AUSTIN, Texas — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has repeatedly made clear his disdain for Austin City Council’s September 2020 move to remove $21.5 million form the Austin Police Department’s budget and eventually reallocate a total $130 million from that budget.

In fact, he has floated numerous punishments for Texas cities that reduce police budgets including a property tax freeze. In December, Abbott said legislation is being created that would transfer control of the police department from Austin to the state.

“Just in time for Christmas: The Legislative Council has sent draft language for a proposed law that would transfer control of the Austin Police Department to the Texas Department of Public Safety,” Abbott wrote in December. “One way or another we will pass a law to keep Austin safe.”

On Thursday, Abbott hosted a roundtable discussion in Austin that addressed “law enforcement” and “public safety” in the city. The roundtable was followed by a press conference. 

The roundtable discussion included the following people:

  • Mitch Landry - Deputy Executive Director, Texas Municipal Police Association
  • Kevin Masters - Senior Strategy Analyst, Office of the Governor's Public Safety Office
  • Colonel Steve McCraw - Executive Director, Texas Department of Public Safety
  • Manny Ramirez - President, Fort Worth Police Officers Association 
  • Marvin Ryals - President, Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas 
  • Alden Southmayd - Sheriff, Bee County
  • Joell Sullivan-McNew - President, SafeHorns
  • Jennifer Tharp - Criminal District Attorney, Comal County

Notably absent from the roundtable were Austin Mayor Steve Adler and any representatives from the Austin Police Department or the Travis County Sheriff’s Office. 

In a statement, Adler said the City didn’t receive an invite to the roundtable, and the state should focus more on its COVID response:

“The State should focus on containing this deadly virus if it wants to make cities safer. Yesterday, Texas hit a new record high for Covid deaths. 32,844 of our family and neighbors are dead - almost half of whom are Hispanic. Today, the Governor held a press event about public safety in Austin, and did not invite anyone from the City of Austin to participate. If he had, we would have pointed out that we did not defund the police, and that Covid -not crime- is a leading cause of death in our community.”

During Thursday's press conference, Abbott said, "When you consider the magnitude of what law enforcement does, it's hard to imagine cities turning their backs on them. We don't do that in Texas. Texas is a law-and-order state." 

Abbott went on to say that he won't let cities including Austin defund police and that he plans to make it financially impossible for them to do so. 

He also addressed bail reform in Texas, saying the state must "[work] to end the revolving door bail system in Texas to avoid offenders out on bail from committing crimes." 

The governor also said he will announce a statewide plan to address homelessness that includes a ban on camping. This comes after Abbott on Twitter criticized Austin for lifting camping restrictions for those experiencing homelessness and stating that if the city doesn't reinstitute the camping ban, he will. 

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