Nearly eight months after a previous effort failed, Dallas City Council members are trying to revive the anti-worker paid sick leave mandate.
Government-mandated paid sick leave, which has resulted in more joblessness, lower wages, and reduced benefits for employees in cities where it has been enacted, was adopted by Austin last year. After the state’s capital city passed the harmful law, Working Texans for Paid Sick Time, a coalition of Planned Parenthood and AFL-CIO members, launched a failed petition drive to have Dallas also enact the policy.
Since then, Austin’s law has been tied up in court and is now temporarily halted, and the movement in Dallas seemed all but dead.
Yet this month, five sitting Dallas City councilmen have taken action to revive the harmful policy, submitting to Mayor Mike Rawlings a request to consider the sick leave item again.
The five councilmen who signed the request are:
- District 14 Councilman Philip T. Kingston
- District 6 Councilman Omar Narvaez
- District 1 Councilman Scott Griggs
- District 2 Councilman Adam Medrano
- District 7 Councilman Kevin Felder
Griggs is a current candidate for Dallas Mayor, whereas Felder was recently arrested for involvement in a hit-and-run accident.
With five members of the council signing the request, Section 6.2 of Dallas City Council’s Rules of Procedure requires Mayor Rawlings to put the item on the agenda for council to vote “at least 30 calendar days” from its receipt by the city secretary.
Sources tell Texas Scorecard the vote may occur on April 24, the same day a vote is expected on controversial reforms of the Dallas Citizens Police Review Board.
This is a developing story and will be updated as new information becomes available.
