News outlets throughout Texas are reporting that Governor Abbott has plans to sign a formal pledge today that opposes cutting the budgets of police departments throughout the state.

Brownwoodtx.com reports a press conference is coming up at 2 PM this afternoon. Not only will Abbott sign a "pledge" to not cut police budgets he is also expected to propose new legislation to protect the funding of police officers in Texas.

It's no secret that Abbott is thinking about the state capital after the Austin City Council cut it's police departments funding substantially. Abbott's new legislation could place the Austin Police under state-run control. The Governor's reaction to the Austin City Council vote was to denounce the move citing that defunding the police paves the way for lawlessness. He then made DPS troopers available to protect the city. This is when the idea surfaced to freeze the property tax revenue from any city that de-funds it's police force. Perhaps today's proposed legislation will expand on this subject.

Cime in Austin is up compared to 2019. In July alone the city saw 29 homicides according to a monthly crime report from the Austin police chief. Today's 2 PM press conference will happen from Austin Police headquarters so it's hard to imagine today's meeting will not address these issues.

 

If you look at the city budget for Austin, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio, the most expensive item on each city's budget is the police force, using up nearly one-third of funding in 2020.

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