§ 102A.002.Liability for Certain Regulation

The cause of action, and it enforces a set of preemption statutes scattered across the codes.

Any person who has sustained an injury in fact, actual or threatened, from a municipal or county ordinance, order, or rule adopted or enforced in violation of the listed provisions — or a trade association representing the person — has standing to bring and may bring an action.

"Injury in fact, actual or threatened" is the standing test, and the inclusion of a threatened injury is what lets a business challenge an ordinance before it is enforced against them.

Giving standing to a trade association is significant. It allows the industry to litigate without exposing an individual member to the local government it must go on dealing with.

Nine provisions are listed, and they share a form. Each is a preemption clause near the front of a code — Section 1.004 of the Agriculture Code, 1.109 of the Business & Commerce Code, 1.004 of the Finance Code, 30.005 of the Insurance Code, 1.005 of the Labor Code, 229.901 of the Local Government Code, 1.003 of the Natural Resources Code, 1.004 of the Occupations Code, and 1.004 of the Property Code — plus Chapters 437, 437A and 438 of the Health and Safety Code.

Those provisions declare their fields occupied by state law, so a city ordinance regulating in them exceeds the city’s authority.

What this chapter adds is a remedy. A preemption clause without an enforcement route depends on someone being prosecuted and raising it as a defence; this lets the regulated party sue first.

The Health and Safety Code entry is the odd one out, naming whole chapters — food establishments and related public health regulation — rather than a single preemption section.