One State Rule Instead of a Patchwork, Twice

Texas already barred cities from banning ordinary farming practices inside city limits or the surrounding jurisdiction. HB4163 closes two more specific loopholes cities were using anyway. A city can no longer require a farm or ranch to be formally designated under the state’s constitutional agricultural-use tax valuation as a condition of anything else, that election belongs to the landowner, not a city looking for leverage. And a city can’t force a landowner to mow, bale, shred, or hoe vegetation on the public road right-of-way next to their property, land that belongs to the government in the first place. Both protections apply to city rules whenever adopted, so no existing ordinance gets grandfathered in around them.

Texas already proved the statewide-preemption model works with rideshare in 2017. HB4215 extends the same framework to delivery apps: an annual state permit, mandatory criminal and sex-offender background checks on every driver before they can log on, an intoxication policy, and a bar on cities stacking their own local licensing or taxes on top. That’s a real safety upgrade for anyone opening their door to a delivery, replacing whatever patchwork of local screening existed before. One provision doesn’t hold up as well: if a delivery company hands driver data to a government agency under a lawful request, that agency faces zero liability for what happens to that data afterward, even if a government employee mishandles it through outright negligence. The company complying with the order deserves that protection. The government’s own negligence with the same data doesn’t need the same shield.

Both bills answer the same question the same way: should a patchwork of local rules govern something that operates the same way in every county, or should the state set one standard. Texas said one standard, twice, for two groups that rarely show up in the same sentence.

This is our read of the bills. We encourage you to read them yourself and reach your own conclusions.