Though property tax reform took multiple special sessions to resolve, the fight over Texas HB 2127, the so-called “Death Star” bill, looks likely to continue in the courts.
While much of the debate has centered on local control vs. “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 their defense, you know the histrionics are almost as heated as the Texas sun.
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 media 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 some legislation pale in comparison to the “glass of humanity” that’s already full for the vast majority of us.
Speaking from experience, that includes owners of rental properties.
This is important given the fear that “tenant protections” could also be overridden. It too often goes unacknowledged that some of these regulations come at the expense of 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. 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 a staging area for parties and whatnot, therefore impinging on their property rights.
On the other hand, rules that permit forcibly taking from one party to give to another should give lawmakers pause.
Ideally, the preponderance 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 that 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 such a sweeping law.
At the end of the day, the primary duty of government is to guard individual/property rights and free will. Right now, the state seems more likely to do that.
