Texas Governor Gregg Abbott gives biannual State of the State Address Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2019 in the Texas Capital.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott called for two new gang task forces, one in Tyler and another in Waco, during Tuesday’s biennial State of the State address.

In his message, Abbott addressed community safety and the importance of law and order.

In addition to the gang task forces, Abbott called for six regional human trafficking squads. 

He said the anti-gang centers will work together to crack down on gang activities.

“We will put more gang members behind bars, dismantle their networks and make our neighborhoods safer,” he said.

Smith County Chief Deputy Jimmy Jackson said he is working on a grant application for the Texas anti-gang intelligence center in Tyler. 

He said there are six of these centers in the state and the governor is looking to add one in Northeast Texas and another in Central Texas. 

“It’s in its infancy stages,” Jackson said. “It will be a center for state, federal and local law enforcement to work on gang-related criminal activity in one place all under one roof.” 

Jackson said he doesn’t yet know where the center will be located or how many people will be assigned to work there.

He said the grant application is due at the end of the month. 

Jackson said he sees the center as a way for federal, state, county and local law enforcement to collaborate and share information on gang-related investigations.

He said the center will be able to train other law enforcement and detention officers to recognize gang members so they can be documented in the state’s database. 

Abbott said lawmakers also will address the issue of the thousands of rape kits being stored in laboratories for years awaiting testing. 

“This session, we will right this wrong,” he said. “We will need more funding to eliminate the backlog.”

Abbott told lawmakers and the state his agenda for the session was transformative.  

He said school safety will be an emergency item this session along with teacher pay, mental health, property tax reform and disaster response. 

He spoke about business, the oil and gas industry and economic development. 

Abbott praised the members of the House and Senate for their work on cutting business taxes and road construction funding. 

He went on to talk about teacher pay. 

“This session we must pay our teachers more,” Abbott said. “We must create a pathway for teachers to earn a six-figure salary. The teacher pay system used by the Dallas ISD shows this system works.”

He also encouraged the continued work needed to create a Texas where he said every child regardless of their zip code will receive a quality education.  

Abbott thanked the superintendents of Dallas, San Antonio and Longview for their work in their school districts. 

He addressed mental heath issues in schools and some solutions to those issues.

Abbott praised the work at Texas Tech University and asked lawmakers to work to get services like the ones at the university into the school districts through a broad-based plan to create a mental health consortium for mental health needs. 

He said he wants the legislature to enact property tax reform that gives taxpayers the ability to fire their property tax appraiser and elect a better one. 

“We will do more than reform,” he said. “We will ensure seniors who have worked their entire lives can retire in a home they have already payed off. We will ensure middle and low-income Texans can stay in a neighborhood they cherish.”

Abbott praised the Hurricane Harvey response and the need for more resources to help rebuild the areas hit by the storm. 

He urged Texans to use the lessons learned from Hurricane Harvey to prepare and respond to disasters. 

He also asked for continued support of about 1.6 million veterans in the state and to fund mental heath programs and the veterans commission to help veterans get the benefits they have earned. 

Abbott ended his speech by telling lawmakers he was inspired by the camaraderie and collaboration that already has taken place since Jan. 8 when the legislature returned for the 86th Legislature session. 

In closing he said he would work to reinstate the rivalry between the University of Texas and Texas A&M University.  

Visit gov.texas.gov for the full text of the address.

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