Texas bills would ban camping in public spaces

TX — On Monday, the Texas Senate Committee on Local Control heard Senate Bill 987 which would establish a statewide public camping ban and impose fines and penalties for camping in a public place.

The bill was introduced by Sen. Dawn Buckingham, a Republican from Lakeway just outside of Austin.

The discussion comes as Austin leaders have been meeting in a summit to develop a new strategy to address the area’s homeless struggles. Also, in May, Austin voters will decide if they want to reinstate the city’s orders regarding a public camping ban and panhandling, by voting for or against Proposition B.

Austin Mayor Steve Adler said if SB 987 moves forward and becomes a law, Austin will fight it, saying “Austin is going to do everything it can to stop that kind of misguided action from happening”. 

“It’s just wrong. Proposition B and the State ban … because they don’t do anything. If someone doesn’t have a home, our goal should not be to give them a fine or put them in jail or to be able to scare them into the woods or the streams by threatening that,” Adler said.

Adler said the focus should be on getting people into homes and connecting them with services.

“The policies we had in the past did not work,” he said. “It may be that you didn’t see it as much because it was hidden, but the populations were continuing to grow and ultimately will overwhelm us unless we actually do something constructive.”

The mayor said he wants the community to do better.

“We don’t want people camping or tenting anywhere. We have not done as good a job of that as we should. Part of that was the COVID rules we’ve been dealing with,” Adler said. “But that’s what we need to be focusing on, getting people into housing, getting them services, getting them off our streets, not doing something that does nothing more than add a criminal penalty.”