By Matt Johnson
Image: Gage Skidmore
Texas hasn’t seen its Governor veto this many bills since 2007. Yesterday, Governor Greg Abbott vetoed a flurry of bills and shot his total for the 85th Legislature up to 51 and counting. By comparison, during the 84th Legislature, his first as Governor, he vetoed 44 bills. In Rick Perry’s tenure, spanning seven legislative sessions, he vetoed more bills only twice - 56 in 2007 and 83 in 2001.
On Monday, June 12, Abbott cut funds from important low-income and clean air planning programs, as well as brackish groundwater research, using his line item veto power (read more here). Yesterday, he went after a common sense used tire bill and several pieces of water legislation.
Get used to seeing scrap tires where they shouldn’t be
As we mentioned in our legislative wrap up, Sen. Jose Rodriguez (D-San Antonio) and Rep. Armando Walle (D-Houston), had successfully shepherded through SB 570, which would have improved regulations and enforcement on tire disposal to prevent them from ending up in unauthorized dumps, ditches, and rivers. It passed the Senate on a 20-11 vote, and the House (thanks to a last minute push) by an overwhelming 113-30.
Despite a diverse group of stakeholders, including the Sierra Club, urging Governor Abbott to sign the bill, he vetoed SB 570 on Thursday.
In his veto statement, Abbott offered this rationale, “In order to know whether their handling of used tires is a crime or not, Texans would have to consult the Texas Register and the actions of local governments on a regular basis to ensure the rules governing tire disposal have not changed. Surely there are better ways to address the problem of old tires than by creating a new and vaguely defined crime.”
Our Conservation Director Cyrus Reed said the bill would have improved enforcement strategy to give state and local entities the ability to prevent unauthorized disposal of used and scrap tires. There are hundreds of illegal dump sites, from Houston to the Valley to El Paso, precisely because of the lack of enforcement strategies and tools. These illegal dump sites lead to fires and are mosquito breeding grounds (think Zika) because there is a lack of enforcement strategies and tools.
This bill wasn’t reinventing the wheel either. SB 570 was modeled on work that the City of Laredo has done to deal with their tire problems, which have been largely resolved.
On the waterfront
The water related bills Abbott vetoed are a bit of a mixed bag... a big mixed bag.
Abbott vetoed seven water bills yesterday. On one of them, HB 3987 (relating to the authority of the Texas Water Development Board to use the state participation account of the water development fund to provide financial assistance for the development of certain facilities), he actually raised concerns similar to the ones the Sierra Club raised during the session.
He did, however, veto several good bills, that would have allowed the funding of conservation easements - an effective tool for protecting water quality (HB 2943) and a bill that would have facilitated speedy capping of abandoned groundwater wells, which can be avenues for pollution of aquifers (HB 3025).
"The disturbing thing about the water vetoes is that several of them may have been based on displeasure with the legislative sponsor and not on the legislation itself. That doesn't bode well for water policy in the long run," said Ken Kramer, Water Resources Chair of the Sierra Club’s Lone Star Chapter.
What’s next?
Abbott could still axe more legislation. He has until 20 days after the regular session ends, which would be June 18.
Be sure to keep an eye out for our legislative scorecard in the coming weeks.