Gov. Greg Abbott Defunds Texas Legislature After Democrats Walkout to Block Election Reform Bill
Texas Governor Greg Abbott speaks during a press conference where he signed Senate Bills 2 and 3 at the Capitol on June 8, 2021 in Austin, Texas. Governor Abbott signed the bills into law to reform the Electric Reliability Council of Texas and weatherize and improve the reliability of the state's power grid. The bill signing comes months after a disastrous February winter storm that caused widespread power outages and left dozens of Texans dead. Montinique Monroe/Getty Images

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has vetoed the part of the state budget bill that funds the Texas Legislature on Friday, bringing out his threat last month to reality after Democrats had walked out to block an election reform legislation.

Greg Abbott said in a statement that the funding should not be provided for those who quit their job early, which leaves their state with unfinished business, Texas Tribune reported. The Texas governor noted that this exposes taxpayers to higher costs for an additional legislative session.

In a statement, House Democratic Caucus Chair Chris Turner of Grand Prairie said the move was an abuse of power. Turner noted that the caucus is exploring every option to fight back, including immediate legal options.

Turner said that the state of Texas has a governor, not a dictator. He further noted that the "tyrannical veto" of the legislative branch is the recent sign that Greg Abbott is out of control.

Other lawmakers and political leaders have also raised their concerns about how the defunding of the Texas legislature could affect staffers and agencies funded by Article X.

Article X is the section of the budget that Greg Abbott had vetoed. It includes the Legislative Reference Library and the Legislative Budget Board.

Republican House Speaker Dade Phelan said that he is concern about how it affects them as they were not the ones who decided who was going to break the quorum. The Legislative Reference Library said the Texas governor's veto of Article 10 is unprecedented.

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Greg Abbott Defunded Texas Legislature

Greg Abbott said Texas residents do not run from a legislative fight, and do not walk away from unfinished business," according to The Daily Wire.

The Texas governor has called for legislators to join a state legislature's special session to work on passing his prioritized measures.

Last month, Greg Abbott said that he expected legislators to work out their differences before arriving back at the Capitol. In that way, they can hit a common ground in passing legislation related to the said emergency items, he added.

State House Democrats broke the quorum in late May, which prevented the chamber from passing Senate Bill 7. The measure is a sweeping overhaul of elections in the state, placing numerous restrictions on several types of voting in the states, Axios reported.

Major corporations like HP, Microsoft, and Unilever urged the state lawmakers to disapprove of the said measure. Voting advocacy groups and civil rights organizations have warned that Texas' bill targets people of color and marginalized groups.

The bill also covers provisions that would raise criminal penalties on election administrators and workers for committing loosely defined offenses during the election.

The bill makes it a felony for an election worker to solicit a person to submit an early voting ballot application unless the worker knows the voter had already requested an application.

The measure would also make it easier for losing parties to contest election results and give courts the ability to overturn those results in some cases.

Abbott earlier tweeted that there will be no pay for those who abandoned their responsibilities, The Guardian reported. The said pay suspension will not go into effect until September.

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WATCH: Texas Governor Threatens to Defund Legislature After Democrats Walk Out to Stop Voter Legislation - From The Hill