1/ The Austin City Council voted to reduce police funding, largely through moving offices out from under the department.
Days later, @GovAbbott and other top officials said they want to freeze property tax revenues for cities that cut police budgets. bit.ly/3j0sw1v
2/ This proposal sets up what is expected to be a fight in the 2021 #txlege session over what police reform should look like after the killing of George Floyd reignited a national movement against police brutality and racial injustice.
3/ Many advocates want cities to reallocate substantial portions of police funding to areas like housing, social services and public spaces as part of an effort to end a history of discrimination, inequality and overpolicing of Black and brown communities. bit.ly/3hebts2
4/ At Tuesday’s press conference, Abbott said, “If we have police brutality, we don't need fewer police, we need less police brutality, and so we need to take action, whether it be as a Legislature or in police departments or whatever the case may be.”
5/ Abbott mentioned Floyd during Tuesday’s press conference in Fort Worth, but did not mention Atatiana Jefferson or other Black residents who died in high-profile Texas police killings.
Read more background in our story from June: bit.ly/34hfaKe
6/ Texas’ four largest cities — Austin, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio — each spent more than a third of their general funds on their police departments in the 2020 fiscal year. bit.ly/3kZEtpY
7/ Austin recently became the first major Texas city to cut its police department’s budget.
The proposal to cut funding by about one-third of the total $434 million budget calls for immediately cutting around $21.5 million from the department. bit.ly/3l3h3jl
8/ The Austin council approved the measure after APD faced months of criticism over the killing of an unarmed Black and Hispanic man, the use of force against protesters and the investigation of a demonstrator’s fatal shooting by another resident. bit.ly/320Di0A
9/ Other major Texas cities are also weighing police budgets, now with Abbott's proposal in mind.
San Antonio’s proposed budget for 2021 increases overall police funding by $8 million, but cuts overtime and funds health and violence prevention programs.
10/ In Dallas, the proposed 2021 budget includes a small increase in police funding, as well as $3.2 million for safety net resources.
Both cities are scheduled to approve their budgets in September.
11/ The Houston City Council approved a minor funding increase to its police department in June, but an amendment that tried to redistribute some of the money to other areas, like the police oversight board and loans for businesses owned by people of color, was rejected.
12/ Black Texas lawmakers recently unveiled the George Floyd Act, a sweeping proposal aimed at accomplishing policing and criminal justice reforms that have failed at the Texas Capitol in recent years, often after opposition from police unions. bit.ly/2Q8HAxv
13/13 More background here on previous attempts by #txlege members to pass police reforms:
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