A Republican state lawmaker is looking for to dissolve town of Austin, Texas — a jurisdiction that often elects progressive-leaning lawmakers — by laws that might flip the municipality right into a district overseen by the state authorities.
State Rep. Jared Patterson (R) introduced House Bill 714 last week (together with a constitutional modification) that might exchange the capital metropolis’s authorities with the District of Austin. Underneath Patterson’s invoice, the jurisdiction would nonetheless have elections for native leaders, however their decision-making can be topic to oversight by the state legislature and the state lieutenant governor.
The bill is viewed as being too extreme to get passed, however the submission of Patterson’s proposal is nothing new — Republican lawmakers have for years concocted similar ideas for ways to disrupt Austin’s progressive style of city management. Lately, the state legislature has clashed with town on quite a few concepts, typically passing new legislative payments to be able to punish Austin’s authorities — for instance, passing a invoice that lessened funding for cities within the state that minimize police budgets, as Austin had done in 2020.
Although it’s unlikely to move, the invoice might see larger curiosity from state legislative lawmakers, as Republicans made modest gains in the statehouse, which they already had majority management over, throughout this 12 months’s midterms. The GOP gained one seat within the state Home of Representatives, rising their majority to 86 seats (versus 64 held by Democratic lawmakers); and within the Senate, Republicans gained not less than one seat, with one other seat nonetheless but to be determined. Incumbent Gov. Greg Abbott, additionally a Republican, won reelection to his post as well in his contest in opposition to Democratic nominee Beto O’Rourke.
In a set of tweets announcing his legislation, Patterson described Austin as a “failed” metropolis with excessive taxes and crime — a standard (and exaggerated) midterm speaking level of Republicans.
Patterson’s invoice gained’t be thought-about till the state legislature reconvenes in January. Metropolis lawmakers all through the state have condemned the proposal as an try to undemocratically management individuals’s lives, even in areas the place progressive lawmakers are duly elected by the individuals.
“This brazen assault on [local control] shouldn’t be solely an try to remove the need of the voters in Austin, however is a chief instance of the waste of time and assets that happens each session,” Dallas City Councilman Adam Bazaldua said.
