ABBOTT SETS LEGISLATIVE AGENDA
Under state law, the governor gets to set priorities for the Legislature. Here are the five items Republican Gov. Greg Abbott outlined Monday in his State of the State address:
1) Police funding
Abbott is critical of any efforts to cut law enforcement budgets, calling for punishments to municipalities that do. Ideas he has floated include withholding their sales tax revenue, denying them annexation powers or taking over their police departments entirely.
Last summer, the Austin City Council voted to reduce some funding from its police budget and restructure other financial streams
amid nationwide protests over police brutality. The move became a rallying cry for Republicans heading into the November election, while Democrats pushed for reforms to root out structural racism in policing. Democrats in Texas have generally said they do not favor “defunding” the police, and Austin had the highest per capita police budget of any major city in Texas heading into last year’s cuts.
2) Bail reform
The governor is taking another swing at legislation aimed at reforming the state’s bail system, calling for stricter limits on violent offenders while declining to endorse additional measures aimed at reducing the number of people in jail simply because they can’t afford to get out. Similar legislation passed the House last session but died in the Senate.
Last week, Abbott acknowledged the financial inequalities that target poor, nonviolent defendants but said his focus is on prohibiting violent offenders from harming others, particularly law enforcement, while out on bail. That would include making sure judges who set bail have access to their defendants’ full criminal records, implementing a statewide case management system to improve access to information at bail hearings, and limiting which arbitrators get to set bail.
3) Internet connectivity
The pandemic has highlighted wide disparities in access to high-speed internet,
and Abbott has called for legislative intervention. More than 800,000 rural Texans are estimated to lack adequate broadband infrastructure, and they tend to be poor, elderly, non-native English speakers or live outside major cities.
The problem is in part that it’s too expensive for service providers to build broadband infrastructure in rural areas, leaving residents with unreliable satellite connections.
In 2019, the Legislature created a council to study the issue, and the state has worked with education officials during the pandemic to create hot spots for students in communities with limited access. But the council was never tasked with developing an actual plan, and lawmakers have since urged the governor to establish a timeline for developing one, with clear goals.
4) COVID lawsuit limits
The governor has pushed hard for businesses to remain open throughout the pandemic, rolling back early restrictions and allowing restaurants and many bars to remain open even during infection surges. Now he wants the Legislature to ensure those businesses don’t get sued if their employees or customers contract the virus on site.
Abbott has argued that businesses know what precautions to take to limit the spread of the coronavirus and shouldn’t be punished if they have done everything they can to limit exposure. Republicans in Congress have spent months trying to pass similar civil liability protections but have so far failed.
5) Election integrity
Calling for more safeguards on the integrity of Texas elections, Abbott left no doubt that he’ll push for more restrictions on voting of the sort that have been proposed by Republican lawmakers.
Texas is already known for its strict voting laws and is one of 16 states that require voters to have an excuse to vote by mail. Republican bills include measures to further tighten mail voting restrictions and stop governors from changing election laws during disasters, addressing two concerns that former President Donald Trump raised in his challenges of election results.