Texas could target local control if cities ‘impede liberties’

FORT WORTH, Texas — Some Texas lawmakers are tired of city leaders taking the law into their own hands to create rules governing everything from the use of plastic bags to Uber.

The problem, many say, is that those rules create a patchwork of laws across the state — different cities have different rules governing the same things.

“Obviously we are going to work together toward good solutions,” state Sen. Konni Burton, R-Colleyville, told a crowd of around 200 gathered Tuesday for the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce’s Leaders in Government Series at the Cendera Center. “But some cities are doing things where the state (needs to) step in.

“We represent people, not necessarily institutions or cities,” she said. “A city doesn’t have unilateral rights to do what it wants . ... If a city is doing what Austin did with Uber ... you are going to see legislators step up.”

Austin city leaders created new regulations to require ride-hailing service drivers to go through fingerprints and criminal background checks, ultimately prompting Uber and Lyft to leave the city.

Already, a proposal has been filed in the Texas Legislature to put such transportation network companies under state oversight. If lawmakers approve this proposal, it would supersede any local ordinances.

The issue of local control came up during the luncheon Tuesday when Fort Worth City Councilman Jungus Jordan noted that the vast majority of Texans live in urban areas. He asked Burton and state Rep. Chris Turner, D-Grand Prairie, what the role of the Legislature would be next year in dealing with cities.

“We sort of have a chip on our shoulders,” Jordan, a former president of the Texas Municipal League, said after the biannual legislative preview. “We believe we are the government closest to our citizens ... and we want to retain the ability to represent the people closest to us.”

Burton said state lawmakers will step up to weigh in if “cities do more things that will impede liberties.”

Turner said cities and counties and the state need to work together to find solutions.

“Unless a city is trying to do something I disagree with ... I’m going to support what they want to do,” Turner said. “Strong cities make up a strong state.”

The Legislature goes back to work Jan. 10. The session ends May 29.