AUSTIN – Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick issued this statement today following the Texas House and Texas Senate’s passage of the conference committee report for Senate Bill 22, Assisting Rural Law Enforcement Funding – Increasing Pay and Needed Equipment, by Sen. Drew Springer, R-Muenster. SB 22 will now be sent to Gov. Greg Abbott:

“Due to the Biden Administration’s failure to perform their constitutional duty to secure the southern border, every law enforcement officer in Texas is now a border law enforcement officer in addition to their duties to serve their citizens. As I traveled rural Texas last fall, I was shocked at how little some of our rural sheriffs and their deputies were earning to cover thousands of square miles of territory in many cases. SB 22 is a priority of mine because it is difficult to find brave men and women to take these dangerous jobs in the first place, and some elected sheriffs only make just over $30,000 per year and their deputies make less than that. SB 22 represents the first time in Texas history that the state is assisting in funding law enforcement in rural counties, reaffirming our dedication to public safety.”

SB 22, by Sen. Drew Springer, establishes programs to provide state assistance for the salaries of sheriff’s and their deputies and prosecutors in the 236 Texas counties with less than 300,000 people.