AUSTIN — Revealing his top priorities for the Texas Legislature, Gov. Greg Abbott said Sunday he wants lawmakers to focus on subsidizing private school tuition, finding new sources of water, limiting bail for violent offenses, strengthening career training and beefing up the state’s cybersecurity systems.
Abbott also recommended that lawmakers devote some of the state budget — which includes a $24 billion surplus — to property tax relief, merit raises for teachers, border security, the power grid and school safety.
“Texas is the blueprint for the future of America,” Abbott said in his biennial State of the State address. “Clearly, God has blessed Texas, and the state of our state has never been better.”
Abbott used his half-hour televised speech, delivered before a crowd of about 800 at Arnold Oil Supply, a family owned Austin company, to lay out a host of recommended policy initiatives, including seven emergency items he wants the Republican-dominated Legislature to pass as soon as possible.
Abbott focused much of his speech on education issues, and he made raising teacher pay an emergency item.
“We must fund and train the best teachers,” Abbott said. “Additionally, we must reward the best teachers by putting them on a path to earn a six-figure salary.”
He stopped short of recommending across-the-board pay raises for teachers or increasing funding to public schools — a sticking point for opponents of the governor’s voucher-style school choice initiative who worry education savings accounts, one of Abbott’s key agenda items, would drain money from education.
The State of the State speech traditionally allows the governor to set the tone for the session, and on Sunday Abbott urged legislators to focus on long-term investments and policies that would preserve Texas as one of the nation’s top economic engines.
“No state offers the opportunity that Texas offers,” Abbott said.
Texas Democrats delivered a recorded response that aired after the speech.
“The governor doesn’t have a clue what the state of your state is,” Texas Democratic Party Chairman Gilberto Hinojosa said. “He’s too desperate cozying up to Donald Trump and billionaires like Elon Musk to give a damn about anybody who works for a paycheck to make ends meet.”
“The fact is, people are struggling after 30 years of Republican rule,” he said.
Dr. Austin Dennard, a Dallas-based obstetrician and gynecologist, shared how she had to leave the state to get a medically necessary abortion in 2022 after her fetus was given a fatal diagnosis.
“I’ve supported countless women with complicated pregnancies, but Gov. Abbott and Texas Republicans have made it nearly impossible for me to do my job,” Dennard said.
Abbott touched on a few of the more divisive social issues awaiting lawmakers, saying “any educator who tells students that boys can be girls should be fired on the spot” and emphasizing that Texas recognizes only two genders.
He also said diversity, equity and inclusion policies should be banned from kindergarten through 12th grade, and he called for an expanded prohibition on DEI in public universities.
“We must purge it from every corner of our schools and return the focus to merit,” he said. “We need a law that bans DEI from any entity that receives taxpayer dollars.”
Abbott also pushed lawmakers to invest more money into the state’s power grid, praising them for creating the $5 billion Texas Energy Fund last session. The state needs to keep building power plants as the Texas population continues to add 1,500 people a day, Abbott said.
“We must add more power this session to better fortify our grid,” Abbott said. “And it is time for Texas to lead a nuclear power renaissance in the United States.”
Abbott also called on lawmakers to invest in more mental health resources for rural Texas and expand pay for caregivers of seniors and Texans with disabilities.
To address housing shortages contributing to skyrocketing rents and home prices, Abbott recommended a one-year tax exemption on home improvements such as air conditioning, as well as slashing regulations and speeding up permitting to make it easier and cheaper to build homes.
He also asked lawmakers to pass stronger property laws protecting against squatters, prohibit “foreign agents” from buying land in Texas, invest more in firefighters and their training and equipment, and spend at least $500 million on strengthening school security.
House Speaker Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, said Abbott’s emergency items aligned with his priorities, adding he is particularly enthusiastic about supporting small business owners by reducing fees and regulations.
“This session, the Texas House is committed to delivering conservative, common-sense solutions to the state’s most pressing issues — issues on which Governor Abbott, the House and Senate are clearly largely aligned,” Burrows said on X.
Speaking for Texas House Democrats, Rep. Mihaela Plesa of Dallas said many Texans aren’t wealthier, healthier or freer after 30 years of GOP control in Texas.
“Nothing we’ve heard from the governor this evening changes that,” she said. “Today’s problems are plain and simple: Grocery bills are soaring, home ownership is just a dream for many.”
The emergency items Abbott revealed Sunday were:
Property tax relief and reform: Priorities include $10 billion in property tax relief, lowering school district taxes and requiring at least two-thirds of voters to approve tax increases.
“No approval, no new taxes,” Abbott said.
School choice: Abbott endorsed lawmaker plans to devote $1 billion for education savings accounts to help families pay for private school expenses and tuition.
Abbott is pushing for universal vouchers — available to every student in Texas — and said Sunday he wants to “fully fund our schools and raise teacher pay, while also giving parents the choice they deserve.”
Water supplies: Abbott called for a “generational investment” in water supply and infrastructure projects.
Securing the state’s water supply is critical to supporting the state’s population growth and the development of power-hungry semiconductor facilities and new data centers powering artificial intelligence applications, Abbott said.
He wants to see the largest investment the state has made — which would include a $1 billion-per-year commitment for the next decade. He wants lawmakers to create long-term funding for projects that would seek new water supplies, rebuild pipes and ensure water supplies for rural Texas.
Teacher pay: The governor supported retaining and hiring quality teachers through funding for teacher pay raises, led by a $750 million investment in expanding incentive and merit raise programs.
After efforts to institute an across-the-board teacher pay raise died last session, Abbott revisited the issue in his emergency items this time — but with a slightly limited focus. He called for widening access to merit raises, waiving certification fees for some special needs educators, mitigating expenses for districts that hire retired teachers and investing in teacher development programs.
Career training: Abbott said he wants lawmakers to invest in the state’s skilled workforce through stronger high school career programs.
Abbott called for adding money to the Jobs and Education for Texans grant program and other career education programs for high school students. Over the past two years, Abbott said, his office has approved $7 billion for career and technical education for students in middle and high schools, including industries in which jobs are in high demand, such as electricity, plumbing and welding.
Cybersecurity: Abbott wants to create a Texas Cyber Command to oversee cybersecurity measures in the state.
Abbott said Texas must fortify its infrastructure against cyber attacks from hostile foreign countries like China, Iran and Russia, and he directed lawmakers to harden the state’s online systems and its water and grid infrastructure.
Bail reform: Abbott called for laws requiring judges to deny bail for violent offenses and to those accused of capital murder or sexual offenses involving children.
Staff writer Philip Jankowski contributed to this report.
