Houston city attorneys filed a lawsuit on Monday challenging a new state law that prohibits various local regulations. This lawsuit marks the first legal opposition to the comprehensive crackdown on cities and counties.
The lawsuit, submitted to Travis County District Court, aims to declare the ‘Death Star Bill,’ as critics call it, unconstitutional and unenforceable. The law, referred to as HB 2127, raises doubts about numerous local regulations, making them susceptible to lawsuits from private individuals.
The lawsuit asserts, “Houston, like all cities, needs clear knowledge of enforceable laws, and its residents and businesses need clarity on which laws they must abide by.”
The law restricts local regulations to those that are not more stringent than what is “expressly authorized” in state codes covering business, labor, property, and other broad areas. Governor Greg Abbott signed it into law last month after swift passage through the Republican-led Legislature.
BACKGROUND: Texas ‘Death Star’ Bill Set to Block Local Regulations Nears Passage
The law has faced criticism from local officials in several Texas cities who argue that it goes too far by eliminating local rules and potentially overriding common regulations concerning unlicensed boarding homes, hazardous waste disposal, and more.
Mayor Sylvester Turner stated, “The Texas Constitution explicitly supports local control and innovation, which has been crucial to the tremendous economic vitality in cities like Houston. Since Texas already has mechanisms to preempt local laws conflicting with state law, HB 2127 is unnecessary. It dismantles the ability to govern at the local level closest to the people, thereby punishing all Texas residents.”
Houston officials also contend in their lawsuit that the bill employs “vague language that is indefinite, awkward, and opaque, failing to provide clarity on which laws Texas cities can enforce.”
They argue that this violates legal precedents requiring “unmistakable clarity” to preempt regulations in specific cities.
“In summary, the only way for Houston or any constitutional home rule city to definitively determine which local laws they may enforce is to have a court decide the matter, entailing enormous costs and financial risks for Houston and similar cities,” the lawsuit states.
Business groups and Republican legislators maintain that the bill is necessary to provide companies with consistency across the state, rather than facing a “patchwork of regulations” from one city to another. Supporters also claim that state and federal regulations already protect workers and tenants from various forms of discrimination and require employers to meet specific labor standards.
The final version of the bill allows cities and counties to retain existing regulations for payday lending, involving small, short-term loans that circumvent legal caps on fees and interest. An earlier draft of the bill had seemingly rolled back rules enacted by dozens of cities because stronger regulations failed to pass the Legislature.
A spokesperson for state Representative Dustin Burrows, the bill’s author from Lubbock, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit.
The bill is set to take effect on September 1, but Houston officials are seeking a temporary court ruling to halt its implementation while the court case unfolds.
This is a developing story. Please check back later for more details.