GBRA Requests Opinion From AG For New Fees, Taxes To Fund Replacement, Maintenance Of Dams

Staff Report

Texas Attorney General, Ken Paxton is the lawyer for the State of Texas and is charged by the Texas Constitution to:

• defend the laws and the Constitution of the State of Texas
• represent the State in litigation
• approve public bond issues

To fulfill these responsibilities, the Office of the Attorney General serves as legal counsel to all boards and agencies of state government, issues legal opinions when requested by the Governor, heads of state agencies and other officials and agencies as provided by Texas statutes.

The Texas AG sits as an ex-officio member of state committees and commissions, and defends challenges to state laws and suits against both state agencies and individual employees of the State.

Many Texans look to the Office of the Attorney General for guidance with disputes and legal issues. The agency receives hundreds of letters, phone calls and visits each week about crime victims’ compensation, child support, abuse in nursing homes, possible consumer fraud and other topics. To find out more about the Texas Attorney General, visit the official website at https://texasattorneygeneral.gov/.

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Request for Opinion

Official Request RQ-0310-KP: Authority of the Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority to impose fees or to by election establish a taxing district to fund the replacement, operation, and maintenance of dams.

Official Requestor:
The Honorable Charles Perry
Chair, Committee on Water & Rural Affairs
Texas State Senate
Post Office Box 12068
Austin, Texas 78711-2068

AG Paxton: Dismiss the City of Austin’s Baseless Lawsuit Over Imagined Future Litigation

AUSTIN – Attorney General Ken Paxton gave this statement on today’s arguments at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit:

“I hope that the Fifth Circuit recognizes the district court’s error in allowing this case to continue despite a total lack of evidence that my agency or the Texas Workforce Commission may attempt to take action against the City for enforcing an ordinance aimed at preventing discriminatory housing practices. Not only did the City of Austin bring this case purely on speculation and the imagined threat of litigation, the City itself acknowledged that the Property Code does not provide direct enforcement authority to any particular state agency. To continue this case would be a waste of time and taxpayer dollars that could be better allocated to fighting real instances of discrimination and government overreach.” 

AG Paxton: The EPA’s Ozone Rule Would Impose Costly and Unnecessary Regulations on San Antonio

AUSTIN – Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office today argued before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit against the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) final action designating Bexar County a nonattainment area for the 2015 national ambient air quality standards for ground-level ozone.

Although Governor Greg Abbott previously designated Bexar County an attainment area for this standard, the EPA overrode that designation and now threatens to impose an unwarranted financial burden on the Texas economy with minimal, if any, public health benefit.

“The ozone rule will force costly and unnecessary regulations on Bexar County with no clear benefit to the county or state,” Attorney General Paxton said. “Texas has successfully reduced ambient ozone concentrations and nitrogen oxides for the past 18 years. Both the economy and environment in Texas are thriving, and the state will continue to thrive without the EPA’s overreaching regulations.”

EPA’s air quality designations challenged by the state affect eight Texas counties: Atascosa, Bandera, Bexar, Guadalupe, Comal, Kendall, Medina, and Wilson. Of those counties, only Bexar was designated nonattainment, an action that threatens unnecessary regulatory burdens, federal penalties, lost highway dollars, restriction on infrastructure investment, and increased costs to businesses.

Nitrogen oxides and ozone levels in Texas have both decreased over the past 18 years and Texans are breathing increasingly cleaner air.

Texas Attorney General Argues at Fifth Circuit in Defense of State Laws Protecting Women’s Health and the Unborn

AUSTIN –Attorneys from Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office today urged the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit to reverse a U.S. District Court decision enjoining a Mississippi law that generally restricts non-emergency abortions to the first 15 weeks of a woman’s pregnancy.

Mississippi enacted the Gestational Age Act in March 2018. The lone abortion clinic in Mississippi, which provides only a handful of abortions during the 15^th week of pregnancy and none after the 16^th week, immediately filed a challenge to this law. A U.S. District Court declared the law unconstitutional, despite legislative findings that at just 12 weeks an unborn baby can sense stimulation from the outside world and has developed all basic physiological functions.

“An abortion is not just another routine and victimless procedure. The Mississippi Legislature recognized this when it passed a law that accords with the beliefs of 3 out of 4 Americans who agree that abortion should be restricted after the first 12 weeks of pregnancy,” Attorney General Paxton said. “There is ample evidence that unborn babies at this stage experience pain as they are killed in their mother’s womb and that later-term abortion procedures are riskier for women. We hope that the Fifth Circuit understands the suffering that both the mother and unborn child experience without this reasonable regulation.”

In March, Texas and Louisiana filed an amicus brief in support of Mississippi’s abortion law, arguing that States have the right to protect unborn life in light of emerging evidence of fetal development and fetal pain.

AG Paxton Statement on Case Challenging Removal of Confederate Monuments at the University of Texas at Austin

AUSTIN – Attorney General Ken Paxton today gave the following statement after arguing in support of the University of Texas at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit:

“Those arguing against the removal of Confederate monuments at the University of Texas simply do not have the standing required to challenge the university’s removal or relocation of monuments on campus. The district court correctly dismissed the case, and the Fifth Circuit should affirm that decision.”

Request for Opinion

Official Request RQ-0311-KP: Authority of Optometry Board under section 351.005 of the Occupations Code over activities of licensed optometrists employed by physicians and of retailers of ophthalmic goods leasing space to physicians.

Official Requestor:
Mr. Chris Kloeris
Executive Director
Texas Optometry Board
333 Guadalupe Street, Suite 2-420
Austin, Texas 78701-3942