City of Dallas officials are illegally enforcing 133 city ordinances in violation of the Texas Regulatory Consistency Act and the Texas Constitution, according to allegations from the Texas Public Policy Foundation.
TPPF has released a letter to Dallas City Attorney Tammy Palomino highlighting the ordinances in question and threatening legal action if the city does not repeal or amend them.
The Texas Regulatory Consistency Act (TRCA)—referred to by critics as the “Death Star Bill”—is designed to rein in out-of-control local governments and protect Texans from tyrannical local regulations. The act was passed in 2023.
The act preempts local governments from adopting, enforcing, or maintaining ordinances related to agriculture, business and commerce, finance, labor, natural resources, occupations, and property.
TPPF’s list of ordinances reportedly drew from a list created by the City of Dallas in 2023.
“This list is generally drawn from an April 26, 2023 Memorandum from the City of Dallas to Representative Rafael Anchia on HB 2127 [the TRCA], providing a list of city ordinances that would be preempted should HB 2127 pass,” reads the letter.
“The bill did pass, was signed by Governor Abbott, and took effect on September 1, 2023,” the letter continues. “Accordingly, by the City’s admission, the ordinances listed above are preempted.”
The TRCA states that its mode of enforcement must result from private action. Any person who is injured by a local law that violates the act has standing to bring action against their local government.
TPPF’s letter was sent on behalf of three citizens and taxpayers of the City of Dallas—Haley Kyles, Daniel Rodriguez, and Tamara Brown—who are reportedly injured by the ordinances. They are represented by TPPF attorneys Matthew Chiarizio and Nathan Seltzer.
“These citizens hereby notify the City of Dallas … that the City has injured them by enforcing ordinances that are preempted by state law, in violation of the Texas Constitution,” reads the letter.
“The City of Dallas spends public funds to investigate, enforce, and monitor compliance with the listed ordinances,” the letter asserts. “Because these ordinances are preempted, these efforts and expenditures are illegal under the Texas Regulatory Consistency Act and the Texas Constitution. Accordingly, the City’s expenditures related to these illegal ordinances have injured and continue to injure these taxpayer citizens of Dallas.”
Chiarizio told Texas Scorecard that Kyles, Rodriguez, and Brown “are frustrated that their city government continues to maintain these unlawful ordinances almost two years after the TRCA took effect.”
“We are prepared to take the necessary legal action under the TRCA to protect our clients and to ensure that local governments are held accountable,” he continued.
The letter outlines precisely how this will be done.
Should the city continue enforcing these ordinances, “these citizens will bring an action under Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code § 102A.003 seeking declaratory and injunctive relief and costs and reasonable attorneys’ fees,” according to the letter.
Texas Scorecard recently reported on the Texas Third Court of Appeals’ decision that the state’s enforcement of the TRCA is constitutional.
City of Dallas spokesperson Rick Ericson told Texas Scorecard, “We have no comment due to the pending notice of claim.”
