Bill of the Week: Red State vs. Blue Cities

Rep. Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, author of a sweeping preemption bill that would reduce the agency of Texas cities in forming local regulatory policy (photo by Jana Birchum)

All 86 Texas House Republicans, along with six Democrats representing border communities, approved a bill last week that would curtail the ability of cities and counties to enact a swath of economic regulations ranging from agriculture to property and labor rules. House Bill 2127, dubbed the Texas Regulatory Consistency Act, would trump local authority over commerce so that all 254 counties uniformly abide by state law "unless expressly authorized by statute."

"This is a shift in the way that we think about policy in the state of Texas, fundamentally," said Steven Pedigo, director of the LBJ Urban Lab at UT-Austin. Pedigo posits that for the last two decades or so, the thing that has made Texas interesting – and has attracted an average of over 400,000 new residents annually – was a signature, small-c brand of conservatism. In other words, the cornerstone of Texas politics has been defined by a limited government that's closer to the people and held accountable through local elections.

"This is the antithesis of limited government," Pedigo said. He points to Texas cities and schools being funded through local property taxes as evidence that the state has long had an "absentee" relationship with municipalities, as opposed to more top-down states like California or New York. Moreover, the regular legislative session convenes only once every other year for a maximum of 140 days. Pedigo said, "This means that the state's actually going to have to think about how to govern in a way where it's putting together policy agendas."

Authored by Rep. Dustin Burrows, R-Lub­bock, and backed by business lobbying groups, HB 2127 passed in the lower chamber last Wednesday after a floor debate lasting over five hours. Its companion bill, Senate Bill 814 from Sen. Brandon Creigh­ton, R-Conroe, remains pending in committee. Gov. Greg Abbott has voiced support for similar legislation since at least 2017.

This bill's passage in the House culminated years of Republican opposition to progressive policies in Democrat-held cities. In an interview with conservative think tank Texas Public Policy Foundation, Burrows, speaking on his bill, said, "Urban centers [are] beginning to pass all sorts of things they historically have never touched before – the 'Green New Deal' in Dallas trying to ban gas-powered lawn mowers, fracking bans out of Denton, or labor union bills out of Harris County."

Proponents of HB 2127 argue that it will eliminate uncertainty for businesses that extend beyond city limits or county lines. According to Burrows, "If [the state of] Texas already regulates a particular industry or code, we're gonna be the sole people who actually regulate it." Those industries, per the bill, include agriculture, business and commerce, finance, insurance, labor, local government, natural resources, occupations, and property. HB 2127 specifically allows cities to continue building roads, imposing taxes, conducting public awareness campaigns, and entering into collective bargaining agreements with city employees. But every single Democrat who tried to carve out protections for items like local restraints on predatory lending, noise complaints, and federally unprotected workplace discrimination was voted down.

Ultimately, this is much more a matter of politics than of policy. Pedigo said, "As you look across the country, cities are governed by progressives. And this is an opportunity to really take that agenda [away] ... I've never met a state that dislikes its cities as much as Texas."