Dallas mayor: Confederate monuments bill 'another example' of state interference in city affairs

AUSTIN — A North Texas lawmaker wants cities to find another way to foot the bill for removing their Confederate monuments.

Pat Fallon, a Prosper Republican who will be sworn into the Texas Senate in January, filed Senate Bill 226 on Friday. The legislation would prohibit the use of taxpayer money to remove, relocate or alter any statue, portrait, plaque, seal or symbol or to rename any building, bridge, park, area or street "that honors an event or person of historical significance."

While the bill would apply to nearly any historical marker, Fallon said he was spurred to file it after the city of Dallas removed a statue of Robert E. Lee from a park in Oak Lawn last year. The city also renamed Lee Park with its pre-1936 moniker: Oak Lawn Park.

The changes, which were approved by the City Council, were estimated to cost at least $450,000.

Read more: https://www.dallasnews.com/news/texas-legislature/2018/12/11/prosper-republicans-bill-wouldlimit-power-texas-cities-remove-confederate-memorials