That’s no moon…
Council members Chad West and Adam Bazaldua told The Dallas Morning News that they know of no plans as of Thursday for Dallas to get involved in the legal challenge of HB 2127, but both said they would support the city joining efforts to overturn the new law.
“I absolutely think we should,” said West, who represents North Oak Cliff. “It’s a huge overreach when we on the local level are the ones who most understand what our constituents are demanding and what they want. There’s a reason it was called the ‘Death Star’ bill.”
[…]
Whether Dallas will actually join the lawsuit is still up in the air as of Thursday. Interim City Attorney Tammy Palomino didn’t respond to a request for comment on Dallas’ plans. Catherine Cuellar, Dallas’ communications, outreach and marketing director said the city hasn’t yet settled on a plan to move forward.
“We continue to review all our options,” she said.
[…]
Council members Jaime Resendez, Tennell Atkins, Paula Blackmon and Gay Donnell Willis told The News that the City Council hasn’t been briefed on options by the city attorney’s office since Houston sued the state on July 3
arguing HB 2127 was unconstitutional and unenforceable. San Antonio joined the suit on Monday.Resendez, Atkins, Blackmon and Willis said they wanted to consult with the city attorney before publicly saying whether Dallas should join in the litigation.
“On the merits, of course I want to preserve home-rule and the rights of cities and the rights for us to conduct business,” said Blackmon, who represents parts of East Dallas including the White Rock Lake area. “But there’s more to all of this that we need to discuss.”
Council member Cara Mendelsohn declined to comment on the matter. Mayor Eric Johnson and the remaining seven city council members didn’t respond to a request for comment.
See here, here, and here for the background. You know where I stand on this, so you know what I hope Dallas decides to do. I asked Ginger about this and her take was “not gonna happen”. I hope she’s mistaken, but it would be nice to have some more impetus here. At the very least, it would be nice to hear from Mayor Johnson. If you live in Dallas, feel free to contact your Council member about this. Heck, if you live in any other city, do the same. Like I said, we need unity and a show of force. Let’s get some places off the fence.
Let me slightly amend my answer: I think the city of Dallas will join when and if it looks like the suit is going to win. But TPTB in the city have no interest in joining the suit until then. If it was the county, they’d be more likely to weigh in early.