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AlterNet: GOP concocts new 'Death Star' to 'handcuff' Texas cities that don't play by their rules
AlterNet - GOP concocts new 'Death Star' to 'handcuff' Texas cities that don’t play by their rules
Joshua Fechter, Texas Tribune
May 05, 2025
DALLAS — Two years after Texas lawmakers enacted a sweeping law aimed at sapping authority from the state’s urban areas, GOP legislators once more have advanced bills intended to stop local governments from adopting progressive policies.
Republicans in the Texas Legislature want to give the state the authority to effectively torpedo cities’ budgets if they pursue local rules that might conflict with state law — intended to deter them from adopting left-leaning ideas in the first place. GOP legislators have targeted financial assistance programs for needy families, measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and initiatives to promote diversity, equity and inclusion. They’ve sought to overturn moves in cities like Austin and Dallas to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana. No issue is too small. Some Republicans even want to make it harder for cities to install bike and bus lanes.
The slate of bills marks the latest front in Texas Republicans’ decade-long crusade to erode the power of local officials in the state’s major urban areas, who often are Democrats. In that time, the GOP-controlled Legislature forbade cities from regulating oil and gas drilling, requiring landlords to accept federal housing vouchers and from cutting their police budgets without going to voters. Conservatives have often couched those moves as ways to relieve the burden they say those regulations place on businesses and stop the proliferation of progressive policies.
Others see Republicans’ push to restrict what policies local governments can pass as stifling local officials’ ability to address local problems.
/snip
Joshua Fechter, Texas Tribune
May 05, 2025
DALLAS — Two years after Texas lawmakers enacted a sweeping law aimed at sapping authority from the state’s urban areas, GOP legislators once more have advanced bills intended to stop local governments from adopting progressive policies.
Republicans in the Texas Legislature want to give the state the authority to effectively torpedo cities’ budgets if they pursue local rules that might conflict with state law — intended to deter them from adopting left-leaning ideas in the first place. GOP legislators have targeted financial assistance programs for needy families, measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and initiatives to promote diversity, equity and inclusion. They’ve sought to overturn moves in cities like Austin and Dallas to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana. No issue is too small. Some Republicans even want to make it harder for cities to install bike and bus lanes.
The slate of bills marks the latest front in Texas Republicans’ decade-long crusade to erode the power of local officials in the state’s major urban areas, who often are Democrats. In that time, the GOP-controlled Legislature forbade cities from regulating oil and gas drilling, requiring landlords to accept federal housing vouchers and from cutting their police budgets without going to voters. Conservatives have often couched those moves as ways to relieve the burden they say those regulations place on businesses and stop the proliferation of progressive policies.
Others see Republicans’ push to restrict what policies local governments can pass as stifling local officials’ ability to address local problems.
/snip