AUSTIN, Texas — Texas state Sen. Roland Gutierrez is urging the Legislature to create a $300 million victims compensation fund for families of Robb Elementary School students and teachers killed and wounded in the May 24 massacre.
Nineteen children and two teachers were killed in the Uvalde school shooting. The horrific tragedy has been made worse by frequent revelations of a lethargic law enforcement response that had dozens of state and local police on scene for more than an hour while the shooter remained unchallenged in classrooms with dead and possibly dying children.
Now Gutierrez wants legislation requiring the state of Texas to pay up in what might be the best avenue for victims’ compensation, given Texas’ laws that generally protect law enforcement from legal liability for actions in the line of duty.
“This is absolutely the worst law enforcement response in the history of any massacre in the United States,” Gutierrez, a San Antonio Democrat who represents Uvalde, said at a press conference in the still-grieving city. “I think you can all agree on that and the state of Texas and the Department of Public Safety need to be held accountable.”
He said he would submit his Uvalde Victims Compensation Act on Nov. 11 in a process known as prefiling that allows legislators to submit proposed laws before the biennial session begins in January. He said the $300 million would provide a “realistic” compensation that fellow lawmakers could stomach.
“There’s not an amount of money that will ever bring their children back, but we have to set up this $300 million fund because it absolutely has to be punitive in nature,” he said.
Funding would provide $7.7 million to the families of each student and teacher killed in the shooting, $2.1 million to anyone injured in the shooting and $250,000 to students, faculty or staff at Robb Elementary traumatized or otherwise burdened in the deadliest school shooting in Texas history.
A victims assistance fund was created in the immediate aftermath of the shooting, but has been criticized for taking too long for victims to get access to it. Gutierrez has said that the fund has been mismanaged by the county officials put in charge.
Gutierrez pegged the amounts symbolically to $7.7 million and $2.1 million in reference to the 77 minutes law enforcement languished at the school before taking out the gunman and the 21 killed.
Gutierrez proposed the funding come from a projected $27 billion state budget surplus. Gov. Greg Abbott has proposed using a large portion of that money for property tax relief.
Abbott’s office did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.
Gutierrez said that autopsies of the victims being performed in San Antonio were nearing completion, which could pave the way for the public release of Texas Department of Public Safety investigative reports.
The state police force has come under intense scrutiny in the aftermath of the shooting. Several key members of the investigative team have retired or resigned, and Gutierrez has repeatedly called for the DPS director, Col. Steve McCraw, to resign.
