Home rule city: Cities with larger populations may do anything in their charter, unless prohibited by the state. General law city: Smaller cities, without charters, only exercise powers granted to them. Preemption: any legislation made by a state that limits or even prohibits the power of local governments Super-preemption: open-ended legislation that limits and prohibits local government power Bill: a proposed item of legislation introduced in the House or the Senate Law: a bill that has passed and is now enforced FROM THE CITIES TO THE STATE GLOSSARY
Houston leaders, worker groups sound alarm over bills limiting local power
areas unless they are specifically authorized by the state. The codes under HB 2127 and SB 814 include agriculture, business and commerce, finance, insur- ance, labor, natural resources and occupation, while SB 149 deals with commercial activity conducted in more than one city. “The intent of the legislation is for those areas of the law where the state has dictated the rules, those are what is going to apply and preempt city regula- tions in those areas,” said Scott Norman, president of the Texas Association of Builders and supporter of the bills. “There are a lot of exceptions. … Building permitting, platting, things that deal with land, not the workers, those things are left to the cities.” According to Mark Jones, a political science pro- fessor at Rice University, the open-ended language of
BY SHAWN ARRAJJ & LEAH FOREMAN
Efforts by Texas lawmakers to rein in the powers of cities and counties across the state have reached new heights during the 2023 legislative session, with bills targeting everything from local elections to broad attempts to preempt local regulations in sev- eral areas. Central to the push are a trio of what some experts call “super-preemption” bills making their way through the Legislature: House Bill 2127 and its com- panion bill Senate Bill 814, as well as SB 149. The phrase “super-preemption” refers to how the bills preempt cities and counties in Texas from adopting their own ordinances, limiting them to only ordi- nances that are expressly allowed under state law.
GOING THROUGH THE LEGISLATURE
Those in support of the bills say they are needed to provide more regulatory consistency for small business owners and peo- ple who work in those fields. “We want those small-busi- ness owners creating new jobs and providing for their families, not trying to navigate a byzan- tine array of local regulations that twist and turn every time,” said state Rep. Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock and author of HB 2127, at an April 18 hearing on the bill in the Texas House of Representatives. But opponents of the bills— which include workers’ rights organizations, the Texas Munici- pal League and the city of Hous- ton—have decried what they said would be a loss of local freedom if
the bills could lead to problems. “Unless someone’s done the work of cataloging every kind of responsibility a city or county government engages in, there are going to be some things cities and counties have been doing as part of their normal activities that is not specifically authorized by the Although HB 2127 has gotten the attention of local leaders, there are other bills working through the Legislature that would shift power from the local level to the state, including a batch of bills that provide the state with more power to oversee and intervene in elections at the local level. state,” he said. City concerns
Bills aimed at transferring regulatory power from cities and counties in Texas to the state government have been making their way through the Texas Legislature in 2023. House Bill 2127 & Senate Bill 814 Authors: Rep. Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock (HB2127), Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe (SB 814) HB 2127 status: passed in the House of Representatives in a 92-56 vote, sent to the Senate SB 814 status: pending in committee Scope: Would prohibit cities and counties from passing regulations in six areas unless they are specifically authorized by the state.
“WE SHOULDN’T TRY TO MAKE CITIES LOOK ALIKE JUST TO SUPPOSEDLY ATTRACT MORE BUSINESS. TEXAS IS DOING JUST FINE ATTRACTING BUSINESS, AND IT’S BECAUSE OF CITIES BEING UNIQUE AND VIBRANT.” BENNETT SANDLIN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, TEXAS MUNICIPAL LEAGUE
Labor Natural resources Occupation
Agriculture Finance Insurance
Senate Bill 149 Authors: Sen. Drew Springer, R-Muenster Status: pending in committee Scope: Would prohibit cities and counties from passing regulations in two areas unless they are specifically authorized by the state. Commercial activity conducted in more than one municipality Ordinances that would be affected: Payday lending: ordinances
The broad and sweeping legislation in HB 2127 would remove power from larger cities, such as Houston, which are currently independently ruled— known as home rule cities—according to Bennett Sandlin, executive director of the Texas Municipal League, which provides legal, legislative and training services to city governments in Texas. “It would turn home rule cities into general law cities,” Sandlin said. “They’d have to look for specific grants of state law. So it sort of undermines the home rule principle.” Houston officials said the bills could lead to an uptick in litigation. Collyn Peddie, a senior attorney for the city of Houston, appeared before the Texas Senate Committee on Business and Commerce to denounce SB 814 at a public hearing April 4. “[SB] 814 will stifle the customized local innova- tion and tailored services and protections the fram- ers embraced by adopting home rule in the first place. The state could never match the custom efforts—like Houston’s noise ordinance—and Houston businesses and residents suffer,” Peddie said. An earlier version of the bill would have preempted
the bills pass in their current form. Although the full implications of the bills are still unclear, opponents said regulations at risk range from worker protections to emergency response during natural disasters. Houston officials said the passage of bills like HB 2127 could result in a loss of protections for residents, pointing to past examples of local ordinances being struck down and never replaced at the state level. “Take concrete batch plants, for example,” said Bill Kelly, director of government relations with Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner’s office. “The Texas Supreme Court struck down Houston’s ordinances, and now we are faced with [a] process where vulnerable neigh- borhoods in Houston are at risk. The Legislature has passed nothing to protect them.” Defining preemption Preemption laws are any bills passed by a large governing body, like the state of Texas, that limit the power of smaller governments, like the city of Hous- ton, under its umbrella. HB 2127 and SB 149, if passed, would prohibit cities and counties from passing regulations in several key
Workplace discrimination: local nondiscrimination ordinances, fair chance hiring policies could be preempted Noise ordinances: local ordinances dictating how loud people can be at certain times
Worker safety: local rules for use of safety equipment, worker breaks, etc. adopted before 2023 would be exempt, but new ordinances would be prevented
SOURCES: TEXAS LEGISLATURE, CITY OF HOUSTON/ COMMUNITY IMPACT
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