State of the State

Abbott to deliver address tonight from curious venue

Last week, the nation tuned in to see President Joe Biden deliver his State of the Union address.

Tonight, Texans can hear Gov. Greg Abbott talk about his plans for the future of the Lone Star State.

Abbott will deliver his State of the State address tonight at 7 p.m. And it’s going to be a bit different this year.

The speech is traditionally given every two years at the State Capitol to a joint session of both houses of the Legislature. It was moved to Lockhart in 2021 because of COVID-19.

The need for masks and social distancing has passed, we are assured by many elected officials. Indeed, some insist they were never needed at all. So is the State of the State back in Austin?

No. Abbott will deliver tonight’s address from a private company’s headquarters, Noveon Magnetics Corp. near San Marcos. The company makes magnets for the generation of electricity.

Why there? We don’t know. But in a governor’s office memo obtained by USA Today, attendees were told they would have to sign non-disclosure agreements and surrender their cell phones before entering the building.

And the only media allowed would be TV crews broadcasting and livestreaming the speech. No other reporters.

The governor’s office blamed the stepped-up security requirements on Noveon. Noveon said it was all about national security and fear of corporate espionage. The NDA was later dropped, but the cell phone ban and media restrictions remain.

With these “security precautions,” shall we say, Noveon doesn’t sound like an ideal location for the governor to get the word out to lawmakers or to the citizens of the Lone Star State.

But surely Abbott had some good reason for this choice. Surely.

In the meantime, if you want to hear what the governor has to say, the speech will be carried live on Shreveport’s FOX affiliate, KSHV-TV and will be livestreamed at ktalnews.com.