{"id":3177,"date":"2015-01-27T21:45:09","date_gmt":"2015-01-27T21:45:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/?p=3177"},"modified":"2015-01-27T21:45:13","modified_gmt":"2015-01-27T21:45:13","slug":"state-vs-local-a-texas-battle-for-power-in-2015-session","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/?p=3177","title":{"rendered":"State vs. Local: A Texas Battle for Power in 2015 Session"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_3178\" style=\"width: 610px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3178\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3178\" src=\"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/gr-43951-1-1.jpg\" alt=\"The gavel came down Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2015,  to open the 2015 Texas legislature, and a battle is brewing over the ability of local governments to set their own rules. Photo: Stuart Seeger\/Flickr.\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/gr-43951-1-1.jpg 600w, https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/gr-43951-1-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/gr-43951-1-1-405x270.jpg 405w, https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/gr-43951-1-1-60x40.jpg 60w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-3178\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The gavel came down Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2015, to open the 2015 Texas legislature, and a battle is brewing over the ability of local governments to set their own rules. Photo: Stuart Seeger\/Flickr.<\/p><\/div>\n<p><em><strong>by John Michaelson\/TNS<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>AUSTIN, Texas &#8211; Lawmakers convened at the state capitol in Austin Tuesday, January 13th, for the start of the 2015 legislature. Among the issues expected to be debated in this session is state versus local authority.<\/p>\n<p>Governor-elect Greg Abbott has proposed the elimination of what he calls a \u201cpatchwork quilt\u201d of city and county bans, and rules on everything from hydraulic fracturing to tree-cutting to single-use plastic bags. Among the voices opposed is Andrew Dobbs with the Texas Campaign for the Environment.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s local governments that foot the bill on this and local governments should have the right to make changes that protect their communities,\u201d says Dobbs. \u201cWe want to make sure the legislature doesn\u2019t take that power away from them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Dobbs says another focus will be trying to preserve the contested case hearing process, which allows for challenges to pollution permits being considered by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRight now it is one of the only opportunities for an evidence-based process for protecting our land and water, and for making sure that our permits are sane and safe,\u201d says Dobbs. \u201cThere\u2019s an attempt to gut that process. We want to protect it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Other high profile issues on the agenda for the 84th Texas Legislature include border security, the state budget, taxes, and the \u201copen carry\u201d of handguns.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by John Michaelson\/TNS AUSTIN, Texas &#8211; Lawmakers convened at the state capitol in Austin Tuesday, January 13th, for the start of the 2015 legislature. Among the issues expected to be debated in this session is state versus local authority. Governor-elect Greg Abbott has proposed the elimination of what he calls a \u201cpatchwork quilt\u201d of city [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":3178,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3177","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-state"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3177","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3177"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3177\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3179,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3177\/revisions\/3179"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3178"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}