Texas’ War on Local Control is Part of National Trend
Texas Observer, 8/1/2017
Local officials in Texas’ big cities are awfully isolated these days. The Texas Legislature is attacking local control with the kind of zeal it usually reserves for criminals, and the governor has even refused to meet with some urban mayors. But the fight between red states and blue cities isn’t unique to the Lone Star State…
The state’s most infamous pre-emption measure is its “sanctuary cities” ban, set to go into effect September 1, but even that legislation isn’t as unusual as Texans might think.
Three other states — Georgia, Indiana and Mississippi — all passed “sanctuary” legislation this year, and at least 21 bills were filed in states around the country, according to Michael Bare, a policy analyst with Grassroots Change, a nonprofit that tracks pre-emption legislation. They were part of at least 140 total pre-emption bills filed this year, Bare said.
National
FDA suing NYC over policy forcing some stores to display calorie info on their menus
NY1, 8/15/2017
The Food and Drug Administration is suing the city in an effort to block its policy of labeling calories in restaurants and supermarkets.
The city rule was adopted in 2015 and was set to go into effect next Monday…
The FDA says it’s in the process of setting a uniform national standard and pushed their deadline for that back to 2018.
They say they believe local governments should be stopped from adopting any rules that conflict with federal regulations.
To Pruitt EPA: See You and Your Illegal TSCA Rules in Court
NRDC, 8/14/2017
NRDC, the Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments, and Cape Fear River Watch are suing EPA to make sure it assesses chemicals as required by the revised Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA)…
Because of the new law’s “preemption” provisions, EPA will not only fail to limit potentially dangerous exposures to the chemical, but it will largely prevent state and local governments from restricting exposures to the chemical as well.
California Sues Justice Dept. Over Funding for Sanctuary Cities
The New York Times, 8/14/2017
Intensifying California’s standoff with the Trump administration over immigration policy, the California attorney general sued the Justice Department on Monday over the administration’s plans to cut off millions of dollars in federal funding to so-called sanctuary cities unless they begin cooperating with federal immigration agents.
Emanuel seeks to block feds from imposing new grant rules on sanctuary cities
Chicago Tribune, 8/11/2017