'Sanity and safety will return': Abbott says he'll sign bill punishing cities that defund police departments

As communities across the country take aim at police reform and budgeting, the Texas House of Representatives passed a bill earlier this month that punishes cities that cut police funding. 

Not only that, but Gov. Greg Abbott stepped in, making the legislation a priority.

“In Texas, we don't defund or disrespect our police. We always #BacktheBlue, which is why I made legislation preventing cities from defunding the police an emergency item this session. I look forward to signing it soon,” Abbott wrote in the May 24 tweet.

After a shooting in Austin on May 23, Abbott vowed to sign the bill in a tweet where he commented on a tweet from the Austin Police Association President Kenneth Casaday.

Casaday’s tweet detailed the Austin Police Departments response time, and Abbott responded with this: “This is what defunding the police looks like. Austin is incapable of timely responding to a victim shot in the head. Texas won't tolerate this. We're about to pass a law-that I will sign that will prevent cities from defunding police. Sanity and safety will return.”

Although it is the only city in Texas that has done this, Austin is one of several cities across the country that has defunded the police, moving funding from some law enforcement to other services that could respond to issues in the community.

House Bill 1900 passed the Texas House of Representatives in a 90-49 vote. The bill punishes municipalities that do defund law enforcement. According to the Texas Tribune, the bill focuses on cities with more than 250,000 residents. It allows the governor to take a portion of that city’s sales taxes for the Texas Department of Public Safety’s budget. It would also ban them from raising property taxes or utility rates. Republican representatives Craig Goldman, Will Metcalf, Greg Bonnen, Angie Chen Button and Democrat Richard Peña Raymond wrote the bill.