San Antonio Homeowners Association Lawyer Trey Wilson wrote:
Over the years, I have received many inquiries from Texas property owners questioning the legality of restrictive covenants prohibiting the display of flags. A surpising number of these types of restrictions exist even here, in Military City, USA (also known as San Antonio, Texas).
In some absurd cases, I have written posts on this blog about HOA Boards that have asked for removal of patriotic, or other non-controversial flags. In one unfortunate instance that I called "Absurdity in Dallas," a north Texas homeowners association demanded that a retired Marine and Viet-Nam vet remove the "Semper Fi" stickers from his vehicle. You can imagine his response, and the firestorm sparked amongst Jarheads, Leathernecks and Devil Dogs everywhere (Once a Marine, ALWAYS a Marine)!
As dumb/stupid/assinine as it sounds, such covenants were historically legal property restrictions in Texas until recently. However, that all changed on June 17, 201, when Governor Perry signed HB 2779 into law.
That legislation -- which is now part of Chapter 202 of the Texas Property Code -- prohibits an HOA from adopting or enforcing any restriction that prohibits an Owner from displaying:
(1) the flag of the United States of America;
(2) the flag of the State of Texas; or
(3) an official or replica flag of any branch of the United States armed forces.
Of course, there are some limitations, but one thing remains true in Texas -- Don't "mess" with our flags or our military!
God Bless Texas, and our troops!
