- Click here for the official list of vetoed legislation.
Here's the latest on what went down over the weekend.
- Abbott vetoes business tax break bill.
Gov. Greg Abbott on Saturday vetoed a bill that would have made it easier for big corporations to win breaks on school property taxes. It would have allowed a company to make one application for projects strung across multiple school districts. One opponent said the bill began as an effort to help energy giant ConocoPhillips qualify a salt dome storage facility for subsidies it was seeking for a natural gas plant and barge terminal near Houston. With his veto, Abbott disclosed publicly that he had misgivings about a 2001 law. The law promises the state will repay school districts if they reduce appraisals for big new manufacturing plants and other facilities.
- Abbott vetoes 42 bills.
With a Sunday deadline looming to decide on legislation, Abbott finished Saturday with vetoes that included killing two bills on ethics reform, one of his top priority issues. Both bills created a loophole for a spouse’s financial dealings that he couldn’t accept.
“At the beginning of this legislative session, I called for meaningful ethics reform. This legislation does not accomplish that goal. Provisions in this bill would reduce Texans' trust in their elected officials, and I will not be a part of weakening our ethics laws. Serious ethics reform must be addressed next session - the right way. Texans deserve better,” Abbott said in a veto statement.
In all, Abbott killed 42 of the 1,408 bills and resolutions approved by lawmakers, not counting his line-item vetoes in the budget. That puts his vetoes in the middle of the pack for Texas governors, tying then-Gov. Mark White in 1983. Gov. Ann Richards vetoed 35 in 1991, and Gov. Preston Smith vetoed 66 in 1969.
