State Rep. Liz Campos (D-San Antonio) told a gathering of the Tejano Democrats on Saturday that Gov. Greg Abbott sought to use her vetoed dangerous dog bill as leverage to court her support for his school voucher program.<\/p>\n
Lawmakers from both parties had shut down school voucher plans in the Texas House for decades, but Abbott went to extreme lengths<\/a> to push one through for the first time in the state\u2019s history last year.<\/p>\n He used an unheard of $6 million campaign contribution<\/a> from a Pennsylvania billionaire to help root out detractors<\/a> of the idea in Republican primaries, including one of his old allies, state Rep. Steve Allison (R-Alamo Heights), who was so disillusioned by the attacks that<\/a> he said he no longer recognized the Republican Party.<\/p>\n According to Campos, the governor put tremendous pressure on Democratic members too \u2014 though none wound up coming over to his side<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI had a very important bill, the dog bill here in San Antonio, that went all the way to the governor\u2019s office. Unfortunately, it got vetoed,\u201d Campos in a speech at the Tejano Democrats\u2019 candidate forum at Luby\u2019s.<\/p>\n \u201cI personally had a meeting here with [Abbott] in San Antonio and asked him why he vetoed my dog bill that is so needed,\u201d she continued. \u201cHe told me that he needed my voucher vote, and if I gave him that vote, he could un-veto my bill.\u201d<\/p>\n The voucher plan was approved during the 89th Legislative Session with the support of all but two House Republicans. Every Democrat voted against it.<\/p>\n \u201cI told him, \u2018With all due respect, that is not fair,’\u201d Campos recalled of her conversation with the governor. \u201c\u2018It\u2019s a good bill, and I\u2019m not going to give you your voucher vote. That\u2019s not going to happen.’\u201d<\/p>\n The Ramon Najera Act \u2014 named after the 81-year-old veteran who was killed in a dog attack in 2022 \u2014 seeks to allow<\/a>\u00a0anonymous reporting of dangerous dogs and to empower local animal care service departments to investigate aggressive dogs without affidavits or a sworn statement. The bill would also have increased penalties for repeat offenders.<\/p>\n Lawmakers from other counties wanted no part of those changes, but it was approved by both the Texas House and Senate in the 2023 legislative session after lawmakers bracketed it to apply only to Bexar County. <\/p>\n Abbott said in 2023<\/a> that the bill\u2019s changes to the penalties amounted to overcriminalization,\u00a0and the state\u2019s existing laws already penalize attacks by dangerous dogs so much that felony arrests have already been made following Najera\u2019s death.<\/p>\n At the time, Campos said Abbott\u2019s office had \u201cagreed to work with me on it,\u201d so she reintroduced it<\/a> during a special session that year, which was aimed at school vouchers.<\/p>\n