Gov. Greg Abbott called for property tax relief, school vouchers, and better teacher pay during his State of the State address on Sunday.
The governor’s agenda includes school vouchers and property taxes while targeting trans students, migrants, and diversity programs.
Gov. Greg Abbott made it clear on Sunday what he wants from state lawmakers in the coming weeks — from cutting property taxes to school vouchers, and help pouring fuel on the flames of the culture wars he’s spent years inflaming.
The ambitious legislative agenda included seven issues he dubbed emergency items, a mix of legislation to keep the state’s economy and population growth booming, further curtail the ability of cities and counties to govern themselves, boost funding to public schools, and give public dollars to students in private schools. He also fed political red meat to supporters by targeting transgender students, immigration, and diversity initiatives.
The seven emergency items — property tax relief, water infrastructure, teacher pay, career training in schools, school vouchers, restricting bail, and cybersecurity — allow lawmakers to bypass a constitutional prohibition against passing bills in the first 60 days of the session. The 60-day embargo ends March 14.
Abbott set out his agenda during a nearly 36-minute State of the State address, delivered before a crowd of 1,100 people at Arnold Oil Company in Austin. And despite an affordability crisis in a state with a nearly $24 budget surplus, Abbott started by taking a victory lap to brag about its thriving economy.
“Texas is the blueprint for the future of America,” Abbott said. “Clearly, God has blessed Texas and the state of our state has never been better.”
Abbott’s emergency items could save property owners billions of dollars by following up an $18 billion tax-cut package in 2023, while costing the state billions to fulfill his other initiatives, such as a school voucher program, increasing teacher pay, shoring up the state’s water infrastructure, boosting workforce training programs, and creating a cybersecurity command center.
Abbott also wants to tie the hands of judges in setting bail and further restrict the ability of local jurisdictions like schools and cities to increase property taxes to fund their budgets.
“Ultimately, our task this session is to be guardians of freedom. Freedom will persist as long as we protect it. Freedom stokes self-determination to achieve things once thought impossible,” Abbott said.
Abbott’s vision of freedom for the state came without a hint of irony from the Republican governor, who in the same speech also called for firing educators who help trans students, banning diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in K-12 schools, and prohibiting “any entity” from receiving public funds if they have DEI programs, which promote the fair treatment of all people.
Property tax relief: ‘No approval, no new taxes’
Abbott said some Texans are facing an affordability crisis and blamed the problem on local jurisdictions for their property tax rates. The governor’s solution? Cut property taxes by at least $10 billion. He also called for prohibiting cities, counties, and school districts from raising taxes without two-thirds of voters approving it. Abbott dismissed property tax increases as the work of jurisdictions exploiting “loopholes,” but didn’t address how rising property values contribute to higher property taxes even if local jurisdictions keep tax rates flat.
“A lot of Texans are facing an affordability crisis. Last session, we slashed your property taxes. But for many Texans, those cuts were wiped out by local taxing authorities that hiked your property taxes even more. That must end this session,” Abbott said.
Water: Want to Texas-size that?
Abbott said the state’s water supply is drying up in some spots, broken and leaky pipes waste billions of gallons every year, and agricultural producers in the Rio Grande Valley and West Texas don’t have enough water to grow crops. In 2023, lawmakers spent $1 billion on water projects and infrastructure. Abbott said he wants more money earmarked to secure the state’s water supply for 50 years, but didn’t provide a dollar amount.
“This session, we need to Texas-size that investment,” Abbott said. “We will make the largest investment in water in the history of the state of Texas.”
Electric grid: The nuclear option
Since the state’s power grid collapsed under Abbott’s watch in 2021, the state has boosted power generation by 35%, he said. Texas now generates more power than any other state, and surpasses the amount of California and New York combined, he added. In 2023, Abbott signed a bill adding 10,000 megawatts to the state’s power grid, which is enough to serve about 2.5 million homes during peak usage.
“We must add more power this session to better fortify our grid — and it is time for Texas to lead a nuclear power renaissance in the United States of America,” Abbott said, though he didn’t declare either issue an emergency item.
Abbott’s fixes for his troubled education system
Abbott focused a chunk of his speech on improving education in the state, which ranks among the worst in the nation despite the governor overseeing it since he took office in 2015. The basic allotment for school districts hasn’t increased since 2019, even through years of high inflation since, and in 2023, Abbott blocked increased funding for public schools when lawmakers didn’t approve his school voucher plan.
Abbott’s emergency items included three focused on education — teacher pay, career training, and school vouchers.
“We must pass school choice this session,” Abbott said, generating 25 seconds of applause from the crowd. “Government-mandated schools simply cannot meet the unique needs of every student. But, Texas can provide families with the choices to better meet those needs.”
A bill that creates a $1 billion school voucher program easily passed a Senate committee on Jan. 28. The full Senate was scheduled to vote Wednesday on the measure.
Abbott also said his efforts to improve education in the state include three pillars, which are empowering parents and school choice, hiring and training exemplary teachers, and academic excellence.
“Texas must be number one in educating our children. There are three pillars to reach that goal, all of which must be achieved,” Abbott said.
Abbott called for an additional $500 million for safety measures in schools, and for curriculum that focuses on fundamentals. He also demanded a ban on DEI programs in grades K-12, and the expansion of a DEI ban for public universities that Abbott signed in 2023.
“Schools must not push woke agendas on our kids. Our schools are for education, not indoctrination,” Abbott said, without noting that he helped engineer the approval of Bluebonnet Learning in November. The fact-challenged curriculum for kindergarten through eighth-grade students is infused with Bible-based materials.
Abbott then turned his attention to trans students and educators who assist them.
“And no boys in girls sports period. The state of Texas recognizes only two genders — male and female. Any educator who tells students that boys can be girls should be fired on the spot,” Abbott added.
In 2021, Abbott signed into law a bill that bans trans students in grades K-12 from competing in sports that align with their gender identity. Two years later, he signed a similar ban for college athletes.
A focus on bail, parole, squatters
Abbott called for five criminal justice related measures during his speech:
- Eliminating parole for people convicted of child trafficking;
- Denying bail to people charged with capital murder, which are cases involving the death penalty or life in prison without parole;
- Denying bail to migrants and turning them over to federal immigration agents;
- Strengthening laws addressing squatters on private property.
- Imposing the death penalty on anyone convicted of murdering a child. State law already classifies those crimes as capital murder.
Abbott painted the issues in stark terms — and with a false equivalence for lawmakers.
“Lawmakers must choose: Support the safety of the citizens they represent or the criminals who kill them,” he said.
But Abbott dubbed only restricting bail laws as an emergency item.
“Activist judges simply have too much discretion to let repeat offenders out on bail only to see them harm more Texans — many innocent Texans,” Abbott said.
The governor also called for increased funding for firefighting equipment, such as tanker aircraft, to battle wildfires, and for local firefighters across the state.
Cyber attacks, hostile nations, immigration
Citing recent attacks from hackers and “hostile foreign actors” on a Texas city, hospital and business, Abbott called for the creation of the Texas Cyber Command at the University of Texas at San Antonio as his seventh emergency item.
“San Antonio is the home to one of the world’s largest concentration of cyber security experts. We must harness those assets to protect against threats from China, Iran, Russia, and other foreign enemies. They could cripple our power, our water, and communications with cyber attacks,” Abbott said.
Abbott didn’t include a price tag for the cyber command center.
The governor also called for:
- Banning non-citizens from serving in local and state governments.
- Preventing “hostile foreign nations and their agents” from buying land in the state.
- Prohibiting people who aren’t US citizens from registering to vote and casting ballots in Texas. State law already forbids noncitizens from voting, and in 2021, Abbott signed a law withholding funds from counties that don’t remove noncitizens from voter rolls.
On the heels of ordering state agencies to assist federal agencies with immigration arrests, Abbott on Sunday called for cities and counties to cooperate with the federal efforts. Some cities and countries in the state, including Austin, don’t assist federal agencies with immigration arrests or ask the immigration status of people who are victims of crimes or witnesses.
Abbott signed into law Senate Bill 4 in 2023. The measure allows state officers to arrest and deport migrants suspected of being in the country illegally, though lawsuits have kept it on hold. The case is scheduled for trial in July.
