Abbott Against the Environment

Air and water quality, and programs to help the state's poorest people get clean air and clean water, came into Gov. Greg Abbott's cross-hairs Monday when he line-item vetoed $127 million out of the state's $217 billion budget for the 2018-19 biennium. Earlier in the session, Rep. Rafael Anchia, D-Dallas, had written that "budgets are moral documents." Abbott's cuts to Texas' spending show where his priorities lie:

• $87 million for the Low-Income Vehicle Repair Assist­ance, Retrofit, and Accelerated Vehicle Retirement Program, which helps poorer Texans repair or replace a car that fails the state emissions test

• $6 million for air quality planning at the Texas Com­mis­sion on Environmental Quality

• $5 million for the Guardianship Compliance Project

• $5 million for public safety education

• $4 million for Crime Stoppers of Houston

• $2.5 million for Soil and Water Conservation Board

• $2 million for aquifer and brackish water study

• $860,0000 to fund the Colonia Initiatives Program

• $150,000 for the UT-Austin Legislative Lawyering Clinic

So far, the budget is the only work by the Legislat­ure that Abbott has vetoed, but he still has a June 18 deadline to strike other approved measures. In 2015, after his first session as governor, Abbott went on a 42-bill slaughter spree, and hacked $295 million out of spending.