Freedom Where You Can Get It – Texas House Bill 2127
Though the property tax reform standoff took multiple special sessions to resolve, the fight over Texas HB 2127, the childishly nicknamed “Death Star” bill, looks likely to continue in the courts now that San Antonio has joined Houston in suing the state.
This is the legislation that prevents local laws from imposing more burdensome rules in areas such as labor, insurance and finance than state codes allow, or already do.
While much of the debate has centered on local control, or “regulatory consistency” for businesses statewide, rarely addressed is the potential impact on individual rights. Judging by all the teeth-gnashing, it might be positive.
Perhaps given the season, the main ordinances we hear are at risk of getting tossed out are water break mandates. Austin and Dallas require 10-minutes every four hours for construction workers.
When the Texas high school football version of “what about the children” is invoked in defense of those laws, you know the histrionics are almost as heated as the Texas summer sun.
Once football season started, the only thing quicker out to the practice field than my teammates and me back in the 1980s were the ‘camels’; wagons toting huge jugs of water. Yet, some in the press find it “amazing more … players didn’t die” when coaches ran players “ragged” in this “not-too distant era.”
It’s not a stretch to say however, that coaches don’t want heat-related injuries, or deaths, on their conscience. Same goes for construction companies.
Simply because something isn’t required by government doesn’t mean it won’t happen. The good intentions behind most legislation pale in comparison to the “glass of humanity” that is already full for the vast majority of us.
That includes owners of rental properties, which should be made plain given the fear that municipal “tenant protections” could also be overridden. It too often goes unacknowledged that some of these regulations come at the expense landlords’ property rights.
For those not inclined to empathize with someone with the word “lord” in their title, it’s worth noting that such rules also decrease the supply of housing, which in-turn drives up rents. And this is nothing government can fix without making it worse instead.
As for all the confusion local officials seem to have about the vagueness in the law, when in doubt, just don’t.
For example, noise ordinances can be justified on the grounds that excessively loud music could cause hearing damage for residential neighbors. It might also prevent them from using their home as they wish, therefore impinging on their property rights.
On the other hand, laws that permit forcibly taking from one party to give to another should give lawmakers pause.
Ideally, the vast majority of governance should take place locally. A councilman is much easier to get a hold of than one’s congressman. And city hall is a much more manageable trek to air your grievances than is going to Austin.
But whether they’re suppressing minority-owned small businesses under the guise of “animal welfare,” or telling citizens their “values” are partially defined as depriving each other’s rights, local politicians have every bit the urge to control and micromanage our lives as their state and national brethren.
We saw this in brutal fashion with the lockdowns of recent years, which ironically enough, might have been the impetus for this sweeping law.
The primary duty of government is to guard individual/property rights and free will. Right now, the state seems more likely to do that.
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Contact your councilman and urge them to simply take a long, hard look at each ordinance/policy proposal. If there is any hint that it would obstruct voluntary cooperation between citizens, or restrict the actions of someone that are harming no one else, tell them to vote no.
And if in doubt, simply vote no.