Plastic straw bans by Texas municipalities are preempted under Health and Safety Code Section 361.0961 and reinforced by HB 2127 (2023). Cities cannot prohibit or restrict food service businesses from offering single-use plastic straws to customers.
Section 361.0961 prevents Texas cities from regulating containers or packages, including disposable food service items, for solid waste purposes. While straws were not the focus of City of Laredo v. Laredo Merchants Association, the broad statutory language and HB 2127 (2023) field preemption of local commerce regulation foreclose municipal plastic straw bans, on-request distribution mandates, or material substitution requirements directed at private restaurants. Cities may set rules for their own facilities and government operations. Voluntary restaurant programs and consumer choice initiatives remain lawful. State agencies retain regulatory authority over solid waste under TCEQ.
Local straw ordinances are void and unenforceable against private businesses; HB 2127 provides for declaratory and injunctive relief and trade association standing to challenge ordinances.
Rosenberg, TX
Rosenberg adopts the 2018 International Swimming Pool and Spa Code by reference and requires a residential building permit for any swimming pool, with city r...
Rosenberg, TX
Rosenberg requires multi-family developments to install eight-foot decorative masonry walls and limits commercial perimeter property line fences to chain lin...
Rosenberg, TX
Rosenberg Sec. 1-481 prohibits fences from being built on or overhanging a property line and lets the city remove dilapidated fences at the owner's expense a...
Rosenberg, TX
Rosenberg requires a residential building permit for any fence over seven feet tall, plus contractor registration; doing fence work without the proper permit...
Rosenberg, TX
Rosenberg does not impose a flat residential fence height cap because it has no traditional zoning, but any fence taller than seven feet requires a residenti...
Rosenberg, TX
Rosenberg requires every property to keep weeds, grass, and brush under twelve inches tall, with limited exemptions for agricultural acreage.
See how Rosenberg's plastic straw rules rules stack up against other locations.
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