Gov. Greg Abbott has requested that Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and State Rep. Dade Phelan (R-Beaumont), the speaker of the Texas House of Representatives, form special legislative committees to address school safety in the wake of last month’s tragedy in Uvalde, according to Austin-based media outlets.
A press release issued by the governor’s office said that Abbott, a Republican, wrote in a letter to Patrick and Phelan that the committees are to focus on school safety, mental health, social media, police training, firearm safety and other unspecified areas.
The governor in the letter also emphasized the responsibility state leaders have in ensuring Texans’ safety, per the release.
“As Texans mourn the tragedy that occurred at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde last week, we as a state must reassess the twin issues of school safety and mass violence,” Abbott wrote. “As leaders, we must come together at this time to provide solutions to protect all Texans. Accordingly, I hereby request that each of you convene a special legislative committee. I look forward to working with you both on this important mission to make Texas safer, and I stand ready to provide any and all support.”
Austin ABC affiliate KVUE reported that Patrick has formed the Senate Special Committee to Protect All Texans, with State Sen. Robert Nichols (R-Jacksonville) as chair and Sen. Brandon Creighton (R-Conroe) and Sen. Lois Kolkhorst (R-Brenham) as co-vice hairs.
The bipartisan committee consists of five GOP senators and three Democratic senators.
According to the station, the lieutenant governor asked Nichols to hold a hearing on June 23 or afterward.
“All of us working together is the answer,” Patrick said in a statement issued by his office, per KVUE. “Now is not the time for politics. It is all about doing all we can so that we never see another tragedy like this happen again in Texas.”
Austin NBC affiliate KXAN reported that the lower chamber of the state legislature has an interim committee to address behavioral health challenges Texas children face.
Phelan said in a tweet that he’ll work to close the “dead suspect loophole” in an effort to make all information pertaining to the Robb Elementary School mass shooting available to victims, relatives of death-in-custody suspects and the media.
“More than anything, the families of the #Uvalde victims need honest answers and transparency. Period,” the legislator tweeted. “It would be absolutely unconscionable to use the ‘dead suspect loophole’ to thwart the release of information that is so badly needed and deserved right now.”
Texas State Teachers Association President Ovidia Molina issued a statement critical of the governor’s request for school safety committees, KVUE reported.
“Committees and other groups have studied school safety before, including after the Santa Fe High School shooting in 2018 and the El Paso Walmart shooting in 2019, and schools obviously aren’t safe from mass shooters,” Molina said in the statement. “This is because the governor and legislators refuse to address the real issue and enact reasonable gun laws to keep guns out of the hands of people who shouldn’t have them. The governor didn’t even put this issue on the agenda for the new committees.”
