Don't Californianize Texas, Lawmaker Says
DALLAS (CN) - Bans on single-use paper and plastic bags in Austin and Dallas are "Californianizing" Texas, says a lawmaker who filed a bill to prohibit such bans.
State Rep. Matt Rinaldi, R-Irving, filed House Bill 1939 on Feb. 25. It would allow businesses to provide customers with bags or containers "made from any material" at the point of sale.
"An ordinance or regulation adopted by a municipality purporting to restrict or prohibit a business from, require a business to charge a customer for, or tax or impose penalties on a business for providing to a customer at the point of sale a bag or other container made from any material is invalid and has no effect," the bill states.
Rinaldi said he filed the bill to repeal bans "like those enacted by Dallas and Austin, which erode consumer choice and the rights of business-owners."
"Gov. [Greg] Abbott warned that 'Texas is being Californianized and you may not even be noticing it," Rinaldi posted on his Facebook account. "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. I agree."
http://www.courthousenews.com/2015/03/02/dont-californianize-texas-lawmaker-says.htm
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