(Continued)

(Tuesday, January 17, 2023)

(To inaugurate the Governor-elect and Lieutenant Governor-elect)

The Senate met at 11:00 a.m. in Joint Session with the House of Representatives in the space reserved for the Legislature adjacent to the platform erected at the north entrance of the Capitol for the inauguration of the Governor-elect and Lieutenant Governor-elect.

The Members and guests stood for the presentation of colors by the Texas National Guard, Color Guard, Marching Unit.

Guests were announced and advanced to the platform as follows: Senator Brandon Creighton; Tamarah Curtis; Representative Justin Holland and wife, Neely; Tilman Fertitta and wife, Lauren; Brint Ryan and wife, Amanda; Arcilia Acosta; Gary Geppert; President Pro Tempore Kelly Hancock and wife, Robin; Speaker Dade Phelan and wife, Kim; Lieutenant Governor-elect Dan Patrick and wife, Jan; Judge Ryan Patrick and son, Zachary; Jared Scruggs and wife, Shane; Governor-elect Greg Abbott and wife, Cecilia, and daughter, Audrey.

The Members and guests stood for the Pledge of Allegiance led by the Marine Military Academy, Harlingen, "The Star Spangled Banner" sung by Tanya Tucker, the Texas Pledge of Allegiance led by Stacy Langhum, and "Texas, Our Texas" played by The Spirit of Houston Cougar Marching Band, University of Houston.

The Honorable Kelly Hancock, President Pro Tempore of the Senate, called the Senate to order and announced a quorum of the Senate present.

The Honorable Dade Phelan, Speaker of the House of Representatives, called the House to order, announced a quorum of the House present, and stated the purpose of the Joint Session.

Speaker Phelan introduced Pastor Randy Weaver, Lone Star Cowboy Church, Montgomery, who offered the invocation.

Speaker Phelan announced that the Constitutional Oath of Office would be administered to Lieutenant Governor-elect Dan Patrick by Judge Ryan Patrick.

The Honorable Dan Patrick, accompanied by his family, took the Constitutional Oath of Office.

The Honorable Eddie Lucio Jr. and the Honorable Brandon Creighton presented Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, who addressed the Joint Session as follows:

Thank you. Thanks for the kind words from Senator Lucio, who's retiring after a lifetime of service. He's a friend and a statesman, and I wanted him to be here today. And Brandon Creighton, who I've given a huge assignment to this session, to be Chair of Education and Higher Education, again, impacting six million students in K through 12 and millions of students in higher ed. And everything he said has happened, but it happens with a team that includes the Governor and the Speaker of the House. Because without the House members and the Senators to file the bills, to fight for the bills on the floor, to pass the bills, and then for the House to do the same, and the Governor to sign them, nothing happens. So, I congratulate you, Governor, the Speaker, and the House members and the Senators who are here today. Also want to welcome our state officials, our esteemed justices, all of our guests, our Senators, our House members, my family. Jan, this year we will celebrate our 48th wedding anniversary. Stand up. Does she look good or what? She is the strongest person I know. She is the kindest person I know. And I would not be able to serve unless she had said back in 2006, It's okay. So, thank you. And my daughter, Shane, and her husband, Jared, stand up. They are pregnant in March, she is, he had something to do with it, with their fourth. And then my son, Ryan, and my oldest grandson, Zachary. They have four so we will have eight grandchildren in another few months. I have two special guests I want to introduce, one with a sad note. A few weeks ago Apollo 7 astronaut, Walter Cunningham, passed away. I was at his 90th birthday party a few months ago and I will speak at his celebration of life this time next week in Houston. And his beautiful wife, Dot, who has been by his side for so long, is here today. We lost a true American hero, one of our few astronauts, Apollo astronauts, left. Dot Cunningham, please stand. We have been friends for 30 years. Also, want to welcome someone you all know. If you remember Heath Barkley from The Big Valley or Colonel Steve Austin from The Six Million Dollar Man or Colt Seavers from The Fall Guy and in many movies and in many television shows, my good Republican friend and a Texan for a long time, Lee Majors, and his beautiful wife, Faith, and they will celebrate 23 years of marriage this year. Thank you for being here. So, Governor, we've done it again, three-peat. You know we had a bruising campaign, again. I don't know what was more annoying when I would come home on those rare occasions from the campaign trail, turn on the TV, and every five minutes there was an attack ad on us. I don't know if that was more annoying or another Mike Lindell, My Pillow ad. Now, he has My Slippers. Mike's a friend. I said, Mike, you say you can wear them indoors and outdoors. If you wear them outdoors, they're shoes. No wife's going to let her husband come inside after being out in the pasture or mowing the grass with slippers. And he lives in Texas now, and I told him I'd take him to a rodeo. I said, You can have George Strait jeans, you can have the finest Stetson, you can have a Tony Lama shirt, but if you have slippers on, you're not getting out of the truck. Mike has moved here like millions have moved here since 2000. We've added 11 million people since the year 2000. Why are they coming here? Because America looks at Texas as the America that all America used to be. We still love God in this state. I see Jesus is King over there. Jesus is King. I went back and read the Austin American-Stateman, they did an article after I spoke in 2015, and they said most politicians talk about God, he talked about Jesus and his Christianity. He actually put his faith over his party. Yeah. Of course. Proud that Jesus Christ is my savior. I respect all faiths and all religions and those who don't believe, but for me Christian first, conservative second, and Republican third. They come to Texas because not only do we love God, we love our country, we love our state, we salute our flag. When we kneel, it's not against the flag it's to pray to God. We are a blessing. Texas is unique. When Texans travel around the world and someone says, Where are you from, we don't say America, we say Texas. They know where Texas is. No one from Delaware says Delaware, no one knows where Delaware is. Well, maybe they do now because of a Corvette in a garage, but that's another story. As we come into this session, we have more of your money to spend on you wisely. And, of course, we will save much of that money because there's always another day ahead. But because of you, the hard-working Texans, the business leaders, the entrepreneurs of Texas who have come here, who were born here, built a business from nothing, we have the strongest economy on the planet. We've had 25 percent growth just in the last two years. And there's a sense of excitement with these people up front, the House members and the Senators, because, Governor, we have 32 billion-plus and we're going to do a lot of great things for the people of Texas because it's your money. And by the way, that does not count the 18 to 20 billion in the rainy day fund. When God was about to rest on that seventh day, He said, What do I do with this oil and gas? Where do I put it? Who can I trust it with? We know the answer to that. But we're a diverse economy. We are strong. The world is in chaos and they need a strong America. And America is not strong without a strong Texas. And I believe that Texas is not strong without strong conservative policies that say the government will give you what you need, but stay out of the way. We will let business prosper and we will create jobs and that's why people are coming here from the other 49 states. We have a robust agenda. Some of you may know that I took a bus tour around a lot of rural Texas, 130 cities in 17 days. The best people, the best food, the best time I've ever had. It's a highlight of my life and will always be, not for politics just for the people I met. And, of course, we campaign in the urban and the suburban areas as well. But after the campaign season you come back with the people's agenda. So, what do they want us to do? Just a few things you want us to do. You want us to continue lowering your property taxes, and we are committed to doing that with billions of dollars. When I came into the Lieutenant Governor's office in '15, your homestead exemption was $15,000, it had been that way forever. We increased it to 25,000. And then last session, with Greg Bonnen, the Appropriations Chair in the House, who works with us, thank you, Mr. Chairman, we raised it to 40,000. And in the budget that we will release this week, the Texas Senate will raise your homestead exemption to $70,000, which will save you thousands of dollars over the lifetime of your home. Enough to make a difference. And the Governor, and the Speaker, and the Members will come together, and we'll find a way that's long-term property tax relief with billions of dollars from this surplus, because you come first, it's your money. Secondly, for our business community, we lowered the business franchise tax by 25 percent in our first session. It's time this year to increase the business property exemption from a lowly $2,500 to $100,000. That's the tax that small and mid-size business pay on their chairs and their desks and their computers. It's a nuisance tax and we need to get rid of it. It will help grow even more jobs and grow more businesses. You have asked us to secure the Border. And, Governor, the Governor, he's had a lot of great ideas. He called the Speaker and myself one day and he said, I need some more money. We said, For what? I want to send buses. Where? To all those blue states. Dade and I said, We're in. And the mayor of New York City's complaining because he has a few thousand people in a city of eight million, when our cities on the Border, because of the federal government's lack of securing our Border, are overrun. But without our National Guard, without our DPS troopers, without local law enforcement, it would be far worse. There would be even more drugs, more terrorists, more criminals crossing this border. Our budget had been 400 million a year. In the last two years, we spent about four billion. That's tax dollars out of your pocket that we shouldn't spend, and we're going to need a change in the White House in '24 to get that border secured because this President is not doing his job. And even the Democrat governors and mayors say he's not doing the job. School choice, the Governor and I are all in on school choice. Now, I know for some they say, Well, it could hurt rural Texas. Well, let me give you a number. We have 1,207 school districts in the state. Four hundred and eighty-six of them have less than 500 students. There aren't going to be any private schools coming to there. The economics don't make sense. Seventy-six percent of our districts have less than 3,000 students. The economics don't make sense. Forty-nine districts have more than a half of the students in Texas. Two hundred thousand in Harris County, well over 100,000 in Dallas, I could go on. Most of our schools are good schools. Many of our schools are great schools. My wife was a long-time teacher. I'm proud that we gave teachers the biggest raise in history and we're going to do that again because it should be a profession and not a job. But I can tell you, that to the naysayers that say school choice hurts rural Texas, the Governor and I will have a plan to protect those schools financially and to make sure those parents have choice also where they are in a failing school. Because no parent should have to send their child to a school that's a failure, to a school that they feel is unsafe, or if you have a child with a disability, which is about one out of every four students, if that school can't help you, and many of our schools do a great job with the disabled, so we are going to pass school choice. And I hope finally this is the session that we join over 30 other states in giving parental rights to parents to choose the school of their choice. Governor, thank you for making this a campaign issue. And by the way, we got 77 percent of the vote in rural Texas. We both campaigned on that. I think the people of rural Texas are fine with school choice, just fine. A subject has come up of tenure. And let me just say this, I don't start any fights, but I do my best to finish a few on your behalf. Out of nowhere some professor said, We're going to teach Critical Race Theory at a, at our college, at our university. And I tweeted out, wait a minute. We banned Critical Race Theory in K through 12 next session. If you are heck bent on teaching it to our college students, we will ban it in college. They came back and said, Well, we don't listen to the legislature, we don't listen to the Board of Regents. They're not accountable to anyone. Well, let me tell you what, our public professors are accountable to the taxpayers because you pay their salary and they are accountable to the Board of Regents, and they are accountable to the legislature. Tenure is fine for our research professors and our doctors, but for those professors in the classroom every day, I don't want them teaching, just like the parents don't want in K through 12, that if you're White, you're a racist and if you're of color, you're a victim. I don't want teachers at our colleges saying America is evil and capitalism is bad and socialism is better. And if that means some of those professors who want to teach that don't come to Texas, I'm okay with that. I want professors who love this country, who love this state and raise up the next generation, be proud of being in business. Also, in traveling around the state, I listened to sheriffs and county judges. And we're going to do something unprecedented. We're going to spend hundreds of millions of dollars for the first time in history, it's in our budget, to our rural counties for law enforcement because we've got sheriffs making $35,000 a year and deputies and making 28, and people in rural Texas deserve the same law enforcement protection as we do anywhere else. So, we're going to help those counties for the first time ever. We have a robust plan to build more mental health care hospitals because we need more health care for everyone in this state. We only have 2,500 beds for 29 million people and a thousand of those are offline because we don't have enough nurses. So, we're going to put forth the plan in the Senate to give a scholarship, like we do for doctors. For anyone that wants to become a registered nurse, we will pay for your education because we need to incentivize young people to go in that great profession. And lastly, the most important thing we can do is strengthen the grid. Windmills are fine, solar's fine, renewables are fine. You know, we're fifth in the world. There's the United States, China, India, Germany, and Texas. But we need more thermal power, natural gas, hydroelectric. We need dispatchable energy we can count on. We will add more megawatts of thermal power this session and strengthen the grid as we began last session. I want to close with this. I don't know how many of you were in church this morning. Pastor Hagee gave a great sermon. We had a great service last night at Saint Mary Catholic Church. We are not in a battle between Republicans and Democrats anymore. I'm proud in the Texas Senate, and many of you don't know this, we normally pass 98 to 99 percent of all bills with Republicans and Democrats signing off on the bill. We're not Washington, D.C. We're a family in this legislature. We go to each other's weddings, each other's funerals. We pray together as we did last session. Yes, there are differences between the parties, and those are fought out in strong debates. But we must be together because the battle in this country is between powers and principalities, between good and evil, between darkness and light. And America looks to us. America's looking for a leader. Texas is that leader. I give you my promise, I give you my oath of office, that I will be relentless in protecting the freedom and liberty of Texas. I'll be relentless in our fight for good over evil. I'll be relentless in working together with the Senators, the House members, the Governor, and the Speaker so that this continues to be the greatest place to live on planet Earth. Jesus Christ is my savior. Thank you, Lord. I'm so blessed to be here today. Every time I walk in that building, I remember this. All of us are there on the wings of your vote and when people go in and vote for you, they don't look back anymore to see what you're doing every day. They trust you. And when we get that vote, Governor, as you did, and I did, it's because they trust us to do what we said we were going to do. At the end of the day, when you run for office, say what you're going to do, do what you said you were going to do, because that's what you're supposed to do. God bless you, God bless the great State of Texas, and thank you. I'm honored to be your Lieutenant Governor. Thank you.

Speaker Phelan announced that the Constitutional Oath of Office would then be administered to Governor-elect Greg Abbott by Chief Justice Nathan L. Hecht.

The Honorable Greg Abbott, accompanied by his family, took the Constitutional Oath of Office.

The Members and guests stood for the Cannon Battery Salute and military flyover.

Speaker Phelan presented His Excellency, the Honorable Greg Abbott, Governor of the State of Texas, who addressed the Joint Session as follows:

To my fellow Texans, thank you for your support and trust.

Thanks to Chief Justice Hecht for administering the oath of office.

I want to thank Lieutenant Governor Patrick and Speaker Phelan for their leadership. Thanks to the statewide officials and legislators. We will work together to keep Texas the land of opportunity.

God has blessed me with a wonderful family, including my extraordinary wife, Cecilia, who has championed Texans most in need. She has focused on foster care and ending the scourge of human trafficking in Texas. She and I share a constant ray of sunshine in our lives, our remarkable daughter, Audrey.

I also want to thank our family here today, led by my father-in-law, Bill Phalen.

All Americans are heirs to the freedom secured by the men and women who have worn the uniform of the mightiest military in the history of the world. My brother, Gary, is among them-having served in the Navy for 20 years, including flying combat missions in the first Gulf War. He is here with his wife, Denise.

Also with us are our Texas State and National Guard, who are leading the charge to defend our border. They are led by Major General Suelzer.

We would not have the freedom to do events like this one today, if not for the sacrifices made by our brave men and women in uniform. If you've ever worn the uniform, please stand or wave so we can show you our gratitude.

Our state song, "Texas our Texas," is a hymn. A hymn that glorifies the exceptionalism of our state. We work every day to live up to that excellence.

It begins like this, and I assure you, I won't sing it, but I will recite it, because the words are important to who we are as a people.

"Texas, Our Texas!

All hail the mighty State!

Texas, Our Texas!

So wonderful, so great!

Boldest and grandest, withstanding EV'RY test

O Empire wide and glorious, you stand supremely blest.

God bless you Texas!

And keep you brave and strong,

That you may grow in power and worth, throughout the ages long."

By the grace of God, we have fulfilled that aspiration to be that "mighty state."

Texas is America's undisputed economic leader, providing pathways to prosperity for all Texans. Our $2 trillion economy is now the ninth-largest in the world. Texas is number one in America in producing the food, the fiber, and the fuel that we use every day.

The gas you put in your truck, the jeans you wear, the steak you eat for dinner, all of it is made in Texas. In fact, "Made in Texas" is the mightiest brand in America, and we use it to build the number one economy in the United States.

The second line of our state song declares: "Texas, Our Texas! So wonderful, so great!"

Texas is great in so many ways. We are home to more Fortune 500 headquarters than any state in America. We are now the headquarters of headquarters.

We consistently rank number one in economic development and lead the nation in job growth. We're number one in semiconductor manufacturing. We have the world's largest medical center. We export more products than any other state. Texas is providing opportunity that people cannot get anywhere else.

Much of our success is driven by our small local businesses. More than 95 percent of Texas businesses are small, and they employ nearly half of all working Texans. We have more black business owners, Hispanic women business owners, and veteran business owners than anywhere else in America. It just shows that everyone can succeed in Texas.

In fact, more Texans have a job today than ever before in the history of our state. That puts more Texans on the path to prosperity, through higher wages and unparalleled opportunities.

Our great economy has produced another record. We now have the largest budget surplus in the history of our state. But make no mistake, that money does not belong to the government. It belongs to the taxpayers. We will use that budget surplus to provide the largest property tax cut in the Texas history.

Our state song goes on to proclaim that we are the "Boldest and Grandest."

Just as early pioneers explored our vast frontier, our modern pioneers are boldly exploring our vast universe. The first word spoken by Neil Armstrong after landing on the Moon was, "Houston." Now we have teams in Texas that are building the pathway to Mars.

Texas is the epicenter of innovation. We attract the brightest minds and hardest working entrepreneurs.

To ensure that our booming state can meet the needs of our future, we must work this session to bolster our infrastructure including, the roads we drive on, the water we use at home and in the fields, and the ports that we use to ship products around the globe.

Our state is so grand, as Texas now has more than 30 million residents. By 2050, there may be 50 million. People from across America are fleeing the oppression of high taxes, red-tape, burdensome regulations in other states, and coming to Texas, where freedom and fortune are found around every corner.

Americans are showing that what Davy Crockett said still rings true today: "You may all go to Hell. I will go to Texas!"

Texas has also lived up to the next line of our song that we "withstand every test." Let me highlight just one.

I signed 14 bipartisan laws that fixed the flaw in our power grid. Then, last summer we set 11 all-time power generation records, and last month we weathered brutally freezing temperatures across the state. All without any disruption to the Texas grid. Since our bipartisan reforms, no Texan has lost power because of our grid.

We all know that increased demand will be placed on the grid as Texas continues to grow. So, we will build a grid that powers our state for more than just the next four years, but for the next 40 years.

The next line of our song states the obvious: "O Empire wide and glorious, you stand supremely blest."

Texas is blessed in so many ways. One of our greatest blessings is our children. One thing they deserve is a quality education. Per-student funding for public schools is at an all-time high. We have one of the best high school graduation rates in America. We're number one for National Blue Ribbon Schools, and number one for Tier 1 Research Universities.

Texas is now the knowledge capital of America.

But we must remember this, our schools are for education, not indoctrination. Schools should not push social agendas. They must focus on fundamentals.

We must reform curriculum to get kids back to the basics of learning and empower parents with the tools to challenge that curriculum when it falls short of expectations. No one knows what is better for a child's education than their parents.

Those parents deserve the freedom to choose the education that's best for their child.

One essential part of our schools is safety. We must prioritize protecting students and staff. We must provide mental health services to students who need it. Parents must know that their children are safe when they drop them off every morning.

We will not end this session without making our schools safer.

Public safety is a core priority for Texas. It flows from the chorus of our state song: "God bless you Texas, and keep you brave and strong."

In Texas, we believe in law and order, and we support our law enforcement officers-period.

Those who serve in law enforcement put their lives on the line for us every day. If you have ever worn the badge, please stand or wave so we can show you the appreciation you deserve for the long hours of service to your community.

Last session, we passed a law that defunds any city that defunds their police. This session, we must end the easy bail policies that let dangerous criminals back on our streets. We must impose mandatory sentences on criminals caught with guns and on anyone caught smuggling illegal immigrants.

Make no mistake, the border is a crisis for one simple reason. The Biden Administration is not enforcing the laws already on the books. As a result, more illegal immigrants crossed our border last year than ever before. In fact, over the past two years more illegal immigrants crossed the border than the populations of Austin, El Paso, and Houston combined.

With the Biden Administration missing in action, Texas is using every tool to protect our state.

We are building a wall, deploying Texas National Guard soldiers and Department of Public Safety troopers to enforce the law, and targeting the Mexican drug cartels that traffic people, weapons, and drugs into our state.

One of the worst consequences of Biden's open border policies is the deadly fentanyl pouring across the border. DPS has seized enough fentanyl to kill every man, woman, and child in the United States. In Harris County alone, more than one person dies a day because of fentanyl.

There are parents with us here today who lost a child to fentanyl. They know we cannot bring back their child, but their hearts cling to the hope that their loss will not be in vain. They deserve action that will save other innocent families from the devastation they suffered.

They will get that action this session. The hopes of those parents rest upon leaders in this capitol. Our job is to deliver solutions for our fellow Texans. That is exactly what we will do.

Our state song closes with this aspiration: "That you may grow in power and worth, throughout the ages long."

From our economy, to our people, to our public safety, Texas has never wielded more power or enjoyed such economic might as we do today.

Ever since early pioneers settled our frontier, Texas has been the land of opportunity. We have built that brand for generations.

We live in a state of infinite possibilities. A state that encourages Texans to reach for the heavens and beyond. We provide a ladder for anyone to climb from humble beginnings to the heights of success.

A Texas where children can access the knowledge and tools they need to be the future entrepreneurs, scientists, and artists that will help shape the Texas legend for generations to come. A Texas where we value freedom, security, and the rule of law so that everyone can feel safe in their home, workplace, and school. A Texas where anyone can design their own destiny and then achieve it.

Today, we gather on the threshold of a legislative session that will transform the lives of Texans for generations. Together, we will build the Texas of tomorrow, not just for the next four years but for the next century. Together, we will ensure that Texas remains the greatest state in the greatest country the world has ever known.

Thank you. God bless you all, and may God bless the great State of Texas.

The Members and guests stood for "Texas, Our Texas," sung by the Texas A&M Singing Cadets.

Speaker Phelan introduced the Most Reverend Michael F. Olson, Bishop, Roman Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth, who delivered the inaugural blessing.

The Members and guests stood as Speaker Phelan introduced the Texas A&M Singing Cadets, who sang "Deep in the Heart of Texas."

Speaker Phelan introduced Rabbi Mendel Dubrawsky, Chabad of Dallas, who delivered the benediction.

The interpretation of the proceedings of the Senate was provided by Sarah Carmony, Lee Godbold, Gary Campbell, and Jacques Guidry.

Speaker Phelan at 12:31 p.m. stated the purpose for which the Joint Session was held having been completed, the House, pursuant to a previously adopted motion, would stand adjourned until 11:00 a.m. tomorrow.

President Pro Tempore Hancock at 12:31 p.m. stated the purpose for which the Joint Session was held having been completed, the Senate, pursuant to a previously adopted motion, would stand adjourned until 10:00 a.m. tomorrow.