Program host, Jason Whitely, and regular commentator, Bud Kennedy, pressed Huffines to explain why he is authoring a bill (SB343) to strip authority from local voters and shift it to state lawmakers in Austin. The non-partisan Texas Municipal League has called the Huffines bill a “centralization and consolidation of government power.”
Huffines tried to dodge the questions but ultimately acknowledged that under his bill “what the state says goes”. Here’s the clip:
Under Huffines’ bill, authority on a wide range of matters typically left to the judgment of local officials elected by local voters – from tree removal to pawn shop interest rates to local tax matters – could be removed and centralized in the hands of state officials in Austin.
Huffines ignores concerns from local GOP leaders
Some of the loudest criticism about the attempt to gut local control has come from local elected officials like the Republican mayor of Fort Worth, Betsy Price. When Huffines was asked to respond to Mayor Price’s criticism, he refused to give a straight answer saying only “I would just like to focus on other issues really too.”
Don’t look to Greg Abbott or Dan Patrick for help
Local officials shouldn’t expect any support from Governor Abbott or Lt. Governor Patrick either. In fact, just days before being sworn into office, Greg Abbott laid out his intention to shift local control to Austin.