Texas Scorecard by Robert Montoya March 25, 2021
Texas Legislature discusses action to hold cities accountable.Dallas officials dispatched one of the city’s council members to oppose proposals from the Texas Legislature to create roadblocks for cities intent on defunding police. Austin officials, on the other hand, hid behind their interim chief of police while a prominent Democrat redefined “defunding†as “diversion of funds.â€
In the wake of Austin City Council defunding its police by $150 million last year, and a majority of Dallas City Council cutting $7 million from their police overtime budget, Gov. Greg Abbott made preventing “local defunding of police†an emergency item for the Texas Legislature.
On Thursday evening, the Texas House State Affairs Committee heard four bills addressing that.
For cities that defund police, House Bill 1900 from State Rep. Craig Goldman (R–Fort Worth) would give areas annexed by those cities within the last 30 years an opportunity to vote to reverse the annexation on the next uniform election date after the governor’s office finds the city has defunded. The city would also be banned from adopting a tax rate above the no-new-revenue rate and would not receive its share of taxpayer dollars collected by the state comptroller. City-owned utilities would also be banned from hiking their rates.
“Two important factors necessary to a republic is voice and exit—the ability to have elected officials hear your voice and, if they fail to respond, the ability exit that situation,†Derek Cohen of Texas Public Policy Foundation’s Right on Crime told Texas Scorecard.
More:
https://texasscorecard.com/state/dallas-fights-police-defunding-prevention-bills-austin-hides-behind-top-cop/
