Texas Gov. Abbott’s legislative priorities include police funding, broadband access
Expanding broadband access, preventing cities from “defunding” police departments and election integrity are at the top of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s to-do list as lawmakers begin considering the legislation that governs Texans’ lives.
Abbott on Monday, talking from Visionary Fiber Technologies in Lockhart, laid out his priorities for the 87th Legislative Session during his State of the State address.
COVID-19 and Texas’ ongoing response were featured prominently in the half-hour speech, where Abbott acknowledged the hardships and pains brought by the virus, while presenting an optimistic outlook for the state.
“To say the pandemic is a challenge is an understatement, but to say that it has been a reversal of who we are as Texans is a misstatement,” Abbott said.
Also impacted by the virus were the logistics of the address itself, which looked different than years past when lawmakers would gather at the Texas Capitol to watch.
This time, members of the Texas Senate and House of Representatives tuned in remotely from their televisions or computer screens as Abbott spoke to them and Texans across the state.
Abbott’s priorities for Texas
During the speech, the governor named his “emergency items,” which can be passed earlier in the legislative session than other pieces of legislation.
The first item designated is the expansion of broadband access, which was met with praise from House Speaker Dade Phelan, a Beaumont Republican, and the Texas Cable Association.
“From medicine to education to business, broadband access is not a luxury,” Abbott said. “It is an essential tool that must be available for all of Texas.”
Abbott continued his calls condemning efforts to “defund the police,” a term that to many proponents means reallocating police funding for community services.
He made laws preventing cities from defunding police his second emergency item.
Abbott has clashed with cities, namely Austin, over the issue in recent months. He’s expressed support for measures that would freeze property tax revenue and remove annexation powers in cities that cut police funding.
“We’re not going to let cities in Texas follow the lead of cities like Portland and Seattle and Minneapolis,” Abbott said. “That’s crazy. We will support our law enforcement officers, not demonize and defund them.”
Abbott also made the “Damon Allen Act,” a previously filed bill named after a state trooper killed during a traffic stop, an emergency item. The bill addresses bail reform in an effort to “keep dangerous criminals off our streets.”
Abbott’s fourth emergency item is “election integrity,” though experts have said there was no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 general election.
“One thing that all of us should agree on, whether you are a Republican, a Democrat or an Independent, is that we must have trust and confidence in the outcome of our elections,” Abbott said.
Laying out his final emergency item, Abbott called for civil liability protections for “individuals, businesses and health care providers that operated safely during the pandemic.”
“Texas businesses that have operated in good faith shouldn’t have their livelihoods destroyed by frivolous lawsuits,” Abbott said.
Other priorities mentioned by Abbott include making Texas a “Second Amendment Sanctuary State,” bolstering civics education classes in Texas classrooms and addressing mental health in the face of COVID-19.
The Democratic response
Abbott’s speech was notable for what it did say as well as what went unmentioned, said Texas Rep. Chris Turner, a Grand Prairie Democrat who chairs the House Democratic Caucus, in a statement after the remarks ended.
“No mention of increasing health care access to millions of uninsured Texans, no mention of policing and criminal justice reform, no mention of gun violence in the wake of El Paso and Odessa and no relief from the STAAR test,” Turner said.
Prior to the address, Turner told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram he hoped Abbott would direct the Texas Education Agency to seek a federal waiver from the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) exam. Texas is requiring students to take the test in person despite the ongoing pandemic.
“That’s a terrible idea in light of all the challenges that students and parents and teachers are having to deal with this year,” Turner said.
Additionally he wanted to see the continued full funding of schools, irrespective of attendance figures lowered during the pandemic.
During his speech, Abbott said the lawmakers “must continue to fund education as we promised.”
Other Democratic priorities include extending health care coverage under Medicaid for new mothers to at least one year after giving birth, raising the minimum wage, and passing the “George Floyd Act.” The Act includes a number of policing reforms after the death of Floyd while in Minneapolis police custody.
The party’s priorities were laid out in a Democratic response video played after Abbott’s address.
State Sen. Carol Alvarado, a Houston Democrat, reflected on the current state of Texas in the video.
“I wish I could tell you that the state of our state is strong and working for all Texans, but the sad truth is, it’s not,” Alvarado said.
This story was originally published February 1, 2021 at 9:36 PM.
