The Texas legislature is currently considering reforms to its valid petition law. Valid petitions are an obscure zoning procedure that have been used to try to obstruct a Dallas hospital expansion, student housing in Bryan, and Habitat for Humanity houses in Austin. The law has come under scrutiny as a potential contributor to the scarcity of housing—and thus its high cost. Legislators ought to either reform the valid petition process to be less onerous and more democratic or do away with i...
