TX House Approves Bill That Would Punish Cities Who Defund Police

Legislation that would punish cities who defund the police has been approved by the Texas House of Representatives.

The House approved House Bill 1900 just before 12:30 pm today (May 7).

The bill would cap property tax rates in cities that were determined to have defunded the police. It would also deduct the cost of state police services from local sales tax revenue from those cities.

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The bill only applies to cities with populations of over 250,000 people. In all, there are 11 Texas cities it would apply to. An amendment to include all Texas cities failed to pass.

A “defunding local government” is determined to be any city that doesn’t apply as much funding and personnel to police in their current budget compared to their spending in the previous year. The bill will take effect this September.

According to KXAN, Fort Worth Republican Craig Goldman, who wrote the bill, said we need to support public safety in the state:

Let’s support public safety in this state. Let’s support our police. Let’s back the blue.

The bill will now go to the Senate and if passed, will then go to Governor Greg Abbott to be signed into law.

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