Texas Gov. Greg Abbott made good on his promise to sign into law a bill that would make it harder for cities to defund the police.
The bill, signed June 1, only affects cities with a population greater than 250,000, and punishment for cutting police funding involves capping property taxes and deducting sales tax revenue, KXAN reported.
Abbott had made his vow after a shooting in Austin and retweeting the Austin Police Association president's information about how long it took officers to respond to the shooting, adding the tweet "this is what defunding the police looks like," CBS News reported.
"In Texas, we don't defund or disrespect our police. We ALWAYS #BacktheBlue. Which is why I made legislation preventing cities from defunding the police an emergency item this session," Abbott wrote in a May 24 tweet.
Austin Police Association President Kenneth Casaday tweeted that a call about the shooting came around 5:35 a.m. on Sunday, May 23, and it took officers approximately 16 minutes to arrive on scene because no units were available closer than 12 minutes away.
One victim was shot in the head and critically injured.
"Austin is incapable of timely responding to a victim shot in the head. Texas won't tolerate this. We're about to pass a law, that I will sign, that will prevent cities from defunding police. Sanity and safety will return," Abbott wrote in another tweet.
"Let’s support public safety in this state. Let’s support our police. Let’s back the blue,” state Rep. Craig Goldman (R-Fort Worth) who wrote the bill, said as reported by KXAN.
KXAN reported that Abbott has long criticized Austin City Council's decision to cut police funding by $20 million, the ramifications of which he said were seen in the response time of the Austin shooting.
The bill goes into effect on Sept. 1, but would not effect Austin until a new fiscal year only if the city decides to cut police budgets more.