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AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas Senate has approved a preemption bill colloquially labeled the "Death Star Bill" that largely turns local control in several jurisdictions over to the state government. It could head to Governor Greg Abbott's desk as soon as this week.

House Bill 2127 has garnered significant attention this session for its preemption provisions. In governmental terms, "preemption" involves a higher government authority, in this case, the state, limiting or stripping the authority of local governments.

Across the state, local governments have operated under the precedent that cities, particularly what are known as "home rule" cities, have significant oversight over themselves, particularly if the state or federal government does not have contrasting ordinances.

When the bill was taken up for debate on Monday, Senator Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, who sponsors the bill, acknowledged that the legislation "changes that interpretation of the Texas constitution," when asked by Sen. Sarah Eckhardt, D-Austin.

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Supporters of the legislation, which was originally authored in the House by Rep. Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, have called for a need for regulatory consistency across the state for business owners to be able to functionally operate anywhere in Texas without fear of legal gray areas in local ordinances.

"We’ve never seen cities step into the realms that they have been stepping into," Annie Spilman, the Texas director of the National Federation of Independent Business, or NFIB, told CBS Austin. "About 99.9% of what cities and counties have done, they will continue to retain."

The bill would effectively block cities from enacting ordinances within the agricultural, business and commerce, finance, insurance, labor, local government, natural resources, occupations, or property codes, ensuring that each of those codes would fall under the state government's jurisdictions in order to maintain consistency.

At different moments during the bill's path, lawmakers have specifically named progressive-leaning city governments, like Austin, as causes for enacting the legislation. On Tuesday, ahead of the bill's passage, Austin CM Vanessa Fuentes called the legislation "a wolf in sheep's clothing" on social media, writing "It’s disguised as a measure for consistency when, in reality, it seeks to undermine local governance."

They keep saying all we’re doing is clarifying is an existing practice here, I don’t believe that’s true," Adrian Shelley, the Texas office director of Public Citizen, a progressive advocacy organization, told CBS Austin. "I think we’re up-ending more than a century of precedent, I think that we are creating a whole lot of ambiguity, and I think very quickly we’re going to see a significant number of lawsuits.”

HB 2127 was passed out of each chamber of the Texas legislature, largely along party lines. The bill needs one final vote from the House of Representatives before it heads to Governor Greg Abbott's desk for approval.

Sophie Marie (@soph4president), a third-grade teacher in Austin, Texas, recently came under fire for certain ways she conducts her class. Her attire was also a point of contention.

“you’d think I was teaching way out west but this is downtown Austin…,” she writes.

“OK, so today I got pulled into a ‘check-in meeting’ with my administrator at school, and she had this lovely list of concerns that she wanted to bring to my attention,” Sophie explains in the video.

Included in the list is the concern that Sophie is “intentionally” teaching her third-grade students about their rights.

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“But my favorite amongst them is, ‘We’ve noticed an intentional attempt at teaching your students about their legal and constitutional rights.’ That’s the concern,” she reveals. “Why are you concerned? Why is that a concern? Why does that concern you?”

Sophie, who is “queer until proven straight,” is outspoken about human rights on her social media platforms. She covers a plethora of current events, including the Queer Capitol March and Texas legislation.

“I have no other choice but to be political. life is depending on it,” reads her Instagram bio. “unwilling to die for the dow. abortion advocate.”

“I’m concerned that they find that concerning”

Commenters are equally upset that the notion of teaching young students about their own rights is seen as threatening. Others are unsurprised by this behavior, especially given that it’s taking place in the state of Texas.

“It’s such a mystery why there is a teacher shortage,” one user wrote sarcastically.

“Former Texas teacher here. This is why I can’t anymore,” a fellow teacher declared. “Also, leaving Texas this summer.”

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“Are you not allowed to read Harry Potter to your students? My 3rd grade teacher Mrs. Papish read us HP & I fell in love with reading,” someone asked, referencing Sophie’s administrator’s questioning of the book series’ relevance to “grade level lesson plans.”

“I 100% wanna know what bs they had to say about your clothes too lol,” another TikTok user wrote regarding the write-up about Sophie’s “dress code” violation.

Despite Sophie’s best efforts, it seems the educational system in Texas views her integrity as a threat to the development of their youth. In actuality, however, educators like Sophie deserve an even greater platform — and stifling their practices feels dangerously ill-advised.

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AUSTIN (KXAN) – The City of Austin found itself in the unusual spot of being outside of the top ten in a national ranking this week.

The U.S. News and World Report 2023-24 survey of Best Places To Live ranks Austin as No. 40 in the nation.

The survey ranked Austin No. 13 in 2022, no. 5 in 2021, no. 3 in 2020.

According to Austin Business Journal, U.S. News ranked Austin No. 1 in the nation 2017, 2018 and 2019 and No. 2 in the nation in 2016.

The good news for Austin is that the city still ranked No. 1 in terms of cities in Texas.

U.S. News and World Report said on its website, “to make the top of the list, a place had to have good value, be a desirable place to live, have a strong job market and a high quality of life.”

Top 10 places to live in the U.S., according to U.S. News and World Report 2023 survey

Top 10 places to live in Texas, according to U.S. News and World Report 2023 survey

Although U.S. News did not say why Austin was ranked so low in the 2023 survey, in 2021 it said a rising cost of living was a factor in why Austin fell to no. 5 in that’s year survey.

On Wednesday, city leaders sat in on a summit to explore how to make things better for everyone.

To know Austin is to love it. However, for those who grew up here, there’s no denying, it’s changing.

“It’s pretty sad,” long-time Austinite, Joseph Quinn said. “I love the city, but it’s just getting kind of expensive.”

Quinn is a chef on the East Side. He said he might possibly move to Houston, because it’s more affordable.

Others like Shay Ryan, a barber was pushed out of city limits.

“My wife and I just just had a baby, and we couldn’t afford to buy here, So we moved out to Lockhart.”

According to the U.S. News site, it scores cities on several categories. Affordability holds most of the weight when deciding where a city lands on the list.

“That’s one of the reasons we have to be relentless about it,” Austin Mayor Kirk Watson said.

The mayor at an affordability summit Wednesday, said the city is working to make it better.He said one big issue to tackle is development laws.

“McKinsey Consulting…they’ve come in, and they’ve agreed to look at our site plan process…so that it doesn’t take so long and the time value of money doesn’t add to the cost of what’s being built,” Watson said.

Pricilla Hanson, a realtor with Moreland Properties said there are a combination of problems leading to affordability issues in Austin.

“I think that the city really needs to take a look at all of their, their cost structure even to set up utilities for someone that’s renting,” Hanson said. “I would love to understand why city of Austin is so much higher to do development costs than any other city in Texas.”

Questions that need solutions, fast, before the city so many love fizzles out.

Georgetown, Leander and Kyle took three of the top five spots as fastest growing large cities in the U.S.

AUSTIN, Texas — The numbers are out from the U.S. Census Bureau, and Central Texas has several cities that stand out.

According to new census data, Austin is now the 10th most populous city in the U.S., with a population just shy of 1 million people.

For now, Austin remains the fourth-largest city in Texas, trailing Houston (2.3 million), San Antonio (1.5 million) and Dallas (1.3 million). Austin also sits just three spots ahead of Fort Worth nationally.

Below is the full list of the most populous cities and their population numbers, following New York and Los Angeles:

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Austin isn't the only Central Texas city getting recognition. New census data also showed the fastest growing cities. Topping the chart was Georgetown, with Kyle and Leander also in the top five.

Georgetown reported a 14.4% year-over-year (YOY) growth, and Kyle and Leader each reported 10.9% YOY growth. Round Rock was listed at 86th on the report with 2.1% YOY growth.

Credit: U.S. Census Bureau

“Job growth in Georgetown and across the Austin metro continues to bring new residents to our city,” Georgetown Mayor Josh Schroeder said. “People are moving here for the same reasons that brought many of us to Georgetown – wonderful and safe neighborhoods, fantastic parks and events, and welcoming people. We continue to adjust our plans and build new infrastructure to maintain the great quality of life for all of us who are proud to call Georgetown our home.”

Georgetown has been in the top 10 fastest-growing cities since 2015 and topped the list in 2016 and 2022.

Overall, the Austin metro moved up to 26th place from 28th, with 2.42 million people according to the Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), moving up two spots passing Sacramento and Pittsburgh.

The Lone Star State is also the only state to have nine cities listed among the 15 fastest-growing largest cities and the most populous cities.

The census report also showed that the housing stock also grew by about 1.6 million units. Two Texas counties are among five counties with the largest numeric gains in housing units between July 1, 2021, and July 1, 2022. Travis County reported 27,927 units and Harris County reported 32,694 units.

Read the full report.

Boomtown is KVUE's series covering the explosive growth in Central Texas. For more Boomtown stories, head to KVUE.com/Boomtown.

AUSTIN (KXAN) — A Pre-K teacher at Wayside Schools in Austin was arrested Monday night on charges of possession of child pornography, according to Travis County records.

Records showed that 33-year-old Irving Perez was arrested by the Texas Department of Public Safety.

KXAN reached out to Wayside Schools for comment. The school confirmed the arrest of the teacher and said the arrest was made offsite.

“Parents in this classroom were personally notified [Wednesday,]” the school said.

The school said it was notified of a DPS investigation into Perez Monday afternoon.

“We pressed DPS for more details, as Mr. Perez was on duty and actively working. As more details could not be provided, Wayside Leadership made the decision to immediately escort the staff member off campus and to place him on administrative leave as our primary interest is always the safety of our scholars,” the school said.

According to an arrest affidavit, an account was flagged by Instagram in July 2022 and reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which then sent a cyber tip to authorities.

Records show Perez was linked to the account with the assistance of the DPS Intelligence and Counterterrorism Division analysts.

In the files included in the tip, officials found that Perez sent a video file containing child pornography to another Instagram user.

After obtaining a search warrant for the Instagram account linked to Perez, officials also found he used the platform to obtain child pornography materials in October 2022, according to the affidavit.

As of Wednesday, Travis County jail records listed Perez in its system on possession of child pornography charges under a $20,000 bond.

“This is an active investigation and DPS has shared very little with us at this time but has stressed that this incident did not occur at our school and does not involve any students at our school,” a representative from Wayside Schools said.