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Gov. Greg Abbott urges Senate to expand school choice, address bail practices and manage surplus
Summary
In remarks to the organizing Senate on Jan. 14, 2025, Gov. Greg Abbott urged lawmakers to use their oath and powers to address judges’ handling of bail, expand school choice, and navigate a projected $24 billion surplus against $35 billion in spending requests.
Governor Greg Abbott addressed the Texas Senate on Jan. 14, 2025, at the opening of the 89th Legislature, urging senators to use the upcoming 140-day session to protect the Constitution, restrict judicial practices he described as allowing repeat violent offenders back onto the streets, expand school choice, and steward a large projected budget surplus amid broad spending requests.
Abbott framed two guideposts for the Senate. First, he invoked the oath senators had just taken, arguing that lawmakers — not only the judiciary or attorney general — bear responsibility for ensuring laws are followed and that public safety is protected. He gave a specific example: “I don’t see her right now, but I know Senator Bettencourt, I’m thinking of Senator Huffman, to hail from a city where there have been people who have been murdered by people who were let out on bail…you don’t let somebody arrested for murder back out on the streets just to kill somebody else again.”
Second, Abbott urged senators to preserve and expand what he termed Texas’s status as the "land of opportunity." He asked senators to resist rules and regulations that would erode economic openness and to advance policies that increase parental choice in education. "I can testify for a fact to the urgent pleas of thousands of Texans to please use your voice and use your vote this session to expand the opportunity for every parent to choose the school that's best for their child," Abbott said.
Abbott also asked lawmakers to consider the state’s fiscal position in the session’s decisions. He referenced a projected $24,000,000,000 budget surplus and described $35,000,000,000 in budget requests from constituencies across the state, urging "innovative ways" to reconcile those figures as the Legislature sets priorities.
The governor closed by emphasizing Texas’s national role in policy innovation and called on senators to pursue state-led solutions on border security, education, and energy policy.
Sources: Floor remarks by Governor Greg Abbott to the Texas Senate, Jan. 14, 2025.
