Austin, Texas’s, Mayor Steve Adler is a politician who seems like he would be a better fit for the over-regulated and authoritarian state of California, but despite being the mayor of the heavily Democrat city of Austin, he’s still a Mayor in the heavily Republican state of Texas where Greg Abbott sits at the Governor’s desk, and Abbott isn’t allowing Adler to get away with hard-left nonsense.

Adler recently attempted to shut the city down on New Year’s Eve by issuing an order to restaurants looking to allow Austinites to celebrate the last moments of 2020 and the first moments of 2021. The order stops all dine-in services from 10:30 p.m. to 6 a.m. until January 3.

Any business in violation of this order will be fined $1,000.

When news of this got to Abbott, he made it clear that there will be no shutting down of the city. “Period.”

“This shutdown order by Austin isn’t allowed. Period. My executive order stops cities like Austin from arbitrarily shutting down businesses,” Abbott tweeted. “The city has a responsibility to enforce existing orders, not make new ones.”

This shutdown order by Austin isn't allowed. Period.

My executive order stops cities like Austin from arbitrarily shutting down businesses.

The city has a responsibility to enforce existing orders, not make new ones. https://t.co/rm00K1bQQl

— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) December 30, 2020

To make sure Abbott’s orders were followed, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton threatened the city with legal action in a letter if Adler attempts to follow through with his order. He cc’d Travis County Judge Andy Brown who extended Adler’s order to the entire county with :

Last night, you issued city and county orders enacting a four-day shutdown of dine-in food and
beverage services from 10:30 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. from December 31, 2020 through January 3, 2021. See City Order No. 20201229-024; County Judge Order 2020-24. Your orders violate Governor Abbott’s Executive Order No. GA-32. You must rescind or modify the local orders immediately or face imminent legal action from the State.

Executive Order No. GA-32 “supersede[s] any conflicting order issued by local officials in
response to the COVID-19 disaster, but only to the extent that such a local order restricts services allowed by th[e] executive order.” GA-32 at 5. Under GA-32, “[e]very business establishment in Texas shall operate” under certain protocols, but without limitations on those establishments’ hours of operation. Yet your orders shut down dine-in food and beverage services during specific dates and times. The orders “restrict[] services allowed by” GA-32 and are thus unlawful and unenforceable.

Again, you must immediately rescind or, at a minimum, modify your orders to fully comply with
GA-32. We are open to conferring with you before 12:30 p.m. today. Otherwise I, on behalf of the
State of Texas, will take legal action against you.

The Texas Restaurant Association released a statement thanking Abbott for his decision to supersede Adler’s lockdown orders in a series of tweets.

“We are very grateful to @GovAbbott and @KenPaxtonTX for defending Austin restaurants,” tweeted the TRA. “Restaurants are deeply invested within their communities, and so they continue to do all they can to prevent the spread of COVID-19, often at tremendous cost. As such, we cannot support policies that are not rooted in data and are unlikely to decrease the spread even as they further devastate the local businesses that make Austin special.”

“Closing indoor dining will not prevent holiday celebrations; it will simply move them from highly regulated businesses into completely unregulated spaces at a critical time in our COVID-19 response,” they continued. “The public is exhausted and confused, and it’s past time that our leaders stop looking for scapegoats and rally around those prevention strategies that we know work like wearing a mask, social distancing, and avoiding unregulated gatherings.”

As such, we cannot support policies that are not rooted in data and are unlikely to decrease the spread even as they further devastate the local businesses that make Austin special.

— Texas Restaurant Association (@TXRestAssoc) December 30, 2020

The public is exhausted and confused, and it’s past time that our leaders stop looking for scapegoats and rally around those prevention strategies that we know work like wearing a mask, social distancing, and avoiding unregulated gatherings.

— Texas Restaurant Association (@TXRestAssoc) December 30, 2020

Democrat leaders have been attempting to enact lockdowns. States, where they are in full control, have draconian rules that are unreasonable but more importantly, unhelpful. California’s lockdowns have only caused COVID-19 case rates to skyrocket while Texas’s case numbers are far lower.

In fact, combining the case rates of Texas and Florida still doesn’t equal the number of cases in California.

(READ: Graph Showing Difference in Case Rates Between Florida and California Is a Wake-Up Call for America)

Luckily, in Texas, authoritarians do not have full control and can be denied scratching their controlling itch.

Hopefully, it stays that way.