The GOP-controlled House in Texas has passed another bill aimed at stopping the radical left-wing agenda in its tracks. The bill is now on its way to the state Senate, where Republicans hold a majority of 18 to 13.
HB 1900, which passed with a vote of 90 to 49 in the Texas House on May 7, will punish cities who choose to give in to demands from the far-left to “defund the police” by defunding their local government.
According to reporting by The Federalist, the bill would define ‘defunding local government’ “by comparing both personnel and resources in a given city’s budget to the prior year.”
Cities who choose to defund the police will now have their sales tax receipts confiscated, and the funding will instead be given to the Texas Department of Public Safety.
The bill will only apply to cities with 250,000 or more residents, as an amendment to make this apply to all cities within the state did not make it to the bill.
“Let’s support public safety in this state. Let’s support our police. Let’s back the blue,” said Republican state Representative Craig Goldman, the author of the bill.
The Republican Governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, shared the news of the bill passing on Twitter, writing:
“Texas will ALWAYS #BackTheBlue!
@GoldmanCraig’s #HB1900 just PASSED in the TX House.
This bill cracks down on cities that try to defund police.
One step closer to my desk.”
Texas will ALWAYS #BackTheBlue!@GoldmanCraig’s #HB1900 just PASSED in the TX House.
This bill cracks down on cities that try to defund police.
One step closer to my desk. #txlege pic.twitter.com/CYSrkGVekF
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) May 7, 2021
Austin, the Democrat-controlled capital of Texas, cut the budget of its police department by $20 million in the summer of 2020. The city council originally intended to cut one-third of the budget, which would have amounted to around $150 million, but “the cancellation of overtime expenses and cadet classes protected the remaining amount from being cut,” The Federalist reports.
Of course, the decision had the exact consequences that conservatives had predicted: Austin saw a huge spike in crime. According to Austin Police Association President Ken Cassidy, the city’s “murder rate’s the highest it’s ever been.”
Governor Abbott has been very outspoken in his fight against the “defund the police” movement.
“Austin experiences the highest number of homicides in 20 years. This is why it is absurd that Austin is defunding police. It is also why Texas will act to roll back that defunding and consider taking over policing in some areas of Austin,” Abbott tweeted in November after the new crime data was released.
Austin isn’t the only example of this obvious consequence. Other cities like New York, Los Angeles, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and San Francisco have all reallocated funding from law enforcement, and each one had a spike in crime soon after.
