Attorney General Ken Paxton is asking Texas’ highest court to strike down municipal “bag bans” statewide.
Earlier today, Attorney General Ken Paxton filed an amicus brief with the Texas Supreme Court, urging the court to review the facts surrounding Laredo’s plastic bag ban and strike down the city’s regulations. If the court chooses to take up the case, its ruling could impact other municipalities, such as Austin, that have arbitrarily restricted single-use plastic bags for commercial purposes.
Laredo’s bag ban has already been deemed illegal by the Fourth Court of Appeals on the grounds that it violates state law regulating solid waste disposal. Should the Texas Supreme Court choose to hear the case and affirm the lower court’s ruling, that ruling regarding municipal bag bans would be applied statewide.
“The Legislature did not mince words when it removed the authority of Texas cities to restrict or prohibit plastic checkout bags,” Attorney General Paxton said. “That Laredo and Austin, among others, would persist in their foolhardy policy despite the statute’s clear language shows how Texas cities have grown more and more contemptuous of the rule of law. This case presents an opportunity for the Texas Supreme Court to uphold the intent of the Legislature in a ruling that could ultimately invalidate ordinances across the state.”
Municipal bag bans are just another inconvenience to arise from the bureaucratic tendency to pass petty regulations. By urging the Texas Supreme Court to hear the Laredo case, General Paxton is bringing this latest example of municipal overreach one step closer to defeat.
The full text of Paxton’s brief can be viewed here.
