SAN ANTONIO \u2014 Gov. Greg Abbott met with law enforcement officials and mothers who have lost children to fentanyl Tuesday, highlighting the state\u2019s prevention efforts and outlining public safety proposals for the next legislative session.<\/p>\n
During the San Antonio visit, Abbott also answered questions about using a $7.5 billion federal reimbursement for property tax relief and a possible border wall in Big Bend.<\/p>\n
The roundtable at the Deputy Sheriff\u2019s Association of Bexar County included families affected by fentanyl and representatives of the awareness group Soles Walking 4 Souls.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are attacking the fentanyl crisis at every level, at the border, on our highways, in our communities across Texas,\u201d Abbott said.<\/p>\n
Abbott pointed to fentanyl education in schools and a state law allowing murder charges when someone supplies fentanyl that causes another person\u2019s death. He said more than 40 such murder charges had been filed.<\/p>\n
He also emphasized educating young people about the risks of fentanyl in other drugs and counterfeit pills.<\/p>\n
\u201cHowever, through our education programs, we\u2019re helping teens, young adults learn about the dangers of fentanyl,\u201d Abbott said.<\/p>\n
A mother representing Soles Walking 4 Souls praised the state\u2019s efforts to expand access to Narcan and described the group\u2019s community outreach and annual awareness walk.<\/p>\n
Narcan is a brand name for naloxone, a medication that reverses opioid overdoses.<\/p>\n
The discussion took place during Fentanyl Poisoning Awareness Month. Families at the event spoke about their children and efforts to prevent other families from experiencing similar losses.<\/p>\n
Beyond fentanyl, Abbott said he wants to expand the state\u2019s repeat offender task force statewide and create a state prosecutor position that could intervene when local district attorneys fail to pursue cases against dangerous offenders.<\/p>\n
\u201cNext session, I will seek a state prosecutor who will be empowered to step in when rogue district attorneys like that in Travis County fail to indict and prosecute dangerous criminals,\u201d Abbott said.<\/p>\n
He also said he would seek a law making district attorneys subject to impeachment.<\/p>\n
Abbott criticized his opponent, Gina Hinojosa, accusing her of voting to defund police.<\/p>\n
Texas Democratic Party spokesman Jacob Long disputed Abbott\u2019s characterization in a statement responding to the event.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s shameful that he continues to lie about Gina Hinojosa and use law enforcement as a political prop to scare and distract Texans,\u201d Long said.<\/p>\n
Long also criticized Abbott\u2019s record on household costs, public schools and crime.<\/p>\n
Asked how soon the $7.5 billion federal reimbursement could help provide property tax relief, Abbott said some of the money would support continued border security.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut a large chunk of it, I believe, should go toward property tax relief,\u201d Abbott said.<\/p>\n
He said his proposed tax package would reduce the average Texan\u2019s annual property tax bill by more than $3,000.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs you know, I\u2019ve outlined a property tax relief package that will cut the average property tax bill of the average Texan by more than $3,000 a year,\u201d Abbott said. \u201cThis will help pay for that program.\u201d<\/p>\n
Those savings are Abbott\u2019s projection for his proposal. He did not give a timeline for when homeowners could receive the relief.<\/p>\n
Asked about preventing a border wall in Big Bend and his conversations with the president, Abbott instead described multiple conversations with the homeland security secretary.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are not going to build a wall. They\u2019re not going to build a fence. They\u2019re not going to build a barrier,\u201d Abbott said.<\/p>\n
He said the secretary had assured him three times.<\/p>\n
Abbott said he would continue meeting with voters across Texas, including stops in Jasper and other locations Wednesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN ANTONIO \u2014 Gov. Greg Abbott met with law enforcement officials and mothers who have lost children to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":458824,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[82,84,83],"class_list":["post-458823","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-headlines","tag-san-antonio-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458823","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=458823"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458823\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/458824"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=458823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=458823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=458823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}