Dallas urges appeals court to block state law limiting local regulations

Dallas is urging a state appeals court to toss out as unconstitutional a recent Texas law that voided certain city and county regulations covering businesses, labor, property and other areas.

A state district judge in Travis County blocked the law in August, siding with Houston, San Antonio and El Paso, which had challenged House Bill 2127 as unconstitutionally vague. Texas promptly appealed.

Dallas joined the fray Wednesday with a legal brief to the Austin-based 3rd Court of Appeals arguing the law turns a city or county’s ability to govern itself “on its head.”

“Home-rule cities need only look to state law for restrictions on their authority, not for permission to act,” Dallas City Attorney Tammy Palomino wrote in the 23-page filing.

The Republican-backed law banned local governments from adopting or enforcing ordinances that exceed what is allowed under state laws regulating agriculture, business and commerce, finance, insurance, labor, local government, natural resources, occupations and property.

Republican lawmakers and Gov. Greg Abbott said the law would foster economic growth by streamlining ordinances and protecting businesses from a patchwork of regulations that could change at city and county borders.

State Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, who sponsored the bill in the Senate, previously said the law “keeps liberal blue cities from continuing their absurd, anti-business, job-killing ordinances.”

Critics dubbed HB 2127 the Death Star law, calling it a power grab by the Legislature aimed at overturning progressive local policies. The law’s broad language also made it difficult to know which ordinances were illegal, critics said.

The attorney general’s office, which is representing the state, asked the 3rd Court to throw out the cities’ lawsuit, arguing that HB 2127 is a valid exercise of state authority over local governments.

In its legal brief, Dallas argued HB 2127 effectively — and improperly — repeals the Home Rule Amendment, which was added to the Texas Constitution in 1912 with the approval of almost 75% of voters. The amendment gives municipalities the ability to govern themselves.

“The people chose to put their trust in home-rule cities, and the State cannot take that choice away without presenting the choice to the people once again via the constitutional amendment process,” Palomino wrote.