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Tesla Will Have to Ship Its Texas-Built Cars Out of State to Sell Back to Texans (thedrive.com)
31 points by belltaco on May 29, 2021 | hide | past | favorite | 22 comments



> There are workarounds, some detailed on forums within Tesla’s own website. The company has more than a dozen Texas “galleries,” where cars can be viewed and described—though staffers may not discuss prices.

Sounds like that chills speech and expression

I think I found a way to change the law guys


First Amendment protection of commercial "speech" is weaker than that for political speech or artistic expression.


Just hasn’t been challenged enough.

Every case expanding commercial speech protections was about some silly state law being challenged in Federal courts, with the court acting as a supreme legislature that Congress wouldn’t dare to do (because Congress derives its power from cohesion of the states, whereas the courts do not and reach the Supreme Court).


What kind of ridiculous government meets this infrequently? How is this considered to be in the interest of the public and democratic?

January to May every other year seems insane.


The idea is that legislating should not be a full time job. So legislators meet every couple of years and consider how existing law has worked for the people of the state and then change the laws as needed. The governor can call a special session if something pressing needs to be addressed.

I think it is a good system, we see the effects of politicking being a profession in DC, also when you're spending all your time making laws you tend to make too many of them. Texas isn't perfect and has a few unjust or otherwise inappropriate laws, but their system works for them and the hundreds of thousands of other people who move there every year.


It's a bad system imo.

State house reps only make 7200 a year. Which means legislators need other income. And they also need 6 months off every two years. The only people I know that can do that are extremely wealthy.


Well, you can disagree with it if you want, but look at the results. They seem to be happy with it, and I do like the idea that making laws should not be a full time job.

What sort of system do you think makes more sense?


Results of what? Texas isn't some magical place that works better than any other large state. And you could make the argument that it can be worse than other states. For example, hurricane Harvey brought on major flooding in 2017. It took them two years to come up with something to try and help (prop 8 2019) because they aren't there working.


The standard of living in Texas is higher than the national average, the rate of poverty is lower, the cost of housing is lower, the tax burden on lower incomes is lower, the infrastructure quality is higher than most states, the cost of that infrastructure is lower. I can find you a plethora of ways in which Texas is better functioning as a state than comparable size economies as well as national average, and I can find you ways in which it isn't also that probably need attention, but you want to see the real result of the differences in the way the state is run, look at interstate migration patterns.


Texas ranks 37th in Poverty Rate at 16.0%(poverty rankings by state). The Poverty Rate of Texas is slightly higher than the national average of 14.6

Texas has one of the lowest literacy rates

Approximately 5.2 million Texans were uninsured last year, or about 18.4 percent of the state's population. That's double the national average of 9.2 percent.

The 2021 Report Card resulted in a Texas GPA of a “C”. It graded 12 individual categories of infrastructure. Energy received the highest grade earning a “B+,” yet the wastewater and levee networks need additional support having both been graded a “D.”

So I'm not really seeing the greatness despite more people moving here.


I haven't made 7200 in the last year or worked at all, and I'm poor af as result :)


What kind of ridiculous corrupt government passes laws that prevent manufacturers of goods selling those goods to the general public (including the local workers themselves who made the damn things)?


I'm guessing this is intended to make legislators more in touch with their communities. But it also makes them less professional.


Texas had a really bad governor a long time ago. So they made these stupid rules and regulations to try and prevent gov from becoming too powerful again.

for example, state house reps make $7,200 per year. So the people that run seem to be rich enough to take 6 months off from the jobs every two years. (and more if there are special sessions)


They should partner with local embassies who would get free publicity for helping show america how to have a free(er) market.

Tesla’s go to x-istan across the street, have public ceremony, then it drives out getting sold. ha


This sounds like a great application for self driving cards at robot power charging stations. Have the car drive itself out of state & back in!


They should turn the Tesla showrooms into Gun shops, then they won’t have any issues


"Tesla sure would appreciate changing the law, so that this is not required!"

-Elon Musk in the tweet linked in the article

Quite disingenuous. Certainly it's not required. Tesla could still sell through dealers of course.


I hate dealers so much I am happy that they are taking a stand against them.

No reason why I should pay a premium to have a lousy experience with some guy trying to sell extras and jack up the price before signature. A lot of them a straight up predatory on poor people as well so if their industry could disappear overnight I would not mind.


Oh yea. Sitting in a waiting room for hours drinking shitty coffee while the guy you are talking to goes "in the back" to talk to his manager to see if he can "work out a deal" on the car you want to buy. Wonderful experience! 10/10!


The More Laws, The Less Justice.


The legislature spent the whole season enacting religious, right-wing culture stuff.




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