By reducing the right of localities to make their own decisions, Texas has joined dozens of other states that have asserted their dominance over cities in recent years through a practice known as state pre-emption. One watchdog group has counted more than 650 pre-emption bills in state legislatures this year; the large majority have been introduced by Republican lawmakers to curb policymaking in cities run by Democrats. But conservatives used to champion ideas like local autonomy, devolution and even block grants as a way of weakening centralized control. What’s now become clear is that Republicans dislike local control if they are not in charge of it. Restricting these ballot measures is fundamentally about depriving voters of a way to put a check on legislators, regardless of ideology.

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