WACO, Texas — As September inches closer, so does the start of new legislation passed earlier this year. That includes the controversial "Death Star Bill" or HB 2127.
The bill was filed in February by Congressman Dustin Burrows. It claimed local governments "have led to a patch work of regulations that apply inconsistently across this state."
The bill was introduced to create "state-wide consistency" when it comes to rules and regulations, but it faced some backlash from the beginning.
Temple's City Manager Brynn Myers spoke to 25 News in May when it first passed. She said it was "not a bill we were excited to see pass."
"If there was more clarity in the bill, we would be able to reduce the number of lawsuits we're expecting to come because we don't know what's in and what's out, what's allowed and what's not allowed," Myers said.
"It's just going to get tied up in the court system and is going to be expensive for all of us."
Those lawsuits are now coming forward.
The city of Waco is joining Arlington, Denton, and Plano by throwing its support behind a lawsuit to block the bill filed by the cities of Houston, San Antonio and El Paso.
In a letter to the court, the cities wrote "local governments are the governments closest to the people and therefore have the best understanding of the needs of their communities."
"It calls into question a lot of different types of ordinances," Ashley Nystrom with the City of Waco told 25 News earlier this year.
"We have payday lending ordinances, or game room legislation that we got the authority from the state to have those ordinances. There's another question about if cities will even be able to regulate high grass or weeds, nuisance type ordinances."
This law is expected to go into effect on Friday, September first along with everything else passed this legislative session.
