The Texas Public Policy Foundation’s (TPPF) General Counsel and Center for the American Future Director Robert Henneke and Center for Local Governance Director James Quintero issued the following statement on the Texas Attorney General’s Office intervening in a lawsuit filed by TPPF in June, Zaatari et. al v. City of Austin, et al., which seeks declaratory and injunctive relief from the City of Austin’s unconstitutional short-term rental (STR) ordinance:
“Plaintiffs applaud the leadership of the Texas Attorney General for intervening into this lawsuit to protect Texan's private property rights,” said Henneke. “By eliminating the ability for a property to be used as a short-term rental, the City has caused a regulatory taking to occur – not only for our clients, but for all residential property owners in Austin who might some day choose to use their property in this manner. This taking entitles property owners to just compensation, which the City’s ordinance does not provide. With this intervention, the Attorney General is standing up for the constitutional rights of Austinites burdened by the City’s unlawful ordinance.”
“Austin’s short-term rental ordinance is an affront to liberty and a danger to people’s basic constitutional rights,” said Quintero. “The city has so overstepped its authority on this issue that every Texan—irrespective of political beliefs—should welcome the chance to have this ordinance thrown out as unconstitutional.”
In June 2016, TPPF filed a lawsuit to halt the City of Austin’s short-term rental ordinance restricting property owners and guests. TPPF’s Center for the American Future, aided by the Center for Local Governance, represents individual property owners and entrepreneurs in the lawsuit, Zaatari et. al v. City of Austin, et al., which seeks declaratory and injunctive relief from the unconstitutional city ordinance.
For more information, please visit: www.austinpropertyrights.com
To schedule an interview with Mr. Henneke or Mr. Quintero, please contact Caroline Espinosa at [email protected] or 512-472-2700.
The Honorable Robert Henneke is General Counsel and Director of the Foundation’s Center for the American Future.
James Quintero is director of the Center for Local Governance at the Texas Public Policy Foundation.
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The Texas Public Policy Foundation is a non-profit, free-market research institute based in Austin, Texas.