EL PASO, Texas (KFOX14\/CBS4) \u2014 Texas Gov. Greg Abbott told supporters at a campaign rally in El Paso on Thursday his \u201ctop job\u201d as governor is \u201cto keep Texas Texas,\u201d arguing that his administration and Republican lawmakers have pushed back against what he repeatedly called \u201csocialistic ideas\u201d in Texas\u2019 largest cities.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy top job this campaign, my top job as your governor, is to keep Texas Texas,\u201d Abbott said.<\/p>\n
Abbott claimed that during the most recent legislative session, \u201csocialists judges in big cities across the state\u201d refused to keep \u201cdangerous criminals behind bars,\u201d and he said \u201cmore than 200 Texans were murdered by someone who had been previously arrested for murder.\u201d Abbott said he signed a law he described as keeping \u201cthose dangerous murderers where they belong and that is behind our bars.\u201d<\/p>\n
Abbott also pointed to the \u201cdefund the police movement,\u201d saying he would not allow police departments to be defunded in Texas. \u201cI signed the law to ensure that we would defund any city that defunds their police,\u201d he said. Abbott added, \u201cTexas is not Minnesota,\u201d and said, \u201cIn Texas, we support our law enforcement officers, period.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the same remarks, Abbott said he declared the Muslim Brotherhood and \u201ccare\u201d as foreign terrorist organizations that \u201cwill not be allowed to operate in the state of Texas.\u201d He also said he signed \u201ca law banning a Sharia law city in the state of Texas,\u201d and said, \u201cWe\u2019re gonna pass a law banning Sharia law in the entire state of Texas.\u201d<\/p>\n
Abbott highlighted election-related legislation, saying Texas enacted laws stating that \u201conly United States citizens can vote in our elections in the state of Texas,\u201d and that the state has \u201cthe strongest voter ID law, including voter ID on mail-in ballots.\u201d He said Texas also made it a crime for \u201cprofessional ballot harvesters,\u201d adding, \u201cYou will go to jail if you are a professional ballot harvester in our state.\u201d<\/p>\n
Turning to border security, Abbott criticized \u201cJoe Biden open border policies\u201d and said Texas is \u201cthe only state in the history of America to build our own border wall to secure our state.\u201d He also said Texas deployed the National Guard and that \u201cmore than 3,000 National Guard\u201d members were on the border \u201ctonight.\u201d<\/p>\n
Abbott also touted the Texas economy, saying \u201cmore Texans have a job today than ever before in the history of our state,\u201d and that Texas \u201cranks number one for new jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n
On education, Abbott said he wants Texas to \u201crank number one for educating our children,\u201d and pointed to school choice as well as increased public school funding. He said he signed a law \u201cproviding eight billion dollars more to fully fund public education in the state of Texas,\u201d and said the state provided teachers with \u201ca four billion dollar pay raise,\u201d which he called \u201cthe largest teacher pay raise ever in the history of our great state.\u201d<\/p>\n
Abbott said lawmakers also moved to change classroom instruction, saying Texas is \u201creturning to teaching our kids with reading, writing, math and science and phonics learning phonics and cursive writing in the classroom again.\u201d He said he signed what he called \u201cthe toughest law in America banning DEI in our public schools,\u201d and also signed a law he described as \u201celiminating pornographic books for our school library for our kids.\u201d He also referenced \u201ca law that bans boys and girls sports in our schools.\u201d<\/p>\n
Abbott addressed costs facing homeowners and small businesses, noting that he said 98% of Texas businesses are small businesses. He said the state increased a property tax exemption for small businesses from $2,500 to $125,000.<\/p>\n
He said small business owners across Texas have told him \u201cthe skyrocketing cost of insurance\u201d is forcing some to close, and said insurance costs are rising far faster than inflation. Abbott said, \u201cThis session, we\u2019re going to tackle the skyrocketing insurance costs and slash that insurance cost in half.\u201d<\/p>\n
On property taxes, Abbott said lawmakers increased the homestead exemption to $140,000, up from $15,000 when he became governor. He said for seniors, the exemption would be $200,000. Still, Abbott said residents are not satisfied with their property tax bills and laid out proposals he said would provide \u201clasting enduring relief.\u201d<\/p>\n
Abbott called for limiting government spending, requiring votes on property tax increases with a two-thirds threshold, and reducing the annual appraisal cap from 10% to 3%. He also proposed changing appraisals so property owners would be \u201csubject to appraisal only once every five years.\u201d<\/p>\n
Abbott said the biggest change would come from shifting school funding away from local property taxes. \u201cThe time has come for the state to fully pay for 100% of our public education,\u201d he said. \u201cYour homestead should not pay for our public schools. The state of Texas should pay for our public schools.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said that under his plan, homeowners would \u201cpay zero dollars in the future on that line item that would be going to public schools,\u201d and claimed, \u201cYour property tax bill will get cut in half overnight.\u201d<\/p>\n
RELATED: Texas governor to campaign in El Paso with comptroller, AG commissioner candidate<\/a><\/p>\n