The Governor held a press conference with the Speaker of the House and the Attorney General in order to announce a new legislative proposal in order to stop Texas cities and counties from defunding the police. This proposal is in addition to a legislative proposal from last month that would defund municipalities who defund their police departments. Additionally, they announced and signed a “Back the Blue” pledge.
The HillCo report below is a summary of remarks intended to give you an overview and highlight of the discussions on the various topics discussed. This report is not a verbatim transcript; it is based upon what was audible or understandable to the observer and the desire to get details out as quickly as possible with few errors or omissions.
Governor Greg Abbott
- Notes the Lt. Governor will be signing the pledge, but could not be in attendance
- Law enforcement officers work everyday to provide safety to our communities
- Cities are disrespecting and defending law enforcement agencies; cities must prioritize public safety
- Dallas County City Council and Austin have already voted to defund their police departments; other cities are considering the same thing
- We have seen the dangerous consequences of defunding the police in other communities across America; cannot allow this to happen in Texas
- We announced last month a legislative proposal that defunds cities that defund the police
- New legislative proposal: cities that defund the police will lose annexation powers
- Any areas and any residents that have ever been annexed will have the power to dis-annex themselves from the city
- Combined proposal will make it almost impossible for cities to defund the police
- Need all Texans and candidates to join this cause to keep Texas safe
- Texas Back the Blue Pledge; united to stop cities from defunding the police
Dennis Bonnen, Speaker of the House
- Thanks the Governor for leading on this issue
- Cities need to stop defunding the police
- This pledge is important because law enforcement needs to hear we appreciate and support them
- Shames any community that does not support law enforcement
Ken Paxton, Attorney General
- Appreciates Governor’s initiative
- Law enforcement officers have more fear than criminals do when committing crimes
- There is no doubt we have issues to deal with, but need to support the law enforcement community
Ken Cassidy, Austin Police Association
- We will always be there for the community; ask politicians across Texas and America to sign this pledge
Melanie Rod, Austin Police Department
- Provides a personal anecdote of their time on the police force
- Asks Texans to sign the Back the Blue Pledge
- We are not perfect, but we aim to keep citizens safe
- Cuts would impact safety for years to come
- The gang unit was cut and as of January this will no longer be priority
- DWI unit was cut in half and will lead to more deaths in the streets
- Asks people to support candidates in November who support law enforcement
Mike Rhone, Texas Peace Officers Association
- Asks citizens to not defund the police
- Need better training and education systems
- Need to change the hiring process to hire better officers
- Need to hold officers accountable for misconduct
Elvy Johns, Texas Police Spouses Association
- Current cancel culture is a high cost to us all
- Austin has begun to transform into a high crime area
- Defunding the police is defunding the community
- Invite all people to take the Back the Blue Pledge
Governor Abbott, Speaker of the House Dennis Bonnen, Attorney General Ken Paxon, and those present signed the “Back the Blue” pledge
Audience Questions
- How do you define defunding?
- Exactly what Austin City Council and Dallas County have done
- Is there any compromise here, are there better groups to respond to certain calls?
- Abbott – Notes responding to calls is dangerous and that question needs to be carefully handled
- Question was unintelligible
- Abbott – Goal is for cities to not hold the vote to defund the police
- Abbott – Have found citizens will provide funding for law enforcement
- Abbott – Notes Austin has devoted half a million dollars to lobby the legislature on this topic
- What if voters wanted to defund police?
- Abbott – Never seen voters vote to defund
- What about the ambiguities in this legislative proposal?
- Abbott – They will deal with during session
- What do you say to families who have been impacted by police violence?
- Need better training, need to hire better officers, need better equipment
- Those things require more funding
- Asks a question concerning Mayor Steve Adler and SB 2
- Bonnen – Notes that the Mayor’s stance on SB 2 does not align with the decision made to defund the police
- Cities who have decided to defund the police plan to take control of internal affairs; is oversight “defunding”?
- Abbott – That is something the legislature would decide