DALLAS — Local governments fear losing control of everything from plastic shopping bags to oil and gas drilling in residential neighborhoods as the Texas Legislature seeks unprecedented authority over city ordinances, the Texas Municipal League says.
The league representing cities in legislative matters maintains a list of 72 bills that would usurp local authority, which it calls the "
Through negotiation with legislative leaders, the league managed to mitigate some of the effects of
Nonetheless, HB 40, which won final legislative approval on April 4, pre-empts a local ordinance approved by voters in Denton in November banning hydraulic fracturing or "fracking" in the city limits. The Denton ordinance was brought to the ballot by voter petition, raising alarms in oil and gas producing regions throughout the Southwest.
Citizens groups that worked to get the first local ban passed after numerous complaints of fumes, noise, lights and heavy traffic in formerly quiet neighborhoods were quick to react to the Senate's passage of the bill on a 24-7 Senate vote.
"I am outraged by this assault on local control, public health and safety," said Luke Metzger, Director of Environment Texas. "Oil and gas companies donated $5.5 million to the campaigns of legislators in the last elections, and clearly they got their money's worth."
As the bill was under consideration, the city of Arlington had to partially evacuate a neighborhood where a fracking well ruptured. The city's fire department called the event a serious incident. On the day the bill passed, minor earthquakes shook Dallas, possibly caused by disposal of hydraulic drilling fluid in waste disposal wells in the region.
Official studies solicited by the Texas Railroad Commission that regulates the oil and gas industry have linked earthquakes in North Texas to the disposal wells.
Advocates of HB 40, which Gov. Greg Abbott is expected to sign, said the state needed one set of laws to control drilling in the state rather than an assortment of local ordinances.
"The Texas oil and natural gas industry is the key economic driver for our state, contributing billions of dollars in annual tax revenue and supporting millions of jobs in the state," said Ed Longanecker, president of the Texas Independent Producers & Royalty Owners Association. "Our greatest priority as an industry is the need for regulatory certainty in our operations."
The TML agreed not to fight HB 40 after adjustments were made allowing local restrictions on noise, fire hazards, policing and other above-ground effects of drilling in urban areas. The league also got a note into evidence saying that fracking can damage local property values, which provide the tax base for local governments.
While the fracking issue has received the lion's share of attention, cities in Texas see threats to their authority from a variety of bills, most particularly
"Unless expressly authorized by state statute, a local government shall not implement an ordinance, rule or regulation that conflicts with or is more stringent than a state statute or rule regardless of when the state statute or rule takes effect," the bill would decree.
TML executive director Bennett Sandlin said the bill "essentially cancels home rule authority that cities have enjoyed for more than 100 years."
"City councils often step up to the plate to protect the property values, the quality of life, and even save the lives, of Texans," the TML said in opposing SB 343. "In many cases, cities have to make decisions at the neighborhood level and not every neighborhood in a state of 26 million people is the same."
So far, SB 343 has not cleared the Senate Intergovernmental Affairs Committee, but Sandlin said measures such as that can later be attached to other bills as amendments.
"We're not out of danger," Sandlin said. "You're never really out of danger."
Other measures the TML is watching include: House Bill 91 forbidding cities from regulating raw milk; two House bills and a Senate bill forbidding cities from enforcing traffic at intersections with cameras; House Bill 165 providing fines and jail time for any local police officer who attempts to enforce federal law; HB 172 forbidding bans on stun guns, knives or personal defense sprays; HB 748 forbidding cities from banning propane tanks on residential property; three bills preventing cities from banning guns on city-owned property; two bills banning cities from hiring lobbyists; HB 1442 banning ordinances on tree removal; two bills banning plastic bag ordinances; SB 1537 denying cities the right to regulate smoking in a business that gets 20% of its revenue from tobacco; and HB 4061 prohibiting regulation of firearms, among others.
Sandlin said he is hoping that state legislators will ease up on local government after passing the fracking law.
"Most of these bills aren't moving out of committee," Sandlin said. "It could be that the legislators are listening to their local officials."
