By Shannon Edmonds
TDCAA Executive Director in Austin
Who doesn’t love a good instruction manual or helpful “how to” YouTube video? Those things help us work smarter, not harder. However, when it comes to running an association, YouTube influencers are not the people to consult for making decisions. Instead, we must rely on … <insert blaring trumpets here> … bylaws! But just like dusty old manuals or outdated videos, bylaws are not helpful if they are not regularly reviewed.
Our association operates under bylaws that were last amended in 2010, but the bulk of the content in our bylaws is even older than that; in fact, the language almost certainly pre-dates many of you who are reading this column. This disconnect has resulted in many current practices of the association no longer matching the actual rules for running this ship. In response, TDCAA President Brian Middleton appointed a Bylaw Revision Committee of experienced TDCAA members to bring our bylaws into the modern era, both in practice and in language. (So long, “wherefores,” “hereins,” and “whomsoevers!”)
That committee’s work was approved by the Board of Directors at its summer meeting on June 26. The proposed new bylaws have been placed on our website at www.tdcaa.com/bylaws-revision-project. The final step will be approval by a majority of “regular members” of TDCAA (i.e., dues-paying elected and assistant prosecutors) who are present at the Annual Criminal and Civil Law Conference in Waco on Wednesday, September 16. For more details, refer to that webpage.
If you have any questions about these bylaw revisions, feel free to contact me for more information. Our hope is that if this process is done right, we won’t have to repeat it for another 16 years!
Data reporting
The Data Committee of the Texas Judicial Council (TJC) has been working on proposed rules and procedures for the implementation of Government Code §71.0354 (Prosecuting Attorney Information), a new statute that takes effect on September 1, 2026. That law will require all county attorney and district attorney offices handling criminal matters to report to the TJC certain data about criminal caseloads, office personnel, and certain types of pretrial releases. TJC’s Data Committee has consulted with a workgroup of prosecutors facilitated by TDCAA and should be publishing its proposed rules in the Texas Register in early July (so those may already be out by the time you read this). Those rules will then be subject to a public comment period, after which the TJC will finally adopt its rules for implementation no later than September 1, 2026. Please be sure to check our website for news and announcements related to this topic as things progress.
Yet more on membership
In previous issues, I dug through our association’s membership rolls to determine the membership rates for elected prosecutors (94 percent) and assistant prosecutors (88 percent), both very laudable figures for a voluntary association. (And that is even more true if you subtract one large urban jurisdiction from that data, raising those statewide membership rates for assistant prosecutors to 97 percent.) One conclusion to draw from this data is that TDCAA maintains an enviable membership rate among the lawyers in our service group.
But what about the non-lawyers—those investigators, victim assistance coordinators (VACs), and key personnel who keep our local offices running day in and day out? We have the scoop on them in this issue.
Specifically, our Investigators Section is composed of 881 members out of a possible total of 999 investigators employed by local prosecutors. That yields a membership rate of 88 percent (or 96 percent if you subtract one large urban jurisdiction from that equation). For our Key Personnel–Victim Services Section, we have 1,608 paid members out of a possible 2,144 employees, which yields a membership rate of 75 percent. That figure includes a membership rate of 80 percent for a smaller subset of personnel designated as VACs.
These membership numbers for non-lawyers are, to be honest, more robust than I would’ve guessed. Yes, there is room for growth among the support staff members of our service group, but it’s gratifying to see so many non-lawyer members participating in our association, and I would encourage all of you who fall in that category to get more involved in the specific sections we have created with you in mind.
P.S. I could not have gathered this data without the help of our Membership Director, Kaylene Braden. Like many employees here at TDCAA, she is a former member herself, so she knows how important it is to provide good service to you, and we are blessed to have her on our team. Please be sure to thank her for all her hard work next time you talk or email with her!
Membership has its privileges
These robust membership rates are, we hope, a sign of satisfaction with the many products and services we provide our members. And we continue to add more benefits to that list. In the past year alone, we’ve launched a new weekly Round-Up news email that has more than 800 subscribers (sign up at www.tdcaa.com/sign-up- for-the-round-up if you are not one of them), created a new recruitment booklet (a sample of which is included in this issue), expanded our recognition of worthy members through new awards, and more—all while continuing to provide unique training and publications that our members can get only from TDCAA.
As the slogan goes: “Membership has its privileges.” If you know someone who is not a member of TDCAA but should be, let them know how valuable it is to you! Let’s see how high we can raise our membership rates—and with it, the professionalism and stature of our entire profession.
Annual Conference preview
With so many members in our association, it’s no wonder that we throw one of the biggest prosecutor-related events in the country every year. Our Annual Criminal & Civil Law Conferences routinely draw more than 1,000 participants every September for top-notch training, networking, and camaraderie. And this year we are taking that show to a new venue: Waco! We’ve successfully hosted smaller CLE events in Waco for years, but now we’re ready to bring our biggest event to this centralized gathering place. Come to the Annual Conference for all your training needs, and when you aren’t in class, check out Waco’s revitalized downtown with its trendy restaurants, craft breweries, and boutiques, not to mention iconic Texas landmarks such as the Silos at Magnolia Market, Cameron Park Zoo, Dr Pepper Museum, and Texas Ranger Hall of Fame & Museum. It’s going to be great detour from our traditional rotation of Annual Conference locations, so come join us! Visit www.tdcaa.com/ training/annual-criminal-civil-law-conference-2026 for more details and to register for the conference.
More free CLE coming soon
TDCAA’s free “Mandatory Brady Training” is currently being updated and refreshed for a re-launch later this fall. Meanwhile, the 2022–2026 version is still available online. Anyone required by law to take it before then can access the course and additional details at www.tdcaa.com/mandatory-brady-training-now-available-for-2022-2026-cycle.
Grand funds available
The Larry D. Morse II Commitment to Justice Award is a grant designed to provide financial assistance to applicants (individuals, offices, or agencies) that have demonstrated commitment to prosecution as a career. The application deadline is September 11. To access the application and for more information about the award, please visit www.karpelfoundation.com/larry-d-morse-award.html.
A look inside
This issue of our journal is full of great material, including articles on a new report on protective orders, how to handle uncooperative victims, and an essay following a prosecutor’s first year in the office. I hope you enjoy them! And as always, if you ever have any questions about TDCAA or what we do, please don’t hesitate to reach out for answers. We are here to serve you.