The #KnowledgeFight #wonks enjoyed watching Judge Maya Guerra Gamble last year during the InfoWars trial (specifically Alex Jones and Free Speech Systems).
She just ruled that TX Republicans prohibition on cities from passing certain local rules is unconstitutional. This included the ban on mandated water breaks.
But #HB2127 will still go into effect.
https://www.businessinsider.com/texas-judge-death-star-bill-greg-abbott-unconstitutional-2023-8

ps: we'd love to know the backstory to the ban on shorts in her courtroom

#Texas judge rejects bill restricting cities' authority

A Texas state judge has shot down an expansive new law that would override cities’ authority to make their own laws, declaring it unconstitutional Wednesday.

House Bill 2127, which opponents have dubbed the "Death Star Bill," would prevent cities from passing & enforcing local rules in several major policy areas without state authorization. That includes matters such as #MinimumWage and worker protections.

#HB2127
https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/4180121-texas-judge-rejects-bill-restricting-cities-authority/

Ben Sargent's latest Loon Star State cartoon, from the July/August 2023 issue of Texas Observer magazine: https://www.texasobserver.org/issues/july-august-2023-abbotts-border-boondoggle/

#TexasNeedsAnObserver! Become a member and get our magazine, six times per year: https://texasobserver.org/join

#politics #news #USpol #Texas #GregAbbott #HB2127 #democracy #journalism #comics

“Big corporate lobbies do not want our #democracy to work for working people. And they don’t want any examples that can show that democracy can work for working people.”

Senior Staff Writer @gusbova digs into the #HB2127, 'Death Star' bill and finds a “a laser beam aimed at a small group of progressive ordinances improving worker and tenant protections”: https://www.texasobserver.org/death-star-hb-2127-democracy/

#news #politics #TXlege #USpol #GregAbbott #workers #labor #unions #HumanRights

by #TatyanaTandanpolie in #Salon:

"House Bill 2127 is set to go into effect on Sept. 1 after Republican Gov. Greg Abbott signed it into law on June 6... The new law restricts local governments by preventing them from passing certain ordinances if they contradict state laws in eight key areas: agriculture, finance, business and commerce, insurance, local government, labor, natural resources, property or occupations.

"In the newly filed lawsuit, lawyers representing the city argue that, in broadly pre-empting local laws, the bill violates the state Constitution, and ultimately call the measure 'hopelessly vague.' The city, thus, asks the court to make the law 'void and unenforceable.'"

https://www.salon.com/2023/07/07/seeks-to-end-new-law-signed-by-greg-abbott-banning-water-breaks-after-texas-heat-wave/

#Texas #TX #HB2127 #GregAbbott #Constitution

“A U.S. postal worker and a utility lineman both died this week in Texas from working in extreme heat. Meanwhile, Gov. Abbott just signed #HB2127 banning cities from mandating rest and water breaks . . . . Abbott reminds me of the line from Yeats’ poem “The Second Coming”: “A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun.” Under the current circumstances, that line takes on even more relevance.
https://kareem.substack.com/p/anti-abortion-states-already-killing?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email