events in Texas, Governor Abbott — in a “me too!” gesture to Mr. Patrick’s pandering — told league<br />officials “to get the hell out of politics.” The Senate passed the bathroom bill in March.<br />One Senate bill threatens local law enforcement officials<br />and department heads with criminal prosecution and police departments with loss of state money if they fail to comply with federal immigration orders.<br />The Texas Senate also recently passed a school vouchers bill that would drain millions from public school funds to pay for private tuition.<br />Even before the bill passed the Senate in February, Governor Abbott cut $1.5 million in criminal justice funding to Travis County<br />(which includes Austin) to punish it for its policy of reducing cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.<br />The result was the passage in March of a Senate bill<br />that limits the ability of cities and counties to raise the revenue needed to pay for education, health care and public safety.<br />Lieutenant Governor Patrick also championed a “bathroom bill” modeled on the one North Carolina recently repealed,<br />which would require transgender people to use public bathrooms that match the sex on their birth certificates.<br />Under his sway, the Senate has already passed bills<br />that starve government, crack down on undocumented immigrants and discriminate against transgender people.<br />Frequent public rallies and marches have drawn record crowds around the state, including<br />the nearly 50,000 people who turned out for the Women’s March in Austin.
