Luis Figueroa, Chief of Legislative Affairs at Every Texan, was interviewed for an opinion piece in The Washington Post on the use of preemption in notoriously Republican states.
Read an excerpt below:
In Texas, the Republican-controlled legislature has passed a sweeping bill that represents the state of the art in “preemption.” The bill heading to the desk of Republican Gov. Greg Abbott would limit state and county governments from passing any ordinance more restrictive than state law in a wide variety of areas, from labor rights to property rights to payday lending and puppy mills. The Senate sponsor of the bill says it’s meant to rein in “activist cities.”
“This is a power play by the state leaders to take control of cities and become the de facto mayors and city councils,” Luis Figueroa, the chief of legislative affairs at the progressive policy group Every Texan, told me. If cities want to regulate in a whole range of areas, Figueroa said, cities “will now have to go to the legislature and ask permission.”
Though Texas is moving in the Democrats’ direction as it diversifies, Republicans have gerrymandered their way into ironclad control of the legislature. Yet most of the state’s biggest cities are run by Democrats, which seems to frustrate Republicans to no end. They have introduced numerous bills that take power specifically from Harris County, the home of Houston, the state’s largest city.
Click here to read the full article on The Washington Post.