The city of Houston said it sued the state of Texas to challenge a sweeping state law — known by opponents as the “Death Star” bill — that limits the power of municipalities to make their own rules.
Texas legislators sought to prohibit cities and counties from enforcing or creating regulations that go further than what is allowed under state laws governing labor, finance, agriculture, occupations, property and natural resources. The new law is set to take effect on Sept. 1.
But Houston claims the law violates the state constitution and could disrupt delivery of essential programs and services authorized by local ordinances, according to the lawsuit the city said it filed Monday in Travis County state court.
“It is no secret for years the legislature has been eating away at local control and governance,” Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said at a Monday news conference announcing the suit. The new law “has gone way out of bounds,” he said.
Read more: Texas Wrests Power From Local Governments With Sweeping New Law
Supporters say the law will standardize regulations across the nation’s second-most populous state and ease conditions for businesses still recovering from the pandemic. But opponents say that it is an effort to quash progressive ordinances passed in Texas’ left-leaning metro areas.
In the lawsuit, Houston’s lawyers argued the law uses “vague language so indefinite, awkward, and opaque that it fails to notify Texas cities which of their laws they may enforce or Texas businesses and residents which local laws they must obey.”
That vagueness violates state law and other legal precedent that requires “unmistakable clarity” in order to preempt local laws, as cities must know with certainty what laws may be enforced, the city said. Under the law, the question of which ordinances can be preempted will rest with the courts.
State Representative Dustin Burrows and state Senator Brandon Creighton, the Republican lawmakers who authored the law in question, did not immediately return requests for comment.
The case is Houston v. Texas, Texas District Court, Travis County.