Gov. Greg Abbott says Texas should reorder its fiscal priorities to do more for education, roads and border security -- and hand out $4.5 billion in tax cuts -- even as it clamps down on spending for many programs.
MORE: Text, highlights and video of every governor's annual address.
In his first State of the State speech Tuesday, Abbott noticeably shifted his plans for the Texas-Mexico border to accede to demands by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and some staunchly conservative Senate Republicans that the Texas National Guard remain on duty in border areas indefinitely.
Abbott's 45-minute speech, and a brief budget document the newly installed Republican governor submitted to lawmakers, closely tracked his themes and promises from his campaign last year.
"Texas leads the nation as a beacon of individual liberty and economic opportunity," he told a joint session of the Legislature. "Our job is to make sure we keep it that way."
The speech's biggest drama and emotional high point both pertained to the military.
Ending days of speculation, Abbott revealed his decision to extend hundreds of National Guard soldiers' assignment along the Mexican border, which began last summer under Gov. Rick Perry.
Abbott wants the soldiers to remain in place until lawmakers can approve his plan to hire 250 additional state police over the next two years and dispatch them to the border. He seeks 250 more DPS troopers assigned to border duty in 2018-19.
"The reality is that DPS cannot recruit, train and deploy 500 new troopers overnight. It takes time to ramp up," Abbott said.
Speaking of the soldiers, he said, "I ordered them to remain deployed on the border until my security plan is implemented."
In recent days, Maj. Gen. John Nichols, the guard's commander, has testified that his soldiers usually serve on weekends and vacations and are not used to such extended deployments. He said the months-long activation is straining the troops.
House Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio, has been skeptical about prolonged deployment of the Guard. Many South Texas business and government leaders have criticized Perry's decision to deploy troops as wasteful.
Abbott acknowledged what he called the soldiers' "hardship." He led lawmakers and visitors in the House gallery in a standing ovation to express gratitude.
Moments later, he set off even more sustained applause for Richard Overton of Austin.
Abbott noted that Overton -- "108 years young" -- is the country's oldest surviving serviceman from World War II.
Continued Guard deployment at the border appeared to color the reaction of the two most important figures in Abbott's audience -- Patrick, the Senate's new presiding officer, and Straus, the House's helmsman for a fourth consecutive session.
"It was everything I wanted to hear," Patrick said of Abbott's speech. In a statement, Patrick cited the governor's comments on border security, tax cuts, road funding and school choice.
"It is clear that Governor Abbott and I stand shoulder to shoulder on these ideas," he said.
Straus was polite, if noncommittal. He said in a statement that Abbott trained a "powerful spotlight" on important issues.
"I am confident that the House is going to address those priorities in a meaningful way," he said.
Abbott declared five topics "emergency items" for lawmakers -- early childhood education, higher education research initiatives, road funding, the border and ethics.
It's a mostly symbolic designation. The governor's declaration sidesteps the state constitution's prohibition on lawmakers passing bills in the session's first 60 days -- or before March 13.
With some House and Senate committees just holding their first meetings, though, Abbott didn't so much speed up the process as highlight issues he deems important. He has stressed most of them during his gubernatorial campaign and since.
Similarly, his two-year budget fulfills a constitutional requirement. But governors' spending outlines generally aren't larded with detail and are mostly forgotten in the tumult and horse-trading of House-Senate budget negotiations late in the session.
Repeating a recent comment, though, Abbott said he'd veto a budget plan that doesn't give business "genuine tax relief." He offered a figure. Abbott said lawmakers should provide $2 billion worth.
He also urged lawmakers to cut school property taxes by slightly more than $2.2 billion over the next two years.
Nearly a decade ago, it cost the state $14 billion per budget cycle to cut school districts' maintenance and operations tax rates on homes and businesses by one-third.
Abbott's property tax break would amount to about $200 per homeowner per year, according to school finance expert Lynn Moak.
Abbott's plan, though, offers twice as much business-franchise tax relief as Patrick and Flower Mound GOP Sen. Jane Nelson, the Senate's chief budget writer, have proposed. It falls short of the Senate leaders' $3 billion in proposed relief on school property tax bills.
House GOP leaders haven't specified in their initial budget plans how big tax cuts should be. And Abbott didn't specify how the cuts in business and property taxes should be carried out.
On highway funding, he stuck with earlier plans for rejiggering the state's existing tax money, shifting more to roads. He did specify that half of sales tax collected on car dealer lots should be dedicated to transportation. Last fall, he said up to two-thirds. Because it would squeeze the rest of the budget, House GOP leaders are cool to the idea.
While Abbott said in his speech that the state must extricate itself from generations-old lawsuits over school funding, he again offered no details -- and little new money.
Abbott said it's urgent for state schools and universities to make a renewed push for excellence. He proposed $403 million in initiatives for public schools and $628 million more for higher education -- though the vast majority of the latter simply would pay for free tuition and fees for veterans and their children, so other students' tuition doesn't rise.
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