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Texas governor stresses border security, education in policy address

Xinhua, February 18, 2015 Adjust font size:

The Governor of Texas Greg Abbott said Tuesday in his first major policy address that he will double the state's spending on securing the border with Mexico and provide additional funding for schools.

The Republican governor, who was elected in January as leader of the second most populous and the second largest U.S. state, delivered his first "State of the State" address to state lawmakers in Austin, Texas' capital city.

In his roughly 45-minute speech, Abbott declared five emergency items eligible for immediate action, including two initiatives on early education and higher education, transportation and border security funding, and ethics reform.

Lawmakers usually can not pass bills for the first 60 days of session, but emergency items declared by the governor can be taken up right away.

"Our fellow Texans face many challenges: the need for better schools, more roads, for border security, better healthcare, more jobs. They want more liberty and less government, and they deserve ethics reforms," Abbott said.

The governor said he plans to double the previous biennium's funding for border security, including enough to hire 500 additional Texas Department of Public Safety troopers to relieve Texas National Guard troops near the border with Mexico.

The Republican stronghold has been the most vocal critic of U.S. President Barack Obama's immigration reform and spearheaded the lawsuit that led a federal judge on Monday to block Obama's order shielding millions of illegal immigrants from deportation.

Abbott listed pre-kindergarten and higher education as his top two emergency items, saying that the state's new budget will provide additional funding for enhanced research programs and schools that adopt high-quality pre-kindergarten programs.

The governor said his budget will also include an additional four billion U.S. dollars a year for highway funding without raising taxes, fees, tolls or debt.

Abbott noted Texas has been number one in the nation for creating jobs for many years, especially in 2014, the Lone Star state "created more jobs than any year in the history of Texas."

He said in January sales tax revenue in Texas surged 11 percent and hit an all-time record while marking the 58th consecutive month of sales tax growth. Endi