Texas State Senator Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound, passed House Bill 9 on Wednesday to provide funding to support law enforcement efforts on the Texas-Mexico border.
“House Bill 9 provides critical resources to address the security, humanitarian, and public health crisis at our southern border,“ Nelson said in a statement. “The horrors happening on the border impact our entire state and we cannot wait for the situation to grow worse.”
According to Nelson’s office, House Bill 9 provides:
- $301 million for an additional 1,800 National Guardsmen at the Texas Military Department
- $155 million to the Department of Public Safety for additional overtime costs, staff, and equipment related to Operation Lone Star
- $273.7 million to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to support correctional security operations and bring an additional 3,000 jail beds online
- $1 billion in border security grants to meet local needs, construct additional barriers and stand up additional processing centers
- funding for additional facility inspections, ambulances and support for the court system
“The budget we approved during the regular session includes over $1 billion for border security, but the situation has escalated to a level that requires an even stronger response,” Nelson said. “Until the federal government does its job and gets a handle on this heartbreaking and frightening situation, it unfortunately falls to Texas to protect Texans.”
Nelson represents District 12, including portions of Tarrant and Denton counties. She is chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and the highest-ranking Republican in the Texas Senate.
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