Governor Abbott Delivers State of the State

Governor Greg Abbott delivered his biennial State of the State address this week. The governor has typically given the State of the State before a joint legislative session at the Texas Capitol. But Abbott chose to deliver the speech outside Austin for the second time in a row, after giving it in Lockhart two years ago during the COVID-19 pandemic. This time, Abbott delivered the speech at Noveon Magnetics in San Marcos. This speech is important not only because it lays out the Governor’s agenda for the session, but in it he also provided emergency items, issues that are of such importance that they can be considered immediately by the Legislature.

The emergency items for this legislative session are:

• Cutting property taxes;

• Ending COVID-19 restrictions forever;

• Education Freedom;

• School Safety;

• Ending revolving door bail;

• Securing the border; and

• Addressing the fentanyl crisis.

Though not properly emergency items, the Governor also addressed also policies he wished to see addressed this session:

• Making Texas more self-reliant to create our own products and to secure the Texas of tomorrow;

• Reducing the gridlock in our courts by creating specialized courts with the expertise to deal with complex commercial litigation;

• Rewarding community colleges that produce skilled, employable Texans;

• Building an electric grid strong enough to power Texas for the next century;

• Changing how government responds to future pandemics, including requiring the legislature to convene if another pandemic is ever declared;

• Reforming school curriculum, to get kids back to the basics of learning;

• Providing a pay increase for nursing home workers;

• Creating a 10 year mandatory minimum sentence for criminals who illegally possess guns; and

• Imposing a mandatory minimum jail sentence of at least 10 years for anyone caught smuggling illegal immigrants in Texas.

Speaker of the Texas House Dade Phelan had this to say about the speech: “[The] address this evening included many great ideas for achieving the goal we all share at the Texas Legislature: making our state a better place to live, work and raise a family. To that end, the Legislature this year must address our state’s border security in a meaningful and innovative way, fight the rapidly-rising number of opioid overdoses and empower parents with the roles they play in the classroom and on social media. The Texas House’s work on these issues and more is already underway, and our chamber looks forward to working with the governor and Texas Senate this session.”

The Democratic response video, which at times was jarring because of the rapidly changing scripted segments featuring both lawmakers and Texans, also included a nod to Democratic support for oil and energy jobs, responding to Republican attacks against the party. Democrats also promised to vigorously oppose legislation that would take dollars away from public schools for use at private schools and to fight to expand Medicaid, which is a near impossibility in Republican-dominated Texas.

Read the Governor’s full speech here.

In conjunction with his State of the State speech, Governor Abbott also released his 2024-2025 recommended budget. This policy budget lay out nearly 50 priorities that the Governor would like to see in the final budget passed by the Legislature. Some high points include:

• Providing small businesses targeted relief with an increased exemption for business personal property.

• Empowering parents by establishing an Education Savings Account program that allows funding to follow the student to the educational provider of the parent’s choosing.

• Address curriculum challenges with outcomes that enhance student performance, minimize inappropriate and ideological content, improve quality of classroom instructional materials, help ease teachers’ workloads, and ensure curriculum transparency for parents.

• Reviewing programs created by the IIJA, CHIPS Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act to determine which, if any, programs may be beneficial for Texas..

• Continue to address long-term investment needs and solutions for cyber security enhancements and technology modernization.

• Approving and funding the creation of business courts in which complex commercial litigation will be heard by judges chosen for their specialized expertise.

• Fully funding the Broadband Development Office to ensure Texas is prepared and ready to leverage federal funds to continue expansion broadband across the state.

• Funding the Ship Channel Improvement Revolving Fund, which will provide low-cost loans to non-federal sponsors of Texas’ waterways to deliver these critical channel deepening and widening projects.

• Appropriating $500 million to protect millions of residents, businesses, and critical ports and refineries along the Gulf Coast from catastrophic damage from storms. Additionally, the Legislature should prioritize funding for water, wastewater, and flood prevention projects.