It was mere hours after the Austin City Council voted to pass an ordinance mandating private employees receive compensation when they’re sick, that Texas GOP legislators, on their continued hypocritical crusade against local control, sounded their alarms. Rep. Paul Workman, R-Austin, held a press conference at the Capitol on the day after the vote to admonish the “liberal” Council for “declaring war” on small businesses, and for “trampling on the rights of citizens.” Never mind that the governing body that passed the measure is democratically elected by the citizens of Austin …
Workman promised to file a bill on the first day of the 2019 Lege session that would do away with the local ordinance. He said the legislation would have “no problem” passing the House and claims to have several supporters in the Senate, as well. Count Sen. Donna Campbell, R-New Braunfels, among them. She posted on Twitter that she’s “fully prepared” to pass statewide legislation to “stop Austin’s intrusion into the private sector and protect small businesses in Texas.”
Workman and Campbell’s attacks on Austin ordinances are part of a larger war on progressive municipalities from the Lege, which hit an unprecedented zenith last session (“Departing From Local Control,” June 16, 2017). But while Workman voiced confidence in getting the anti-sick-pay measure passed, he failed at pushing through a bill last session that would have repealed Austin’s Fair Chance Hiring ordinance; that bill (HB 577) didn’t see a House vote. Workman has vowed to bring that one back to the table next session, as well.
This article appears in February 23 • 2018.