States Are Blocking Local Regulations, Often at Industry’s Behest

[TexasTowelie]

Darren Hodges, a Tea Party Republican and councilman in the windy West Texas city of Fort Stockton, is a fierce defender of his town’s decision to ban plastic bags. It was a local solution to a local problem and one, he says, city officials had a “God-given right” to make.

But the power of Fort Stockton and other cities to govern themselves is under attack in the state capital, Austin. The new Republican governor, Greg Abbott, has warned that several cities are undermining the business-friendly “Texas model” with a patchwork of ill-conceived regulations. Conservative legislators, already angered by a ban on fracking that was enacted by popular vote in the town of Denton last fall, quickly followed up with a host of bills to curtail local power.

“The truth is, Texas is being California-ized, and you may not even be noticing it,” Mr. Abbott said in a speech at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, an influential conservative think tank, just before he took office last month. “Large cities that represent about 75 percent of the population in this state are doing this to us. Unchecked overregulation by cities will turn the Texas miracle into the California nightmare.”

His salvo caught Texas cities by surprise. But pre-empting the power of local governments is becoming a standard part of the legislative playbook in many states where Republicans who control statehouses are looking to block or overturn the actions of leaders, and even voters, in municipalities that are often more liberal.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/24/us/govern-yourselves-state-lawmakers-tell-cities-but-not-too-much.html?smprod=nytcore-iphone&smid=nytcore-iphone-share&_r=0

[djean111]

1. Well, the TPP will let corporations sue states and countries and cities, etc. in a

CORPORATE court, outside of a judicial system, judges will be corporate lawyers, and the taxpayers will be told how much they have to pay a corporation for perceived lost profits, or get rid of any law or regulation that would cause them to lose profits, with no recourse. So ALEC's job will be a lot easier, because the TPP will take this sort of thing away from any legislative body, and all that messy lobbying and payoff stuff.

[DhhD]

2. Denton (and other Texas cities) being laughed at and taken advantage of, by GOP.

Son George P. Bush, 38, was elected Texas land commissioner last year, two years after helping found Fort Worth-based FracStar Logistics, providing sand for fracking. One of FracStar's managing partners is Coral Gables-based De Soto Partners, which is co-owned by Jeb Bush and 31-year-old Jeb Bush Jr. FracStar has been renamed Proforce Energy Services.

Rest of the article:
http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/stateroundup/jeb-bushs-private-investments-in-fracking-dovetail-with-public-advocacy/2218495