May 13, 2025      4:48 PM

Texas House panel debates proposal to penalize local governments any time a complaint is made that state law is being circumvented

“What happened to being innocent until proven guilty?” City and county leaders say proposal denies due process; Chairman Bell and others say local leaders need to be held accountable if they’re not following state statutes

A bill heard this morning in Texas House Intergovernmental Affairs would give the attorney general the authority to penalize and withhold sales tax collections to cities and counties accused of not complying with state law.

Senate Bill 2858 by Education K-16 Chair Brandon Creighton and sponsored by chairman Cecil Bell, Jr. builds upon the Texas Regulatory Consistency Act. That bill, authored by Speaker Dustin Burrows, which was opposed by Democrats and municipalities, was dubbed the “Death Star” because it nullified municipal ordinances not consistent with state law. (Nondiscrimination ordinances protecting a variety of individuals based on certain classes are exempt.)

That’s why critics call this one the Death Star 2.0.

The bill is the perfect combination of Proposition S in Dallas, which strips immunity from the city when faced with lawsuits for perceived violations of the city charter and Congressman Craig Goldman’s law preventing municipalities from raising taxes if they “defund the police.”

When the bill was laid out, a state was described in which cities and counties have been going rogue.

By James Russell

Copyright May 13, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved