Texas Republican Aims To Strengthen “Death Star” Law

After Texas Republicans last session successfully passed a disputed law to undercut cities’s power to enact their own local rules, a top senator now wants to expand that policy to make it easier for the state to sue and withhold money from local governments suspected of violating the provision.

Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, was the primary sponsor of last session’s “Death Star” bill, which bars cities and counties from enacting more policies that go beyond what is expressly allowed under state law, such as mandatory sick leave for workers, eviction protections for tenants and water breaks for construction workers.

Soon after Gov. Greg Abbott signed the bill into law in 2023, the cities of Houston, San Antonio and El Paso sued the state over the policy, and a Travis County district judge ruled that the law was unconstitutional. But the state has appealed the decision, and the law remains in effect pending legal review.

On Friday, Creighton filed Senate Bill 2858, which would require that local policies also not go beyond the state’s election and penal codes, in addition to its existing leash to state finance, insurance, labor and local government codes.

The new “preemption” to be added to those two sections of code would state that “unless expressly authorized by another statute, a municipality or county may not adopt, enforce, or maintain an ordinance, order or rule regulating conduct in a field of regulation that is occupied by a provision of this code. An ordinance, order, or rule that violates this section is void, unenforceable, and inconsistent with this code.”

His bill also would give the attorney general broad power to investigate and sue local governments for straying from state law. Currently, the law only allows the state to sue once an “affected party” — a resident of the municipality in question — has sued for that same violation.

The update would remove that restriction, allowing the attorney general to conduct investigations and file suits at will, and would put the burden of proof on the local government, not the state.

And if the state sues a local government, the state comptroller would be required to withhold monthly tax remits to locals while the case is being heard, which could take months or years to litigate.

If the state suit succeeds, the city or county would not be allowed to raise taxes beyond the rate it had set over the past five years, nor would it be able to receive state grant funds, and the withheld tax revenue would be deposited into the state’s General Fund as a penalty.

But local governments wouldn’t be entitled to a penalty if the state loses its case.

Creighton, who also chairs the Senate Finance Committee, is the bill’s only sponsor. He succeeded in passing last session’s bill with help in the House from Lubbock Republican Rep. Dustin Burrows, who is now the House speaker.

But Burrows may be less eager to help pass the bill in the lower chamber this session. In 2023, his support for the policy lost him support from Democrats and gave him trouble wrangling votes, The Texan reported. This year, he was elected speaker with more votes from Democrats than Republicans, in exchange for House rules that guaranteed vice chairs for Democrats, which could make support for SB 2858 a riskier proposition. 

Oral arguments in the state’s appeal of the Travis County decision are set to begin on April 23.