Gov. Greg Abbott Says No More Severance Pay

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has ordered state agencies to stop any severance pay that may have been being paid, following reports that State Attorney General Ken Paxton and State Land Commissioner George P. Bush have not been upfront about paying former employees.

According to a report in the Victoria Advocate, the two officials had authorized paying  hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxpayers money to former staff members who didn't come to work.

The report comes from an investigation by the Dallas Morning News and the Houston Chronicle that revealed the pay went to at least one aide who worked for Paxton when he left to work for the Presidential campaign of Ted Cruz, and two dozen General land Office workers not rehired after Bush became State Land Commissioner in 2015. Officials in that office say the pay was a settlement agreement that was to prevent fired employees from suing the state.