AUSTIN (WBAP/KLIF) – Political experts say Texas Governor Greg Abbott is within his power to remove pay for lawmakers after pledging to do so in response to Democrats letting the clock run out on a controversial voting bill.
The pledge comes after Democrats walked out on the Republican led voting bill, causing it to die before the legislative session ended.
I will veto Article 10 of the budget passed by the legislature.
Article 10 funds the legislative branch.
No pay for those who abandon their responsibilities.
Stay tuned.
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) May 31, 2021
SMU Political Science Professor, Dr. Cal Jillson said Tuesday that the public pledge was Governor Abbott’s way of making clear that he expects bi-partisan talks to continue on the voting measure, which will be taken up again in special session later this year.
“[Governor Abbott] has something called a line item veto,” said Jillson. “Which means that the budget goes to the Governor. He can veto the whole budget if he wants to, but Governor’s don’t do that. They do go in and line out certain items that they do not support.”
University of North Texas Political Science Professor Kimi King said there are still a lot of unanswered questions.
“Will he only go to cut the pay of the legislators who walked out,” asked king. “Or will he veto the provision in total?”
Regarding his next step, the Governor said “stay tuned.”
Listen to Clayton Neville’s story below:
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