resources.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis goes beyond Austin, you know?\u201d Vela said. \u201cThis applies to every little one-stoplight town in the state.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But Spillman urged caution: she emphasized that the bill would get more targeted as the session went on, and pushed back on what she characterized as unfair attacks on the businesses supporting it.<\/p>\n<p>Those groups \u201care always being tagged the people that don\u2019t want to help their employees or protect them,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd that couldn\u2019t be further from the truth. These are their family,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Copyright 2023 Nexstar <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Social Media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Media<\/a> Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more News articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/news\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/policy\/equilibrium-sustainability\/3912877-texas-preemption-bills-escalate-war-between-liberal-cities-conservative-legislature\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Texas \u2018preemption\u2019 bills escalate war between liberal cities, conservative legislature AUSTIN, Texas:\u00a0New legislation is\u00a0heating up the long-running cold war between Texas\u2019 relatively progressive cities and its GOP-dominated legislature. Local officials across Texas are worried that far-reaching state bills could roll back their attempts to ensure construction workers get rest breaks in Texas\u2019 searing heat, run&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":567081,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/03\/AP21152743878979-e1679512961521.jpg?w=1280","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[70989,115,76449,29102,67907],"class_list":["post-567080","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-mental-health","tag-news","tag-personal-finance","tag-ron-desantis","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567080","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=567080"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567080\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/567081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=567080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=567080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=567080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}