The state’s highest civil court has ruled that Laredo’s ban on plastic bags violates state law.

This article by Emma Platoff appeared in the Texas Tribune, June 22nd, 2018.

Brief commentary by Community Rights US Media Team member Curt Hubatch: One sentence in the last paragraph of this article caught my attention and really spoke to me. It was by Luke Metzger, the executive director of Environment Texas. It reads, “Nothing we use for five minutes should pollute our environment for hundreds of years.” He was, of course, speaking about plastic bags.” If We The People are ever going to exercise our political will and act as if our communities are laboratories for democracy and sustainability the legal doctrine of state preemption will have to be directly challenged. Not allowing local governments to expand on existing state and federal rights, regulations and protections through local law making is undemocratic, and stands in the way of creating a new system of law the works for people and the planet. Over 200 communities across the United States have exercised their inalienable right to self-government and passed local ordinances and Community Bills of Rights that nullify state preemption and other undemocratic legal doctrines. The Community Rights strategy just may be the last ONLY remaining strategy that local governments have to push back on state preemption.

The Texas Supreme Court handed a loss to local government on Friday, striking down a Laredo ban on plastic bags. The decision imperils about a dozen other cities’ bans across the state.

In a decision viewed as one of the court’s most highly politicized of the term, justices ruled unanimously that a state law on solid waste disposal pre-empted the local ordinance. That decision drew immediate responses from both sides of the aisle, with high praise from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican who had weighed in against the bans, and condemnation from environmental groups, which had argued the ban kept at bay the harsh environmental damage brought by plastics.

The court’s ruling resolves a long-standing question over whether local governments may impose such bans, as cities including Austin, Fort Stockton and Port Aransas have in recent years. Friday’s unanimous holding makes those bans unenforceable as well and likely tosses the issue over to the Texas Legislature for debate. MORE…