General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsStates Are Stifling the Voices of Cities and Their Voters
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/03/opinion/texas-preemption-bill.htmlNo paywall
https://archive.is/4nwEj
Gov. Greg Abbott, Republican of Texas, is expected to sign a bill in the next few days that would make it immeasurably more difficult for cities in the state to govern themselves. The bill would strip cities of the ability to set standards for local workplaces, to ensure civil rights, and to improve their environments, trampling on the rights of voters who elected local officials to do just that.
The bill, recently approved by the Texas House and Senate, would nullify any city ordinance or regulation that conflicts with existing state policy in those crucial areas, and would give private citizens or businesses the right to sue and seek damages if they believe there is a discrepancy between city and state. That means no city could prohibit discrimination against L.G.B.T.Q. employees, as several Texas cities have done. No city could adopt new rules to limit predatory payday-lending practices. No city could restrict overgrown lots, or unsafe festivals, or inadequate waste storage. Cities would even be banned from enacting local worker protections, including requiring water breaks for laborers in the Texas heat, as Dallas, Austin and other cities have done following multiple deaths and injuries.
Business lobbyists and Republican legislators who have pushed the bill said its purpose was to rid the state of a patchwork of conflicting regulations. In fact, that patchwork largely exists only in three or four mostly Democratic cities in an overwhelmingly red state, and the bill is the latest effort by Republicans to rid the state of any policies that conflict with their hard-right agenda even if those policies are fully supported by voters in those cities, who elect representatives to serve their interests.
Already the state wont let cities ban discrimination against low-income renters, and it prohibits them from cutting their police budgets. Dozens of other bills have been introduced to restrict election reforms by Texas cities and counties, including one that would let an official, most likely a Republican, overturn election results in a single place: largely Democratic Harris County, which includes Houston. The bill is undemocratic, Mayor Ron Nirenberg of San Antonio told The Texas Tribune. It is probably the most undemocratic thing the Legislature has done, and that list is getting very long. Local voters have created city charters, and I cant imagine that they will be pleased to have their decisions usurped by lawmakers.
*snip*
yankee87
(2,192 posts)Next up, only white, European, land-owning men will be allowed to vote.
The Qpublicans only believe that they should govern.
Liberal In Texas
(13,613 posts)They spend a lot of time and effort in ways to grab and keep power.
But they don't know how to actually govern.
Irish_Dem
(47,928 posts)Their goals are total permanent power and access to all US financial assets.
Like Russia and China. The PutinGOP is creating an American fascist state.
live love laugh
(13,214 posts)sarcasmo
(23,968 posts)Tickle
(2,616 posts)We win most races
JoeOtterbein
(7,703 posts)electric_blue68
(15,028 posts)Semi Rhetorical - how do combat that?
The courts now with the Sumpremos at the end of the line.
How do get overall TX to go more from red to purple to violet(!) which is more on the blue side.
I mean it looks like locks on power for now and even more people will suffer!
DemocraticPatriot
(4,519 posts)which says, " 'he needed killin' "
I submit that this ought to apply to Republican Texas legislators,
who vote to strip localities of their voting rights and overrule their local control...
and become dictators over them, in effect
God knows they have given every Texan more than enough "gun rights",
for the purpose of 'resisting dictatorship and protecting freedom'.....
But they pre-supposed that they themselves were not the "dictators" who ought to be 'targeted'....
If there are to be more "mass killings" in Texas,
which are very likely,
then I would prefer to see some that are targeted against
the supporters of fascist dictatorship....
Understand, I do not "advocate" or support it,
but if I have to see another mass-killing in Texas, or anywhere else,
then that is what I would prefer to see.
SouthernDem4ever
(6,617 posts)Whatever happened to karma?
DemocraticPatriot
(4,519 posts)every day....
BOSSHOG
(37,159 posts)They call it democracy, they dont know what it is. And they want to kill it. Because thats how ya get stupid people to vote for you.
elleng
(131,384 posts)BlueWaveNeverEnd
(8,154 posts)diva77
(7,682 posts)Atrocious legislation passed by Newsome that deprives cities of local control over construction for allegedly solving the housing crisis. What it really is is a way for the construction industry to steamroll its way through prime locations in CA circumventing local zoning laws, environmental impact statements, citizen input. It's absolutely authoritarian and unacceptable.
https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2021-07-09/california-affordable-housing-sb9
ancianita
(36,221 posts)keithbvadu2
(37,044 posts)Not local control.
2 Meow Momma
(6,682 posts)AwakeAtLast
(14,134 posts)They would already be gone, but my brother-in-law got a sizable promotion which requires them to stay another two years before he retires. Hopefully they can suffer through!
NNadir
(33,586 posts)...celebrating Pride week.
We had a gay black man speak to us at this scientific meeting - he's not a scientist - about how wonderfully diverse Houston is and how he loves this city.
I didn't want to set foot in Texas, but this is a wonderful city to my complete surprise.