Good morning, 

Is Greg Abbott doing a good job as Texas’ governor? That is the focus of today’s One Click Survey; I’ll let you know tomorrow what your fellow readers think.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Tuesday, February 2, 2021
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• “The state of our state is brimming with promise.” – Gov. Greg Abbott
   
• Normally delivered in the Texas Capitol to a joint session of the House and Senate, Brandon Waltens reports this year’s State of the State Address was much different. The governor spoke on primetime television from an empty studio owned by a fiber optics business based in Lockhart.
     

• Constitutionally, the Legislature is prohibited from passing legislation during the first 60 days of the session. An exception is made, however, for the governor’s emergency items. During his address, Gov. Abbott issued five emergencies for legislative action. Those include:
  1) Expanding rural broadband access; 
  2) Prevent local defunding of police;
  3) Bail reform;
  4) Election integrity; and,
  5) Liability protection from COVID-related lawsuits.
      

• The governor described his first emergency item – rural broadband access – as something that is “not a luxury. It is an essential tool that must be available for all Texas.”

• Also discussed by Gov. Abbott, during his address – but notably not given emergency status – was a prohibition on abortions based on race, sex, or disability, making Texas a “Second Amendment Sanctuary,” and legislation to prohibit local governments from closing churches.

• As Texans’ property tax bills consume more of their income, Robert Montoya reports that there seem to be no bills filed yet that would provide meaningful property tax relief—just more attempts to control the growth of the problem.
       
• “Slowing the rate of tax increases only kicks the can down the road and allows lawmakers to falsely claim they are helping homeowners.” – Tim Hardin, Texans for Fiscal Responsibility

• Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner has been named chairman of Climate Mayors of America, a leftist organization that seeks to cripple the nation’s oil and gas industry. Joshua Pierce reports Turner has a history of backing expensive “climate change” programs.
      
• This comes despite Houston being known as the “energy capital of the nation” and Turner (a Democrat) having been backed by local Republican business leaders.
       
• “Cities are powerful drivers in the race against climate change.” – Sylvester Turner

• Education reporter Tera Collum continues her series looking at the responses classroom teachers gave during a year-long survey about the state of Texas schools. She examines specifically the role an ever-growing class of administrators has in making it difficult for teachers to teach.
      
• In the survey conducted by Teachers for Texas, teachers voiced their concerns about district and campus administration more than any other category.
     
• When incompetent administrators keep teachers from teaching, students cannot learn... and the taxpayers’ money is wasted.

• You’ve no doubt noticed their names in the Texas Minute and bylines at Texas Scorecard, but Jacob Asmussen has prepared a formal introduction of our Spring 2021 Journalism Fellows.
   
• They are: Joshua Pierce, Iris Poole, Ariana Silva, and Michael Swirsky.
     
• All four fellows are based for the semester in our Central Texas headquarters, assisting Brandon Waltens and Jeramy Kitchen in covering the 87th Session of the Texas Legislature.

• In case you missed it... the Transportation Safety Administration has now been authorized to detain or fine anyone who tries to go through airport security with a bare face. No, Congress didn’t authorize this; it’s an executive order from President Biden.
     
• I feel like we have fully entered the post-“consent of the governed” phase of our national decline.

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ONE CLICK SURVEY

Are you satisfied with the job performance of Gov. Greg Abbott?

Today In History

On Feb. 2, 1848, the Mexican-American War came to a formal end with the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. The U.S. victory resulted in 525,000 square miles of territory to be added to the nation.