Thursday, June 17, 2021

Coming Soon To A Texas Courthouse Near...Well, Somebody.

Yeah, just one little problem there:

Democratic state Rep. Mary González of El Paso, who sits on the Texas House’s budget writing appropriations committee, said the Legislature did not allocate money in its $250 billion budget for a border wall. She said immigration enforcement is not a state job, but a federal one.

State lawmakers allocated $1 billion for border security in the state budget, but González said most of these funds go to the Texas Department of Public Safety.

“The Democratic caucus has always been clear that this is a misuse of funds,” González said.

Which doesn't mean a lot politically, but could mean a lot legally.  And besides, he's preaching it round and square:

Which would mean, I guess, give it back so Texas can take it?  Yes, it seems that’s exactly what it means:

Abbott said he expected people to both donate their own money and volunteer their land for the barrier. ​

"My belief based upon conversations that I've already had is that the combination of state land as well as volunteer land will yield hundreds of miles to build a border wall in Texas," he said.
So, people are going to donate land and money for this, right?  You know, there’s a reason the feds had to take property by eminent domain.

Abbott acknowledged that construction of a wall would cost "far more than $250 million" but said he and lawmakers will follow through with their plan. "It's my commitment as well as the commitment of the people in this room, as well as the people in this Capitol, to make sure that we see this project through," he said.
Wait, I thought this wall was going to be funded by donations.  Something tells me this whole thing is not even half-baked.

Worth noting, too, Abbott has only 3 days left to veto the Legislative budget.  Not saying he won't do it at the last minute, but when he does, he loses even more leverage over the Democrats, who can just boycott special sessions like crazy and prevent the House from doing anything.  Which prevents the sessions from operating.  Not that anything's going to get done without staff, anyway.

Unless Dan Patrick wants to violate the state Constitution again and declare the 31st or 32nd day of the session is still "good" for getting bills passed.  Or he can just take it upon himself to redirect authorized funds:

The funds for Texas' $250 million "down payment" will come from the state budget. Lawmakers will allocate money from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice into a disaster account, which will then be moved to the Texas Facilities Commission for the border wall construction. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, House Speaker Dade Phelan and the Legislature's top budget writers Sen. Jane Nelson, R- Flower Mound, and Rep. Greg Bonnen, R- Friendswood, joined Abbott for his announcement Wednesday and signed a document allowing the transfer of the money.

I don’t think they have the authority to re-direct state funds, but what’s the rule of law when you need to own the libs, right?  Not that "If I deny it, it's not happening" isn't part of Abbott's strategy:

Yeah, I don't think that's gonna work the way he thinks it does. Already on day 3 of "please don't run your A/C today." That's expected to last to the end of the week, and now it explicitly encompasses businesses (offices, hotels, restaurants, stores), too. Tell us again to ignore reality, Governor.  And explain to us how Texas is "open for business," but we can't leave the lights on.
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