State & Local Government Policy, Business and Technology

The End of Local Laws? War on Cities Intensifies in Texas

Governing: As attorney general of Texas, Greg Abbott made a name for himself by fighting the federal government and suing the Obama administration 31 times. As governor, Abbott has found a new enemy -- local governments -- and, in recent days, he’s raised the stakes in that war.

Texas has a reputation for blocking local laws that contradict its hands-off approach to regulation. In 2014, for example, the oil-friendly state sued a town that voted to ban fracking and then later passed a law preventing other cities from doing the same.

“For us to be able to continue our legacy of economic freedom, it was necessary that we begin to speak up and to propose laws to limit the ability of cities to California-ize the great state of Texas,” said Abbott at an event with the Texas Conservative Coalition Research Institute last month.

Read article