AUSTIN (Nexstar) — Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick have been sworn in Tuesday morning for his or her third phrases in workplace, in a collection of celebratory occasions all through the day.
In his inauguration speech, Abbott touted Texas’ pro-business stance and unveiled some plans for the state’s largest price range surplus in Texas historical past.
“We will use that budget surplus to provide the largest property tax cut in the Texas history,” he mentioned Tuesday.
Moments earlier than, Patrick gave his personal inaugural tackle and added extra element about potential tax cuts.
“In the budget that we will release this week, the Texas Senate will raise your homestead exemption to $70,000, which will save you thousands of dollars over the lifetime of your home, enough to make a difference!” mentioned Patrick, receiving applause from the viewers outdoors the Capitol.
On Wednesday, each the House and Senate launched preliminary drafts of price range laws. While there are some variations between the proposals from every chamber, each name for $130.1 billion in spending. Both preliminary payments additionally embrace $15 billion for property tax aid.
Bob Garrett, the Austin bureau chief for the Dallas Morning News, mentioned the preliminary numbers may not add as much as landmark tax aid.
“People should be aware that in 2006, we did $14 billion worth and adjusted for inflation that would be $20 billion,” Garrett famous. “Of this $15 billion they’re proposing this year, 3.1 billion of it is just to keep going with the 2019 tax cuts.”
“So take those claims of historic tax relief with a grain of salt,” Garrett mentioned.
For months, Texans have been listening to about the state’s report income, fueling the largest price range surplus in Texas historical past. Comptroller Glenn Hegar’s income estimate confirmed roughly $188 billion available for lawmakers. The price range plans leave greater than $50 billion on the table.
“This is preliminary,” State Rep. Mary González mentioned. The El Paso Democrat served final session as the vice-chair of the House Appropriations Committee. Committee assignments for this session have but to be introduced.
“There is still a lot of discussion on the table,” González mentioned. “Not all the money was spent immediately because we recognize that it’s… a whole legislature process,” she defined.
Economic uncertainty could possibly be one other consider the warning of the price range proposals. Hegar in his income estimate raised considerations about the potential for a recession. Garrett factors to different components influencing the laws.
“We have the spending caps passed by the voters nearly 45 years ago,” Garrett mentioned, referencing limits constructed into the Texas Constitution. Lawmakers must get statewide voter approval to exceed these caps.
“And we have our politics,” Garrett added, noting {that a} vital quantity of Republican voters oppose including authorities spending. “The Republican lawmakers and leaders fear the base,” he mentioned.
Texas lawmakers push to finish Confederate vacation
Three days after Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Texas noticed the state vacation of Confederate Heroes Day. Democrats in the Texas House mentioned it must be the final time.
The vacation dates again to 1931, initially to honor the birthday of Confederate basic Robert E. Lee. In 1973, the Texas legislature expanded the vacation “to honor Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, and other Confederate heroes.” Lawmakers on Wednesday morning argued that phrase is an oxymoron.
“We are celebrating a harmful, hateful past,” State Rep. Jarvis Johnson (D-Houston) mentioned. “We celebrate things by marking them with holidays and statues. It’s a constant reminder of the supremacy which they are trying to establish… the reminder has to be eradicated.”
Rep. Johnson has now filed legislation to abolish the vacation three classes in a row. In 2019, the laws heard testimony in the House State Affairs Committee however was left pending and by no means reached a vote on the House ground. In 2021, the invoice died in the similar committee with out a listening to.
The group of 13 Democrats talking for Rep. Johnson’s newest invoice hope that is the session it passes.
“The momentum has been building,” State Sen. Nathan Johnson (D-Dallas) mentioned. “We’re not just making a statement. We’re here to pass the bill. And I do expect [Republicans] to support this. I could be disappointed. I have been in the past. But we’re here and we’re serious.”
Last session, not less than seven Republicans coauthored or sponsored Rep. Johnson’s bill to abolish the vacation, together with Justin Holland, Matt Shaheen, John Cyrier, Matt Krause, Jeff Leach, Jim Murphy and Scott Sanford. However, 4 of these Republicans, Cyrier, Krause, Murphy and Sanford, are now not in the legislature.
“There are those that will stand with you, there are those that will stand and fight,” mentioned Rep. Johnson about Republican assist of the invoice. “But oftentimes, the apprehension may be there because of their own constituents.”
“Why aren’t the Republicans standing up here? We’re in a fairly difficult political environment,” Sen. Johnson mentioned. “Right now, if a Republican comes and stands up here, they’re making some kind of message and they’re going to get in trouble, probably. But that’s different than casting a vote.”
The legislature established Confederate Heroes Day on January 19 to coincide with Robert E. Lee’s birthday. One of the Democrats’ foremost considerations is that it falls too near Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Sen. Johnson famous that the two holidays will fall on the similar day 4 occasions in the subsequent twenty years.
“How does that make you feel?” he mentioned.
Former Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson supplied a compromise: rename the vacation to “Civil War Heroes Day” to incorporate the Texans who fought for the Union.
“Make it an accurate representation of history,” Patterson mentioned. “I’m focused on honoring history. You don’t honor the warts, but you recognize the warts.”
He argued this debate lacks a nuanced understanding of historical past and accused these transferring to abolish the vacation of “selective indignation.”
“We should honor Martin Luther King, we should honor Robert E. Lee,” he mentioned. “Buffalo soldiers, Union soldiers, and Confederate soldiers served Texas honorably. All should be honored.”
Some Democrats say there’s no room for compromise.
“There is nothing to celebrate about the Confederacy, only lessons to learn about how not to treat our neighbors,” State Rep. Christina Morales (D-Houston) mentioned.
Governor’s order leads UT to dam TikTok
The University of Texas at Austin mentioned Monday that TikTok is now blocked on any machine linked to the college’s networks.
“You are no longer able to access TikTok on any device if you are connected to the university via its wired or WIFI networks,” mentioned a Monday morning electronic mail to UT college and workers. A letter was additionally despatched to college students.
“The university is taking these important steps to eliminate risks to information contained in the university’s network and to our critical infrastructure,” the emailed letter mentioned. “As outlined in the governor’s directive, TikTok harvests vast amounts of data from its users’ devices — including when, where and how they conduct internet activity — and offers this trove of potentially sensitive information to the Chinese government.”
This motion follows Gov. Greg Abbott’s December directive to ban the use of TikTok on any government-issued gadgets. In the following days, UT mentioned all college workers should additionally take away the app from state-issued gadgets together with university-issued telephones, laptops, tablets and computer systems.
In an announcement to KXAN, TikTok shared disappointment in UT’s transfer.
We’re dissatisfied that so many states are leaping on the political bandwagon to enact insurance policies that can do nothing to advance cybersecurity of their states and are based mostly on unfounded falsehoods about TikTok. We’re particularly sorry to see the unintended penalties of these rushed insurance policies starting to impression universities’ capacity to share information, recruit college students, and construct communities round athletic groups, pupil teams, campus publications, and extra.
TikTok spokesperson
Austin Community College District informed KXAN it’s “evaluating and preparing for collegewide network changes to limit access to the platform through the ACC network as well as on college-issued devices.” In December, ACC suspended collegewide exercise on TikTok in response to Abbott’s directive, a spokesperson mentioned.
Several current legal guidelines have focused social media “censorship” and age-based social media bans. A North Texas lawmaker filed a bill proposing a social media ban for folks below age 18. Last 12 months, a special Texas law went into effect that prevented large social media companies from banning customers’ posts based mostly on political opinions. That legislation confronted a federal enchantment, but it surely was rejected.
Outside Texas, a number of states have banned TikTok from authorities gadgets, together with Wisconsin and North Carolina final week. President Joe Biden signed a restricted ban in December for federal workers’ government-owned gadgets, NBC News reported.
Jail workaround goals to handle lengthy state hospital waitlists
At Tuesday’s commissioner court docket assembly, Williamson County leaders heard extra particulars a couple of competency restoration program at the county’s jail, which might velocity up the time inmates with psychological sickness wait earlier than receiving therapy so as to stand trial.
The proposed program can be run by the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office and Bluebonnet Trails Community Services (BTCS), which offers psychological well being companies throughout the county.
During the assembly, BTCS Executive Director Andrea Richardson mentioned an utility has already been submitted to Texas Health and Human Services for $500,000 in funding. While no contract has been agreed on but, Richardson mentioned that an extra $500,000 can be matched by the county.
Regardless, Richardson and Williamson County Sheriff Mike Gleason mentioned the program might get underway as quickly as this spring and final for 12 months, as soon as funding is in place.
The program would, in response to its builders, add a forensic psychologist and extra psychological well being suppliers to the jail so as to deal with inmates awaiting trial. This is an effort to scale back the time inmates wait in jail, which is usually extended by lengthy waitlists for state hospitals.
Our investigators have been following the struggles of the state hospital system — at the moment, 1000’s are ready for therapy. On Wednesday, a legislative assembly on the challenge assessed continual issues dealing with state hospitals like understaffing and lack of mattress area.
Gleason says the jail has already fashioned a particular “pod” for inmates of this kind, as a result of folks with psychological sickness are thought-about a weak inhabitants. Gleason mentioned that traditionally, these inmates have been stored in isolation, additional harming their psychological well being.
“They may have been isolated for medical reasons, it might be for psychiatric reasons” Gleason mentioned. “But the longer those people wait and wait in my jail — waiting on a forensic bed to get to another facility in the state. Sometimes it’s very, very difficult to get them back to that point of competency.”
Precinct 3 commissioner Valerie Covey was outspoken on her assist for the program throughout Tuesday’s assembly.
“If we did not have this program, these folks are sitting in our jail for up to two, three years,” Covey mentioned. “It’s the right thing for the person in our jail, but it’s also the right thing for everybody associated with this issue that caused them to be in the jail.”
She says that is the finest workaround to make sure justice for victims of crimes presumably dedicated by inmates with psychological sickness in the most humane method attainable.
Lynda Frost is a advisor well-versed in the struggles dealing with the justice system in Texas.
She says many communities throughout the state use an outpatient program like the one proposed for Williamson County — a significant critique of proposals like it’s that jails can not present an atmosphere conducive to psychological well being.
“Jails are far from ideal environments from competency restoration. I think what we’re seeing are communities that are desperate looking for workarounds to try to reduce the number of people who are just waiting in jail,” Frost mentioned.
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