2021 Legislation to Preempt Local Climate Policy

Policy Overview

In March 2021, the state of Texas introduced three pieces of legislation that would preempt local climate and energy policy. These bills replicated efforts in other states, including Arizona and Tennessee, that began in 2020 as part of a larger, coordinated movement to counter the electrification movement taking hold in cities in California, Massachusetts, and the Pacific Northwest. While the exact wording of the introduced bills varied slightly, they shared the common aspect of giving the state authority over local regulations. All three bills are brief and under two pages long. One of them, House Bill 17, passed in May 2021 and successfully prohibited local authorities from restricting energy and infrastructure based on the type of energy source.

Senate Bill 1261 was introduced in March 2021 and did not pass in the Texas Legislature. It proposed to codify that the state of Texas has exclusive jurisdiction over the regulation of greenhouse (GHG) emissions, such that the state would have the authority to preempt local policies on such matters. As introduced, the legislation stated that “a municipality or other political subdivision may not enact or enforce an ordinance or other measure that directly or indirectly regulates greenhouse gas emissions.”

House Bill 1501 was introduced in March 2021, with the stated intent of restricting sub-state governmental entities from banning the use of fossil gas or propane in residential and commercial buildings. It did not pass.

House Bill 17 was introduced in March 2021 and signed into law by the Governor in May 2021. HB17 outlawed municipalities’ ability to ban or limit utility services and the construction of buildings or infrastructure based on the type of energy source. Similarly, it restricted additional charges on infrastructure based on energy sources. However, the bill maintained the ability of local authorities to choose their own utility services for their own properties.