Texas Governor Rick Perry Addresses the Texas House - Calls for Key Emergency Legislation

Texas' longest serving governor, Rick Perry, addressed the opening session of the Texas Legislature.  In this speech, he declared two emergencies facing Texas and called for priority action on these issues. The first being protecting private property rights by strengthening private property rights and the second being abolishing sanctuary city rules and policies by cities like Houston and Austin.

Gov. Perry began with a somewhat emotional look back at his memories of serving in the Texas House and Senate and the important work that had been done in the past. He commented on the imminent budget shortfall facing Texas but reminded legislators that we have faced them before and we will solve it again.  He gave new freshmen legislators a key piece of advice.  He told them to, "simply take a deep breath, relax, it's all gonna be alright!"

In what surprised many, Gov. Perry set emergency status on two key areas of legislation. This status allows bills on these matters to move to the front of the line for priority consideration.  Gov. Perry said we must strengthen eminent domain laws. He said, "Property ownership remains an essential freedom for Texans and we must continue our efforts to properly protect it."

Secondly, Gov. Perry stated, "We must abolish sanctuary city rules in this state!" He continued, "... free up our police officers, our peace officers, to do their jobs; keeping our families and neighborhoods safe."

Recognizing immigration is a federal issue, Gov. Perry said, "We cannot compound their failure [the federal government] by preventing Texas Peace Officers from doing their jobs."

Both emergency items received loud support from the legislators and the gallery of observers.

Governor Perry concluded his remarks by encouraging legislators to work past their differences to do the work that is in the best interest of our state.