Texas lawmakers look to courts as they make new run at bag bans

[Jimbo101]

http://www.mystatesman.com/news/texas-lawmakers-look-courts-they-make-new-run-bag-bans/rag2OQD3Fi3QmVtb6t5GMP/

Two years ago, libertarian-minded lawmakers convening at the Capitol were gunning to take down bag bans enacted in cities such as Austin.

Now, after several sessions of foundering legislation, they’re hoping for relief from the courts.

At a session of a downtown Austin public policy conference on Thursday titled “The Californiazation of Texas: Plastic Bag Bans,” one of those lawmakers, state Rep. Drew Springer, R-Muenster, suggested a possible Texas Supreme Court case might provide the clearest chance for opponents of city bag bans.

The title of the session hosted by the conservative Texas Public Policy Foundation appeared inspired by a speech then-Gov.-elect Greg Abbott gave at the same policy confab in 2015.

“Texas is being Californianized and you may not even be noticing it,” Abbott had said. “It’s being done at the city level with bag bans, fracking bans, tree-cutting bans. We’re forming a patchwork quilt of bans and rules and regulations that is eroding the Texas model.”

Also see - Republican-Dominated State Legislatures Mobilize to Preempt Progressive Local Laws

http://www.truth-out.org/buzzflash/commentary/state-preemption-laws-may-prevent-progressive-action-in-gop-dominated-states