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Speaker 1: Today's episode of The Trip Cast is brought to you

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by Raise Your Hand, Texas and One World Strategy Group.

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Hello and welcome back to the Tribcast. I'm Eleanor Klibanoff,

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women's health reporter here at the Tribune, joined by my

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co host, politics reporter James Berrigan.

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Speaker 2: How you doing, James, I'm doing great.

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Speaker 1: Great and fan favorite friend of the pod politics reporter

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Jasper Sharer, how you doing.

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Speaker 2: I'm good.

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Speaker 3: I didn't know I was a fan favorite, but happy.

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Speaker 2: To be back.

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Speaker 1: Everyone's talking about it.

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Speaker 3: Everyone everyone.

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Speaker 1: Jasper is standing in today for our co host Matthew Watkins,

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which I believe also gives you all the powers of

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interim editor in chief.

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Speaker 4: It's fine, it's, you know, a big duty. But all

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I take my powers, I don't take them lightly.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, long overdue. People have been saying, many people, do

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you have any emergency action items you're going to shove

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through while you're interim editor in chief.

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Speaker 3: M That's a good quest.

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Speaker 4: I mean, I've just learned ten seconds ago that I

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have this title now, so I haven't put a ton

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of thought into it, but I am excited to try

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to you know, Phil Matthew's shoes on the podcast.

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Speaker 1: Speaking of Power. This week's episode is all about the

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Texas the top dog in Texas, Governor Greg Abbot. This week,

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the governor gave his State of the State address on Sunday,

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where he laid out the emergency items that the legislature

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can fast track, sort of his priorities for the session.

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This speech is also an opportunity for the governor, he's

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been governor for a decade to sort of talk about

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how the state is going under his tutelage, under his leadership.

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Came at a tricky time this year, I think for Abbot.

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Just hours before this speech, Texas experience a pretty significant tragedy.

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The Dallas Mavericks traded Luka Doncik.

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Speaker 2: To the La Laders.

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Speaker 3: Sure.

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Speaker 1: I just think it's important that we start and I

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think people put a lot of trust in us here

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at the Texas Tribune. Who you get your news from matters.

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I want to go on the record and I want

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to say to our North Texas listeners, our North Texas fans,

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I am not now and have never been a Los

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Angeles Lakers fan. Jasper, have you ever been a Los

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Angeles Lakers fan?

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Speaker 4: No, I can't say I have I can't speak for

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everyone on the podcast, but personally no.

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Speaker 1: Right, So that's two of three.

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Speaker 5: James, I love the Los Angeles Lakers. I will not

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apologize for it, and I'm sorry. I mean, I think

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the Nico Harrison made a bad decision, but it benefits

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my team, So I am okay with this.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, I think it's a matter that maybe the House

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General Investigative Committee should start taking a look at just

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they've They've been dormant for some number of months now

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and this I just feel like things look a little

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fishy here.

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Speaker 2: To look into what went into the decision? Yes, yeah,

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A what went.

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Speaker 1: Into the decision? B James's fandom of the LA right

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that too. Yeah, it is a trade that the Ringer

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referred to as the dumbest NBA move I've ever seen someone.

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I mean, I think it was the front page of

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the Dallas Morning News. I mean, I feel like Dallas

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is mourning, Like are the MAVs.

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Speaker 2: There's done?

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Speaker 5: There was a literal like funeral situation rightside of the

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American Airline Center.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, and I guess some of them.

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Speaker 4: The more I think you could call it outlandish speculation

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or at least, you know, really verging in almost conspiracy

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theory territory, but maybe not is that you know, Miriam

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Addelson of course is part of the ownership group that

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has the majority ownership stake. She wants to you know,

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legalize casinos, legalized gaming in Texas. Has the prospects for

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that don't seem awesome with Dan Patrick in charge of

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the Senate. So the theories out there in the in

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the ether, or that this could be priming the pump

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for you know, moving the Mavericks outside of Texas, which

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you know, I don't know if that's actually in the cards,

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but I feel like just the ties to the you know,

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Texas political world here like there there's always some sort

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of Texas politics connection, and everyone's running rampant with all

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the speculation right off the bat.

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Speaker 1: So it's a trade so bad you have to assume

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there's some kind of political ulterior motive motivate play. Yeah, James,

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do you have anything you'd like to say to the

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people of North Texas.

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Speaker 5: I've been completely caught off guard by this intro right now,

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and I feel like it was just to make fun

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of me.

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Speaker 1: I told Jess right said, please come, prepare to talk about.

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Speaker 5: But I think what the listeners are learning is that

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we are political reporters and not sports reporters. We do

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not have a whole lot.

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Speaker 1: We want to tie this back to the Texas legislature

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and the odds of a gambling a legislation which is terrible,

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not the legislation. I just mean that we can ruin

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anything by making it about the Texas legislature.

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Speaker 2: Yes, come to parties with us were very fun.

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Speaker 1: Anyway, moving on to the real stuff, which is that

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also on Sunday night, Houston native Beyonce one Album of

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the Year at the Grammys. Huge night for Texas. Uh,

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I've just hearded learned that a resolution has been filed

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to honor her. So Texas legislation, legislature connections to everything.

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Speaker 2: Los Angeles Nativekendrick Lamar also did pretty.

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Speaker 1: Well at the gramm How dare you uh right not

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to say to that? Yes, I refuse to engage with

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that information. Anyway. Let's move on to Governor Abbott and

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the State of the State address. James You on Sunday

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took a break from I assume planning a Lakers parade

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in downtown Dallas to uh attend the State of the

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State Address. Talked just a little bit about the event.

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You know what the what the vibe was, what the

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energy was.

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Speaker 2: Well, the vibe was celebratory.

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Speaker 5: As listeners may know, this is a tradition the State

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of the State address that traditionally had been held at

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the Capitol in front of a joint legislative session of

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the House and Senate. But a couple of years ago

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Governor Abbott made the decision he was going to take

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the show on the road. First, he did it during

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the pandemic and now he's continued sort of doing that tradition,

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holding it at businesses to sort of, I think emphasize

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his business friendly attitudes and how Texas is a leader

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in business. So it was a lot of invited attendees.

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The number given to us in the press box was

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eleven hundred people there. Members of the House, member of

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the Senate were there, Speaker Borroughs was there, and it

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was sort of a summary of what the governor believes

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is going right in the state of Texas. We're leaders

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in business in the nation. Got a lot of top

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tier research universities and casting his vision forward for what

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the state needs to do to continue on that path.

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And you know, it's all invited guests. So I saw

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people saying, oh, he's getting a standing ovation. He's like, well, yeah,

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he's going to get.

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Speaker 2: A standing ovation.

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Speaker 3: Friendly audience.

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Speaker 2: It was a friendly audience, but you know it was.

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Speaker 5: It was a speech that cast Governor Abbott's vision forward, saying,

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here's what we need to do for the next couple

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of decades for Texas to remain a leader. And some

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of those things we're going to talk about, like water infrastructure,

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which seems like nuts and bolts kind of boring stuff.

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But then there's also other things like school vouchers that

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he talked about and said that was a must pass item.

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And then things that weren't emergency items but that he

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certainly stressed were things like immigration, further restrictions on diversity,

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equity and inclusion programs not just in universities but in

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other tax paying entities, so we'll see what comes of that.

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And then further restrictions on transgender Texans in public life,

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which which really caught a lot of people's attention.

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Speaker 1: Absolutely. I mean, were there any big surprises to you

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jasper on what got the attention?

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Speaker 4: What didn't I don't you know, I don't think so

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I mean one thing that maybe caught my attention rather

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than any individual item.

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Speaker 3: Was just how.

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Speaker 4: I guess broad some of the you know, the overall

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like menu of items was how there's kind of something

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for everyone in the sense that like what James was

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talking about, you know, there's I think everyone in the

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universe of Texas politics knew that education savings accounts was

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going to be on the list. Bail reform, the Republican

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version of bail reform has been this is a repeat item.

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So some of the more partisan items I think were expected,

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and then just kind of the everything else I think

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you could put in the category of bipartisan, you know,

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the the shoring up the water infrastructure, teacher pay, you know,

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I think it it was, I guess notable in how

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uncontroversial the agenda was beyond sort of the partisan items

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that we all we all knew would would be on there.

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Speaker 5: I think part of that was to sort of project

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the strength on things like fool vouchers, but also to

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sort of quell this infighting that we have seen in

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the Texas GOP for many many years now. He has

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Jasper put really well, is putting something out there for

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everybody business friendly Republicans love it. They love the investment

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and water infrastructure, They love the career workforce training that

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is coming. Something that wasn't an emergency item but that

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he talked about was investment in nuclear power and nuclear energy.

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They love all that stuff because it creates a better

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business atmosphere. And then social conservatives are very very happy

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about school vouchers, are very happy about DEI talk, are

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very happy about the further restrictions on transgender Texans and

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about immigration. So something for everybody, and everybody seems the

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Republicans of that is, seem to be happy with the

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direction that Abbot is laying out.

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Speaker 1: You guys mentioned most of these, but just for the

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sake of totality, the seven emergency items were cutting property taxes,

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a generational investment in water infrastructure, increasing teacher pay, vocational

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training programs, school choice, school vouchers, educational savings accounts, bail reform,

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and then creating a cybersecurity hub in San Antonio.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, thats me for a loop. Yeah, because it's a

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little boring, boring, a.

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Speaker 1: Little specific, a little yeah, yeah, but I think.

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Speaker 5: It's like a national security thing, but it is kind

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of boring.

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Speaker 1: It's a good reminder that like a lot of what

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the government does is gets no headlines and uh, you know,

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is not that incendiary, but is important.

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Speaker 4: Could maybe throw that in the category of things that

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the business you know, the Chamber of Commerce Republicans would

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would be happy about to.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, how does this sort of align with what we're

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hearing from the House and the Senate on what they

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want to accomplish this session.

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Speaker 4: I think it generally lines up pretty pretty closely, especially

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with I think the Senate has a more with with

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Dan Patrick laying out his list of so far twenty

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five top priority bills. I think they have a more

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formal agenda that you know, we can sort of compare

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to and just looking at what, you know, the emergency

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items that Dan Patrick has has already listed as his priorities, water, infrastructure,

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property tax cuts, school choice, education savings accounts, and bail

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reform are all up there, and those you know, those

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low built numbers. And I think Speaker Burrows also put

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out a statement, you know, listing a few items that

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he said basically, you know, we're all aligned on passing

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this stuff. So I think, you know, there there were

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may be some some items on Dan Patrick's priority list

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that that were not mentioned by Abbott. You know, you could,

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you could talk about that, but you know, I did.

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It did seem to me that Abbot was intentionally going

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back to my earlier point about you know it. It

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was kind of striking how little controversial stuff was on here.

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It feels like that could be kind of an intentional

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move to you know, let's make sure we can knock

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out school vouchers, essays and some of these other, you know,

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tricky things like property tax cuts. Took two special sessions

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last year. Let's get those out of the way before

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we bring up, you know, all the stuff that could

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have nasty floor fights and derail these other items.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, the speaker's statement that you're referencing said, excuse me.

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The speaker's statement that you're referencing said, the House Senate

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and Governor Abbott are quote clearly aligned. So he and

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the items that he was mentioning were all items that

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were emergency items for the governor.

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Speaker 2: So they're trying to project unity.

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Speaker 5: They're trying to project that they're all on the same

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page and there's not going to be this infighting that

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we saw. We may be on track to another Kumbai

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Ya session like we saw in twenty nineteen.

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Speaker 3: Was distant memory.

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Speaker 5: We'll have to wait and see what that relationship between

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the House and the Senate looks like. But also also

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can I just get on like a little rant here, please,

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seven emergency items, that's what you call priorities. When you

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have seven of them, you can track them, and we

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know easily what the seven are.

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Speaker 2: Seven even is a little bit big.

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Speaker 5: But Lieutenant Governor has forty forty and that has grown

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from the original twenty that it was. And I get

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the idea of like you've got to do more and more,

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but when you have forty like it, each one gets

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a little less deprioritized.

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Speaker 2: And the House under Speaker Feeling was going to have

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one hundred and fifty of them. Now we don't know

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what it's actually going to be.

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Speaker 5: Like Speaker Borrows hasn't put out his statement, but just

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a little rant about priorities and top the Governor said

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seven and he said these are our emergency items, and

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then he talked about a bunch of other issues. And

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I think you know he's covering all his bases. But

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that's it's just a little pet peeve of you. Well,

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and we should note too, that. Patrick also made a

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point to say, even if an item is not included

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in this top forty list doesn't mean that it's not

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a priority or it's not important. So really forty is

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kind of just the starting point of his So he's right, it's.

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Speaker 1: Like everyone gets a few. There's not even there's not

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that many senators guys.

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Speaker 5: As a wise woman once said, a friend to all

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is a friend and none though, come on now, I mean,

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there's just show what your priorities are.

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Speaker 1: I would say if I could broad this out even further.

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A real issue I have had with the Texas I've

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covered several state legislatures. There's too many bills, period, doesn't

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matter if their priorities or not. Texas the text legislature

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files north of ten thousand bills every session. We pass

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about a thousand of them. Many of them are the

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same bill again and again and again. It is insane

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to me. I just saw a memo someone I think

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Brad Johnson tweeted out this memo from the you know,

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legislative Legislative Research Council that you know helps write the bills,

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basically being like, can you please tell us which ones

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are your priorities? So we can like prioritize getting those written.

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How about everyone? Here's my ask to the Texas legislators

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when you are sending a memo to them saying, these

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are the priorities I'd like you to, you know, prioritize

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these bills of the many that I have five asked

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you to write up. Just knock off everything else at

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the bottom there. Just just everyone gets a couple of priorities.

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This is what according to our politics editor are now

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managing editor for Politics and Enterprise, Rebecca Allen has told

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me that Louisiana they meet every year, but every other

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year there's a limit on how many bills legislators can file.

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Let's give that a try in Texas.

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Speaker 3: It's an interesting idea. I mean, I think, to be fair, he's.

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Speaker 2: Like, let's stop talking on a high wire right now.

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Speaker 4: It's a pleasure to be here. Now I am. I

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will just to be fair to the Lieutenant governor. I

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do think that, you know, he he has still been

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pretty intentional about you know, the low bill numbers are

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still you know, he indicates that those are his his

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utmost priorities. I think, you know, he sort of assumes

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that people know Senate Bill three, like his his THHC

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band is going to be top of mind. You know,

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I think people aren't necessarily equating that in importance to

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like Senate Bill thirty nine, no offense to whoever files that,

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But you know, it's it's.

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Speaker 3: So I don't know, I think.

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Speaker 4: And it's also sort of like him flexing his muscles

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in some way where he's like he's just amassed this.

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I think he's pretty regularly referred to as like the

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most powerful lieutenant governor in history, and he's like, I'm

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gonna roll out forty priority bills and like get guys

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better pass.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, but there's not being nothing about being unfair. But

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it's just like just something that is like more colloquial,

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very easy.

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Speaker 5: There's the Ten Commandments, there's the seven sacraments, right, they

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make it easy for the people to follow.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I will say, I mean there is a

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risk to doing seven items when in fact we know

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that of these also, of these seven, you know a

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few of them are higher priorities, and certainly you do forty,

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you get to say at the end, we passed a

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majority of my priorities with this. You know, Governor Abbott

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has thrown a ton of political capital last session and

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this and now this session into vouchers. I mean, I

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think we can really see this as like there's seven

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and one rises above the rest, right, what I mean,

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James talked to us a little bit about how we

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got here. Governor Abbot's role in getting vouchers to this point, right,

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And I think you.

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Speaker 5: Make an excellent point, like there's seven of them. It's

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easier for us to track, like, it's easier for the

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people to watch. It's also easier to snipe them. It's

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a bigger gamble, for sure, percent bigger gamble. Didn't get

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his agenda done.

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Speaker 2: Here's what I'll say.

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Speaker 5: I mean, the governor is at an all time high

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in terms of his power.

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Speaker 2: Right.

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Speaker 5: He was very involved in the Republican primaries last year.

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He wiped out eleven of fourteen opponents to school vouchers

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and replace them with people who say they support it.

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He's so confident that the day after the election he says,

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We've got seventy nine hardcore.

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Speaker 2: School voucher supporters.

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Speaker 5: That's more than the seventy six that he needs to

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get passed in the House, which is where the problem was.

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He's also raised or has seventy million dollars in the

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bank for an election that's two years away. And right

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now you look around and see who would be crazy

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enough to challenge Governor Abbott in an election, whether that

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be in Republican Party from the right or any Democrat

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who would want to go up against that gargantuan war chess.

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He is at his all time strength, and I think

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that's what he's projecting in this It's a bold sort

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of agenda that he's put out. School vouchers is the

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number one thing, and he's saying, you guys want to

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oppose me on anything, I dare you, look at what

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just happened to the folks that did that last time around.

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So I think the legislature has gotten the message and

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they are on board, and that's why you're seeing so

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much unity. Not to mention that he has also been

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very wise with the way he's put the agenda out.

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He realizes he's got a Republican majority in both chambers,

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and he sprinkled a little bit of something for everybody.

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So it's a unifying agenda for Republicans and he's.

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Speaker 2: Just super strong. So there's nobody's going to challenge him now.

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The Democrats.

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Speaker 5: They are in real trouble, and there's clear opposition from

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them to a lot of the agenda, not necessarily the

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emergency items, but some of the emergency items, certainly including

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how the teacher pay.

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Speaker 2: Raise is going to go.

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Speaker 5: But what do you do if you're the Democrats is

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my question.

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Speaker 2: It's gonna be a tough session for them, I think.

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Speaker 1: Right, I mean, Jasper Governor Abbott, Like you know, last

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session we went to several special sessions on school Boucher's

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He's thrown his weight behind you know, in these races.

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He has come out very clearly as like this is

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the cornerstone of at least you know, the last couple

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of years of his or you know that's most recent

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few years. How much of his legacy is riting on

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getting this done this session, you know, from the zenith

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of his power to it's a big risk.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, I think the short answer is a lot.

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You know, it's especially just thinking about he's been in

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office for such a long tenure, just historically speaking for governors,

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and you know, he's he's generally gotten what he wants

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from the legisl but he hasn't with some exceptions. But

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he hasn't you know, I'd be hard pressed to think

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of like really a legacy defining you know, item like

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this that he's put all his weight behind and you know,

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gotten it through, and we could think twenty thirty years

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down the line that people will like associate this new

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law with like his name. So in that sense, this

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is like, you know, potentially what people will remember his

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his governorship for, especially if it comes kind of towards

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the tail end of it, depending on how many more

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terms he serves. And I think, you know, it's also

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kind of impressive in some ways just thinking about how,

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you know, where education savings accounts vouchers were at in

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those you know, the test votes in the House, you know,

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going back even just like four or six years ago,

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it was pretty overwhelming opposition to get from like you know,

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in the twenties. The number of votes for vouchers up

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to potentially in the seventies is pretty significant. So I

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don't know, I think it's a lot is writing on

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it and kind of like what James is saying, it's

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you know, kind of his his political like it's assumed

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right now that he is at the height of his powers.

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But you know, if if he struggles to get it through,

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Like if they get stuck at seventy four seventy five

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votes somehow it's you know, that'll be a huge black

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mark on him in some ways, given the expectations that

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he's set coming into the session.

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Speaker 1: Right, absolutely, all right, Let's take a quick break to

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read a message from our sponsors. Public schools are at

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00:21:33,839 --> 00:21:36,920
the center of our democracy. Raise your Hand Texas believes

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00:21:36,960 --> 00:21:40,640
the future prosperity of our state, our economy, communities, and

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00:21:40,720 --> 00:21:46,279
citizenry hinges on the success of every public school, school, leader, educator,

431
00:21:46,319 --> 00:21:49,519
and child. Learn more at Raise Yourhand Texas dot org,

432
00:21:49,640 --> 00:21:54,079
slash get involved and from one World Strategy Group. Jerry

433
00:21:54,079 --> 00:21:56,640
Brooks and her Powerhouse team don't just play the game,

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00:21:56,799 --> 00:22:00,279
They change it y'all. See why ranked among the best

435
00:22:00,400 --> 00:22:05,799
smart strategy, real impact, proven results. James tell us a

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00:22:05,839 --> 00:22:08,640
little bit more about Greg Abbott as a leader. I mean,

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he's been a longtime governor, but like you said, not

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a ton of splashy in a state of a you know,

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00:22:16,319 --> 00:22:20,920
a let's say, firebrand political leaders. He sort of runs

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a little more quiet.

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Speaker 5: Right, Yeah, And I think having spoken to people who

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have worked for the governor and seen sort of behind

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the scenes. They've sort of admitted that he has grown

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into the job. You know, he spent most of his

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career in the legal field as an attorney, as a judge,

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as the attorney general, and it's a different role from

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being in the executive and being working with the legislature.

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Speaker 3: You know.

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Speaker 5: I think if you think back to twenty fifteen, you

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could certainly see a governor who was getting his head

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on straight about how to work with the legislature. And

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he was so different from his immediate predecessor, Perry, who

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was a creature of the legislature and had been in

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both the House and the Senate and knew how to

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sort of play the game. I don't think it can

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be argued that Governor Abbott doesn't know how to play

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the game now. He I think certainly takes a little

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bit longer to sort of go out there and say

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his public position, a public view on a position or

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on an issue. But once he's made up his mind,

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he's going full bore on it. And we've seen that

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with school vouchers, right. It wasn't something that I think

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people in his circles say he's always been a supporter,

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but he clearly was not as strong a supporter in

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twenty seventeen or twenty nineteen or even twenty twenty one.

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It really came last session in twenty twenty three that

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we saw him going like really really strongly for this.

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And you know, school Boucher's supporters they see that and

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they say, this has really sort of changed the dynamic here.

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He has become a lot stronger. We've also seen it

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on things like immigration. He is very very clear on

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how being stricter border enforcement, stricter immigration enforcement, and he's

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really gone for it. So I think he's grown into

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this very very very strong governor who is willing to

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do almost unprecedented things like we have seen with the

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immigration enforcement in the state led border wall, and then

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also even in trying to get his agenda through with

478
00:24:21,559 --> 00:24:26,200
his involvement in the primaries. He's really become this very

479
00:24:26,319 --> 00:24:29,359
very powerful governor that I think people ten years ago

480
00:24:29,519 --> 00:24:30,960
might not have foreseen.

481
00:24:32,440 --> 00:24:35,519
Speaker 4: But yeah, I think it's also interesting to add on

482
00:24:35,559 --> 00:24:37,759
to that point about just you know, he of course

483
00:24:37,799 --> 00:24:41,319
went scorched earth in the primaries, but even you know

484
00:24:41,400 --> 00:24:44,559
before that, like during session, you know, and it's been

485
00:24:44,599 --> 00:24:48,400
interesting to see him how he interacts with the legislator,

486
00:24:48,559 --> 00:24:53,160
the legislature as someone who hasn't served there before. Just

487
00:24:53,720 --> 00:24:58,200
he was showing all these hardball tendencies even before you know,

488
00:24:58,200 --> 00:25:00,759
it got to election season, where he was you know,

489
00:25:00,799 --> 00:25:05,839
went on a veto spree, you know, penalizing lawmakers who

490
00:25:05,839 --> 00:25:09,599
didn't get on board with vouchers or I believe also

491
00:25:09,680 --> 00:25:11,599
some of the rationale for that was penalizing them for

492
00:25:11,680 --> 00:25:16,359
not getting property attacks cuts done in time. Even going

493
00:25:16,400 --> 00:25:20,480
back to the twenty twenty one session when Republicans were

494
00:25:20,640 --> 00:25:24,799
trying to pass the they're voting an election overhaul bill

495
00:25:25,359 --> 00:25:29,559
and the they failed to do that during the regular

496
00:25:29,640 --> 00:25:32,519
session and the Democrats fled the state and held up

497
00:25:33,680 --> 00:25:37,200
the bill. You know, Abbott went ahead and defunded, used

498
00:25:37,200 --> 00:25:41,160
the line item veto to I guess, defund the legislature.

499
00:25:41,240 --> 00:25:45,240
So he's clearly establishing this pattern of like governing and

500
00:25:45,400 --> 00:25:48,720
and sort of interacting with the legislature. You know, he

501
00:25:48,799 --> 00:25:51,519
also of course has his allies who you know, will

502
00:25:51,559 --> 00:25:54,039
work with him on sort of you know, the weedsy

503
00:25:54,039 --> 00:25:56,519
stuff and you know, getting what he needs in the

504
00:25:56,519 --> 00:25:59,640
budget and and all that kind of stuff. But we've

505
00:25:59,680 --> 00:26:02,000
also you know, I guess a striking number of these

506
00:26:02,079 --> 00:26:05,039
kind of high profile clashes involving Abbott in the legislature

507
00:26:05,039 --> 00:26:09,519
where he's not you know, he's willing to use the sword.

508
00:26:09,640 --> 00:26:10,400
Speaker 2: I guess yeah.

509
00:26:10,440 --> 00:26:13,000
Speaker 5: And it's interesting too because having spoken with people who

510
00:26:13,000 --> 00:26:17,680
have worked for the governor as well, like again they said,

511
00:26:17,720 --> 00:26:20,240
he wants to have good relationships with the legislature. He

512
00:26:20,240 --> 00:26:23,279
doesn't like it when there's that rift between them, right.

513
00:26:24,119 --> 00:26:27,799
But to your point, is has shown that if you

514
00:26:27,799 --> 00:26:30,000
don't get on board with something that he has clearly

515
00:26:30,000 --> 00:26:32,960
said is a priority item, there will be consequences. And

516
00:26:33,000 --> 00:26:35,839
we saw the worst version of that for the people

517
00:26:35,839 --> 00:26:39,200
who lost in the primaries. But there has been previous ones,

518
00:26:39,200 --> 00:26:44,000
like defunding the legislature, and it's something that I think

519
00:26:44,079 --> 00:26:47,240
is interesting for us to view as that separation of

520
00:26:47,279 --> 00:26:51,279
the legislative branch and the executive branch because.

521
00:26:50,920 --> 00:26:52,240
Speaker 2: He has grown so strong.

522
00:26:52,319 --> 00:26:55,079
Speaker 5: I mean, even at the peak of Rick Perry's height,

523
00:26:55,880 --> 00:26:58,640
there was that thing where he wanted to require like

524
00:26:58,799 --> 00:27:03,240
HPV vaccines and the legislature overwrote it and they were like, no,

525
00:27:03,400 --> 00:27:05,359
we're not going to do that. And that was like

526
00:27:05,400 --> 00:27:07,920
the legislature sort of flexing its muscle saying no, we

527
00:27:08,000 --> 00:27:10,880
are our own independent branch and we are going to

528
00:27:10,920 --> 00:27:13,640
do things our way because we are an equal branch

529
00:27:13,640 --> 00:27:14,200
at government.

530
00:27:14,880 --> 00:27:15,119
Speaker 1: Here.

531
00:27:15,440 --> 00:27:18,599
Speaker 5: The governor is so popular and so strong, and popular

532
00:27:18,680 --> 00:27:25,200
is important because voters really really like Greg Abbott, and

533
00:27:25,279 --> 00:27:27,880
so he is so powerful and so popular and so

534
00:27:28,000 --> 00:27:33,519
strong that he sort of has overridden that sort of independence,

535
00:27:33,559 --> 00:27:34,880
if you will, of the legislature.

536
00:27:34,920 --> 00:27:37,519
Speaker 1: Well, and he's like a voracious like fundraiser, right, I

537
00:27:37,519 --> 00:27:39,680
think he has learned like he is not the guy

538
00:27:39,799 --> 00:27:43,640
who is like making the headlines with like crazy quotes

539
00:27:43,799 --> 00:27:45,519
or like getting out that. I mean, he certainly does

540
00:27:45,799 --> 00:27:47,680
interviews on Fox News and things like that, but he

541
00:27:47,759 --> 00:27:50,319
is that's not what he is known for. He's like

542
00:27:50,440 --> 00:27:53,799
I think certainly maybe always new, but now really seems

543
00:27:53,839 --> 00:27:56,359
to have stepped into like this like soft powers soft

544
00:27:57,160 --> 00:27:58,759
unless you're on the other side of it, but you know,

545
00:27:58,839 --> 00:28:00,839
the behind the scenes stuff, you know, he can kind

546
00:28:00,839 --> 00:28:04,079
of you know, unless you're closely watching the Texas legislature,

547
00:28:04,519 --> 00:28:06,440
you just kind of know him as like as Greg Abbott,

548
00:28:06,480 --> 00:28:10,279
you know, like he's not really I know this from

549
00:28:10,279 --> 00:28:12,759
like a report of a lot of the Attorney General's office,

550
00:28:12,799 --> 00:28:15,240
Like I mean, he really like laid the groundwork for

551
00:28:16,400 --> 00:28:19,359
you know, suing the Obama administration and like suing the

552
00:28:19,839 --> 00:28:23,759
you know, the Texas as. This leader in setting policy

553
00:28:23,799 --> 00:28:27,559
through the courts, and like you know, rarely talks about that.

554
00:28:27,559 --> 00:28:29,039
I mean, you know it talks about it when it

555
00:28:29,200 --> 00:28:31,640
serves him. But now you've got Ken Paxton, who obviously

556
00:28:31,640 --> 00:28:33,519
takes a very different pr tack.

557
00:28:33,759 --> 00:28:36,079
Speaker 5: I think it's more of a like a focused power,

558
00:28:36,119 --> 00:28:38,039
Like he has the things that he wants to do,

559
00:28:38,440 --> 00:28:41,079
and he certainly I mean, he goes on Fox News

560
00:28:41,079 --> 00:28:44,359
on those things like immigration, and he has obviously gone

561
00:28:44,480 --> 00:28:48,160
on a big campaign tour about vouchers, but he doesn't

562
00:28:48,160 --> 00:28:50,160
feel the need to like talk about every single thing.

563
00:28:50,279 --> 00:28:51,960
He's like, I'm with you guys on these things, like

564
00:28:52,000 --> 00:28:54,400
I don't need to. He's got his going back to

565
00:28:54,400 --> 00:28:58,079
this his priority, and he's like, I'm going to focus

566
00:28:58,079 --> 00:29:00,319
on these because I know I've got where the same

567
00:29:00,319 --> 00:29:01,160
page about everything else.

568
00:29:01,160 --> 00:29:02,559
Speaker 2: I don't need to be talking about it all the time.

569
00:29:02,599 --> 00:29:05,400
Speaker 4: I do think, I mean, one area where he we

570
00:29:05,480 --> 00:29:08,079
have seen I guess maybe the limits or I guess

571
00:29:08,119 --> 00:29:11,880
one check on Abbot's power is when he runs into

572
00:29:11,960 --> 00:29:16,319
any sorts of disagreements with Dan Patrick and the Senate especially,

573
00:29:16,680 --> 00:29:20,480
I'm thinking of the property tax rift. I guess we

574
00:29:20,519 --> 00:29:23,200
could call it at the end of the regular session

575
00:29:23,240 --> 00:29:26,799
in twenty twenty three, where you know, I know that

576
00:29:26,960 --> 00:29:29,200
the governor and his staff were somewhat involved during the

577
00:29:29,200 --> 00:29:32,400
regular session, but they really you know, a lot of

578
00:29:32,400 --> 00:29:34,880
the clashing was between the House and the Senate, and

579
00:29:34,920 --> 00:29:39,240
then Abbot sort of comes in, you know, pretty I

580
00:29:40,079 --> 00:29:43,119
guess hot like at the start of the first special

581
00:29:43,160 --> 00:29:46,000
session saying here's exactly how we need to do these

582
00:29:46,039 --> 00:29:48,519
property tax cuts, and he was on the same page

583
00:29:48,519 --> 00:29:53,160
as the House, and Dan Patrick said, no, that's actually

584
00:29:53,160 --> 00:29:54,920
not how we're gonna do it. We're gonna raise the

585
00:29:54,920 --> 00:29:58,400
homestead exemption, and Abbots sort of ended up backing off

586
00:29:58,519 --> 00:30:01,079
just I mean, what ended up passing was more or

587
00:30:01,160 --> 00:30:04,200
less what Dan Patrick wanted. So that is one area

588
00:30:04,240 --> 00:30:08,359
where I think, you know, part of Abbot's power I

589
00:30:08,359 --> 00:30:11,519
think also comes from just it is a very powerful

590
00:30:11,559 --> 00:30:14,160
alliance when when Abbott and Patrick are on the same page,

591
00:30:14,160 --> 00:30:16,920
and just so happens that they on the vast majority

592
00:30:17,000 --> 00:30:19,759
of these these items, they are pretty aligned.

593
00:30:20,720 --> 00:30:24,079
Speaker 1: Right, These were not emergency items, but as you mentioned,

594
00:30:24,079 --> 00:30:26,599
sort of a governor Abbot took the opportunity to mention

595
00:30:26,680 --> 00:30:29,440
a couple other things, two of which, you know, immigration

596
00:30:29,720 --> 00:30:32,440
and his sort of taking a big swing at what

597
00:30:32,480 --> 00:30:37,920
he called the woke agendas in schools and you know, diversity, equity,

598
00:30:37,920 --> 00:30:42,039
inclusion measures, gender and athletics and those sort of things.

599
00:30:42,200 --> 00:30:46,279
These are things Texas has already done a lot on that.

600
00:30:46,359 --> 00:30:49,799
Now we're getting a lot of airtime nationally because of

601
00:30:49,880 --> 00:30:54,000
our new President Trump. Talk a little bit about, you know,

602
00:30:54,039 --> 00:30:58,519
the relationship between Governor Abbott President Trump and like Texas's

603
00:30:59,559 --> 00:31:01,680
you know, taking a little bit of a victory lap

604
00:31:01,680 --> 00:31:02,559
on some of these issues.

605
00:31:02,839 --> 00:31:03,119
Speaker 3: Yeah.

606
00:31:03,200 --> 00:31:06,440
Speaker 4: Well, I think during the the speech, Abbot mentioned how

607
00:31:06,960 --> 00:31:09,160
he was saying that he thought like the Trump administration

608
00:31:09,279 --> 00:31:11,759
was kind of modeling their approach in some ways off

609
00:31:11,799 --> 00:31:16,079
of what Texas was doing. Not sure exactly what, you know,

610
00:31:16,599 --> 00:31:18,799
how that's playing out so far. It's so early with

611
00:31:18,839 --> 00:31:22,799
the Trump Administration's policies that I think even just looking

612
00:31:22,880 --> 00:31:26,359
at you know, how Texas is approaching, you know, trying

613
00:31:26,359 --> 00:31:29,640
to trying to be a willing and able partner to

614
00:31:29,759 --> 00:31:32,160
you know, help with the mass deportation efforts and all that,

615
00:31:32,880 --> 00:31:35,160
it's it seems like we don't really know how how

616
00:31:35,200 --> 00:31:37,799
the how much the state is going to actually spend

617
00:31:37,839 --> 00:31:42,079
on order security or watching some of the Senate Finance

618
00:31:42,119 --> 00:31:46,160
hearings lately, it's you know, it sounds like that could

619
00:31:46,160 --> 00:31:48,640
just be like a starting point. You know, Abbot's still

620
00:31:48,640 --> 00:31:52,920
trying to get the Feds to agree to reimburse Texas

621
00:31:52,920 --> 00:31:55,359
for all the billions they've spent on border security, which

622
00:31:56,200 --> 00:31:59,079
I think even Joan Huffman, the Finance chair in the Senate,

623
00:31:59,200 --> 00:32:02,799
was like not saying, you know, I'm not super optimistic

624
00:32:02,799 --> 00:32:04,160
about that, but but.

625
00:32:04,559 --> 00:32:06,640
Speaker 2: I just happens every couple of years that they do.

626
00:32:06,559 --> 00:32:08,720
Speaker 4: This, right, But I do think, I mean, it's we

627
00:32:08,759 --> 00:32:10,200
are starting to see a little bit more. It is

628
00:32:10,200 --> 00:32:13,400
coming into folks a little bit. Just how the you know,

629
00:32:13,480 --> 00:32:19,160
Abbot signing these these explicit agreements to you know, basically

630
00:32:19,240 --> 00:32:24,119
with the Trump administration to deputize or allow state police

631
00:32:24,160 --> 00:32:28,839
to serve as de facto immigration officers as long as

632
00:32:28,839 --> 00:32:32,559
they're in coordination some of some sort with the Feds.

633
00:32:32,960 --> 00:32:36,240
You know, that is in a lot of ways getting

634
00:32:36,440 --> 00:32:38,839
Texas right back to where it was with Senate bill

635
00:32:38,920 --> 00:32:40,799
for what they were trying to do with their their

636
00:32:40,799 --> 00:32:44,319
big immigration bill before it got put on pause by

637
00:32:44,319 --> 00:32:46,880
the courts. So I think, you know, we'll just continue

638
00:32:46,880 --> 00:32:49,920
to see more details roll out as you know, the

639
00:32:49,960 --> 00:32:54,079
Trump administration starts, continues to put in more executive orders

640
00:32:54,160 --> 00:32:56,599
and and and all that. But it's clearly the posture

641
00:32:56,839 --> 00:33:00,240
for Texas is like, whatever you guys need from at,

642
00:33:00,440 --> 00:33:03,200
let's team up and do as much as we can together,

643
00:33:03,240 --> 00:33:03,960
which is striking.

644
00:33:04,000 --> 00:33:04,319
Speaker 3: Really.

645
00:33:04,400 --> 00:33:06,160
Speaker 5: I also saw it kind of as a like as

646
00:33:06,200 --> 00:33:10,599
a massive flex you know, for yeah, because he did say,

647
00:33:10,680 --> 00:33:13,359
you know, Trump Trump, the Trump administration is looking at

648
00:33:13,440 --> 00:33:15,599
us as the model they're doing what we were doing,

649
00:33:15,640 --> 00:33:18,720
and so and it is interesting that it's not an

650
00:33:18,759 --> 00:33:22,000
emergency item because it was an emergency item last session.

651
00:33:22,000 --> 00:33:26,599
There were two items related to the border last time around,

652
00:33:26,640 --> 00:33:29,000
and it's been an emergency item like twice before, like

653
00:33:29,279 --> 00:33:33,039
immigration related or border related things. You'll remember sanctuary cities

654
00:33:33,039 --> 00:33:35,759
in twenty seventeen. But yeah, I mean, I think I

655
00:33:35,799 --> 00:33:38,119
just think like it's a massive flex to say we

656
00:33:38,160 --> 00:33:40,279
don't really need to We feel like we have a

657
00:33:40,799 --> 00:33:43,720
comfortable partner in the federal government to all the points

658
00:33:43,720 --> 00:33:46,240
that Jasper was saying. But again, I think just because

659
00:33:46,279 --> 00:33:49,480
it's not an emergency item for the government governor. Doesn't

660
00:33:49,519 --> 00:33:51,440
mean he doesn't care about it. I mean it's one

661
00:33:51,440 --> 00:33:53,519
of the things that he cares most about. It's been

662
00:33:53,559 --> 00:33:57,279
a defining item of his tenure as governor. And I

663
00:33:57,319 --> 00:33:59,680
think that lawmakers are still going to be filing bills.

664
00:34:00,039 --> 00:34:02,319
So like, let's make no mistake, immigration is going to

665
00:34:02,359 --> 00:34:05,000
continue to be a huge issue in the Texas legislature.

666
00:34:05,079 --> 00:34:05,480
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think.

667
00:34:05,559 --> 00:34:10,079
Speaker 4: I mean, to your point, it's like habit and state

668
00:34:10,159 --> 00:34:13,280
leaders can can get done what they want to do

669
00:34:13,320 --> 00:34:16,320
on immigration. They can ink these agreements with with the

670
00:34:16,360 --> 00:34:20,480
Trump administration without having to pass any new legislation. And

671
00:34:20,559 --> 00:34:23,079
in the meantime, you know, kind of to the point

672
00:34:23,079 --> 00:34:26,119
I was making earlier, I could see why Abbot wouldn't

673
00:34:26,159 --> 00:34:31,079
be super eager to have you know, these prolonged and

674
00:34:31,119 --> 00:34:37,039
really emotional for debates over you know, contentious immigration legislation

675
00:34:37,159 --> 00:34:41,440
while he's simultaneously trying to get this potentially legacy defining

676
00:34:42,840 --> 00:34:46,360
school choice es a bill through. So I think, well,

677
00:34:46,400 --> 00:34:51,559
and we have seen some some proposed legislation already as

678
00:34:51,559 --> 00:34:53,960
far as just expanding the state's role in immigration. I

679
00:34:53,960 --> 00:34:58,599
think the dan Patrick Priority bill was you know, requiring

680
00:34:59,480 --> 00:35:03,599
local govern mint cities to cooperate with you know, federal

681
00:35:03,599 --> 00:35:06,280
mass deportation efforts, so that that's still coming later in

682
00:35:06,320 --> 00:35:06,920
the session, and.

683
00:35:07,159 --> 00:35:09,159
Speaker 2: The governor announced support for that.

684
00:35:09,440 --> 00:35:11,519
Speaker 1: Right, well, right, and certainly, I mean I was just

685
00:35:11,519 --> 00:35:14,159
looking at some polling before this that you know, they

686
00:35:14,239 --> 00:35:16,480
have the support of the voters on this. You know,

687
00:35:16,599 --> 00:35:19,719
the immigration is the number one issue. The Texas Politics

688
00:35:19,760 --> 00:35:22,559
Project found twenty two percent of Texas voters think that

689
00:35:22,599 --> 00:35:25,639
should be the legislature's top priority, which is not you know,

690
00:35:25,719 --> 00:35:27,800
a majority, but it is the issue that they are

691
00:35:27,920 --> 00:35:31,119
you know, that have the most support for, followed by

692
00:35:31,119 --> 00:35:33,760
the economy and then in third place, I don't know

693
00:35:34,239 --> 00:35:35,960
which same.

694
00:35:35,920 --> 00:35:36,840
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think relatable.

695
00:35:36,880 --> 00:35:39,800
Speaker 4: If there's anything we can you know, consistent through line

696
00:35:39,840 --> 00:35:42,840
on all the state wide polling, especially from the Texas

697
00:35:42,840 --> 00:35:45,280
Politics Project folks over there, I know they've pulled this

698
00:35:45,480 --> 00:35:48,000
question for a number of years. It's like it just

699
00:35:48,039 --> 00:35:51,519
feels like there's no it's like an endless appetite. There's

700
00:35:51,599 --> 00:35:55,519
no amount that is too much that the legislature can spin.

701
00:35:55,760 --> 00:35:56,039
Speaker 2: Yeah.

702
00:35:56,119 --> 00:35:58,559
Speaker 1: Yeah, But to your point, you know, if the if

703
00:35:58,599 --> 00:36:01,199
you want to focus your energy on education savings account

704
00:36:01,199 --> 00:36:03,360
of vouchers, maybe right now you can say, well, the

705
00:36:03,360 --> 00:36:06,199
federal government's got, you know, the big swings and let

706
00:36:06,199 --> 00:36:10,719
them catch up to where where Texas already is. Yeah yeah, well, Jasper,

707
00:36:10,719 --> 00:36:12,719
thank you so much for joining us on this week's

708
00:36:12,719 --> 00:36:16,400
episode of The Trip Cast. James, you as well. We

709
00:36:16,440 --> 00:36:18,679
hope the good people of North Texas forgive you for

710
00:36:18,760 --> 00:36:20,599
your allegiance.

711
00:36:22,280 --> 00:36:23,840
Speaker 3: Shameful, shameful, shameful.

712
00:36:24,239 --> 00:36:26,320
Speaker 1: We want to thank you to our sponsors, Raise Your

713
00:36:26,320 --> 00:36:29,480
Hand Texas and One World Strategy Group. Our producers are

714
00:36:29,559 --> 00:36:33,239
Rob Avila and Chris Spobada. Our theme music is composed

715
00:36:33,239 --> 00:36:35,559
by Rob and we will see you next week