eager to head off potential paid sick leave mandates, predictive scheduling ordinances and plastic bag bans they say threaten the state’s pro-business reputation.
Coyle said the bill’s approach leaves the cities responsible for combing through their ordinances to figure out which ones would need to be eliminated. City attorneys from Houston and Dallas joined Coyle at the hearing to raise their concerns. “Whereas we dealt with maybe one preemption ordinance in 2019 and two in 2021, there are a vast number of bills now filed dealing with preemption,” Burrows said. “… I think many of the Legislature are tired of playing whack-a-mole.”San Antonio city leaders don’t entirely disagree with the idea of protecting local businesses from policies propelled by progressive groups in recent years.
“We built power for young people at the state and local level through voter registration and grassroots issue campaigns,” MOVE Texas Advocacy Director Alex Birnel said of the effort at Wednesday’s hearing. HB 2127 is “a direct and overt attack by politicians to slash people’s freedoms to pass local rules for their own communities.