Texans tired of municipal micromanagement enjoyed some good news last week.
On Thursday, Attorney General Ken Paxton announced that his office had “dismissed a lawsuit against Brownsville after the city formally repealed its illegal sales tax on plastic bags.” The city’s plastic bag ordinance has been at the center of a brewing controversy over the rule of law. Many including the AG and the Texas Public Policy Foundation have suggested that municipal plastic bag bans and bag fees, like Brownsville’s, violate various provisions of the Texas Tax Code and the Health and Safety Code.
But while the battle over Brownsville’s plastic bag fee may be over, the war against plastic bag bans and the California-zation of Texas is likely about to escalate. That’s because the Texas Supreme Court is expected to decide sometime soon on taking up a case involving Laredo’s now defunct plastic bag ban. If the Court grants review to the case—something the Texas Public Policy Foundation urged in this Amicus Brief—and affirms the Fourth Court of Appeals’ decision, then it could well have statewide implications.
So it’s not so far-fetched to think that, sometime soon, we could perhaps see a Lone Star State rid of these nanny state policies.