The BTN Quarterly Newsletter
Help STOP the Airbnb Immunity Bill!
Urgent Alert: Protect Our Neighborhoods from Two Dangerous Bills
The Texas Legislature is pushing forward with measures that threaten the integrity of single-family neighborhoods. Your voice is crucial in stopping these harmful bills—please take just 5-10 minutes to act this week!
What You Can Do: Act Now!
Contact members of the Texas House Calendars Committee, starting with any representative from your area. Urge them with this simple message:
"Please do not schedule HB 2767 (Airbnb Immunity/Online Global Marketplace Bill) or HB 2797 (Frat House Bill) for a vote in the Texas House.”
Below, you will find contact information for the committee members, a sample script for your message, and summaries of both bills to share with your friends and neighbors.
Why It Matters:
These bills have already cleared their respective House committees (State Affairs and Land & Resources), and the Frat House Bill has passed the full Senate. Once they clear the full Legislature, they will go to the Governor for a signature. Stopping them in the Calendars Committee is our best chance to protect our communities.
Bill Summaries:
HB 2767 - Airbnb Immunity/Online Global Marketplace Bill
This bill prevents cities from requiring accountability from platforms like Airbnb and VRBO. It allows these companies to disregard local regulations and profit from illegal short-term rentals, negatively impacting neighborhood quality of life.
HB 2797 – Frat House Bill
This legislation strips the term “single-family” from zoning laws, enabling more unrelated individuals to share homes in single-family neighborhoods. This could lead to overcrowding, frat houses, and investor-owned high-occupancy rentals infiltrating our communities. Act Now!
Members of the Calendars Committee:
Sample Call/Email Script
Subject: Please Do Not Set HB 2767 or HB 2797 for a Vote
Dear [Representative's Name] / [Staffer's Name],
I’m reaching out as a concerned Texas resident to respectfully request that you do not schedule House Bill 2767 or House Bill 2797 for a vote in the Texas House.
These bills threaten the stability and character of single-family neighborhoods in our state:
- HB 2767 allows platforms like Airbnb to bypass local regulations, promoting illegal rentals and undermining community standards and tax efforts.
- HB 2797 removes critical zoning protections by overriding local ordinances on how many unrelated individuals can occupy a single-family home, paving the way for overcrowding and disruptive high occupancy rentals.
Only local governments should determine the best ways to preserve our community’s integrity. Please help us stop these detrimental bills by keeping them off the House calendar.
Feel free to customize further as needed, and don’t hesitate to encourage your network to act quickly!
Your voice can make a real difference.
Tom DuPree - NDNA Chair