Why does everything happen when we leave town?!? Not only were some state policymakers remarkably busy back in Austin while we were at last week’s 2024 Annual Conference in Galveston, but we also have lots of association-related news to pass along as well. Read on for details!

OAG rulemaking

Our March 2024 interim update included a notice that the Office of Attorney General (OAG) had proposed voluminous and wide-ranging reporting duties for prosecutors in certain counties. There wasn’t much news to share after that, however, because OAG never acted on that proposal and eventually ended up withdrawing it on August 30, two weeks before it would have died on the vine by operation of law. So, good news, right?

Well, yes, except that OAG proposed new, revised reporting rules in the September 13 issue of the Texas Register, which you can read for yourself in full here. While the gist of the new proposal is similar to the original version, there are differences between the two which include:

• The reporting rules now apply only to CAs and DAs in counties with a population of 400,000 or more people, as opposed to 250,000. (That excludes these counties formerly included in the scope of the original rules: Brazoria, Bell, Nueces, Galveston, Lubbock, Webb, McLennan, and Jefferson.)
• The new rules require the reporting of data back to January 1, 2021 (not 2023).
• Instead of authorizing the OAG to file a removal action (which it has no authority to do), the new proposal says OAG may “construe” noncompliance as “official misconduct” under the removal statute—which is completely without any legal authority or significance, but perhaps it is intended to be an incentive to a local citizen to file a removal action based on that specious “finding”?
• The new cost estimate for compliance by affected prosecutors is one scanner and one staffer working 1-10 hours per week. (Which is laughable considering the overbroad scope of the potential unfunded mandate, but if that is how that agency budgets its own resources, it could explain a lot.)

As with OAG’s first aborted attempt at rulemaking, the public has 30 days to comment on this proposal. That comment period closes on Monday, October 14, so anyone so inclined should submit written comments before then in the manner described by the posting on September 13 that is linked above. We will keep you posted as news on this front develops, but if you have further questions before then, please contact Shannon.

Charette and TEC

In the September 13 edition of our popular Case Summaries we provided an explanation of the controversial holding by the Court of Criminal Appeals (CCA) in Ex parte Charette. In a nutshell, the CCA held that trial courts—and thus, local prosecutors—lack jurisdiction over criminal violations of certain election and campaign laws unless the Texas Ethics Commission (TEC) has first exhausted all administrative remedies in that matter or officially referred to the case to the prosecutor for criminal enforcement. It’s too soon to know the full impact of this opinion, but the TEC held a meeting earlier this week and may end up proposing rules to expedite criminal referrals to local prosecutors. We will alert you if/when that happens. Meanwhile, some prosecutors may seek a rehearing from the CCA on this matter, while over in the capitol, some legislators are already researching a statutory fix to this unexpected ruling.

House of Cards, Austin-style

The biennial selection of the Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives is one of the few things in politics that still happens behind closed doors—or in this case, “behind closed doors at a BBQ joint in Austin,” to be specific. That’s where a group of Republican House members came together to select State Rep. David Cook (R-Mansfield) as their favored speaker candidate in the internecine battle to unseat current Speaker Dade Phelan (R-Beaumont). You probably already read about this in your local news source of choice so we will spare you a discussion of vote thresholds and caucus rules and other boring stuff and simply remind everyone that this kind of jockeying means little until November 6, the day after the general election results are final. Until then, anyone on the outside who claims to know with certainty who the next House speaker will be is fooling themselves.

Texas Judicial Council

The Texas Judicial Council (TJC) met this morning to, among other things, review and adopt certain legislative recommendations by its various committees. We don’t have written copies of those recommendations yet, but the discussion included initial approval of proposals to:

• Increase the judicial benchmark salary by 30 percent, create a third salary tier at 12 years of experience, and authorize automatic cost-of-living increases in future years
• Create a SB 22-type grant funding program for rural judicial personnel and court staff
• Create a loan repayment program for public defenders and private attorneys representing indigent people in criminal, juvenile, and child welfare cases
• Protect judicial personnel’s personal information to limit harassment
• Enhance penalties for crimes committed at courthouses or against court personnel
• Expand public safety report (PSR) access to other stakeholders (including prosecutors)
• Amend the timelines under CCP Art. 17.151 to take offense severity into consideration
• Allow judges to deny bail in more situations (i.e., preventive detention)
• Impose minimum experience requirements for the appointment of magistrates and associate judges
• And a slew of recommendations from the Judicial Commission on Mental Health that were not described in further detail

It remains to be seen whether any of these proposals make it into actual legislation, but if so, you now know where they came from.

Interim committee hearing recaps

Highlights of what legislators discussed in September in various interim committee hearings include:

• The House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee reviewed implementation of HB 6 by Goldman (fentanyl murder) and heard that at least 46 such charges have been filed statewide since the law took effect. Montgomery County ADA Shanna Redwine and Tarrant County ACDA Sarah Bruner both testified before the committee about their experiences with the new law.
• That committee also heard testimony in support of what failed to pass last session as HB 327 by Thompson, a bill to expand the defense of duress with the goal of short-circuiting the prosecutions of defendants who claim to have been victims of human trafficking (although the text of the bill is not limited to those situations).
• The House Judiciary & Civil Jurisprudence Committee heard testimony from Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Nathan Hecht recommending a judicial pay raise and the adoption of a uniform (read: Tyler Technologies) case filing system throughout the state to facilitate data collection and other efficiencies.
• The Senate Transportation Committee’s review of autonomous vehicle (AV) laws revealed that Texas has become the epicenter for AV commercial trucking thanks to a combination of strict legal limits in California and lax limits here, so you can probably expect to see more traffic safety-related issues arise in your jurisdictions in the future involving those driverless vehicles.

Upcoming interim committee hearings

Relevant interim charges posted for consideration in October include the following—a list made longer by the Lite Guv’s announcement of 21 additional charges for Senate committees to delve into this autumn.

Monday, September 30

House State Affairs, 9:00 a.m., Room E2.016

• Border security

Wednesday, October 2

House Judiciary & Civil Jurisprudence, 9:00 a.m., E2.012

• Judicial compensation

Thursday, October 10

Senate Criminal Justice, 10:00 a.m., E1.028

• Retail theft
• Financial crimes
• Forensic evidence collection in sexual assaults

Wednesday, October 16

Senate State Affairs, 9:00 a.m., E1.028

• Unmasking protestors

Thursday, October 17

Senate State Affairs, 9:00 a.m., E1.028

• Social media and protecting children
• Beverages with THC
• Public trust in government (open records and open meetings)

Many of these postings include more topics than the ones we have listed above, so for complete information about a specific hearing, click on the link to the committee. For additional questions, contact Shannon.

Annual Conference recap

We had another successful Annual Conference last week! It was great to see so many friendly faces learning and networking together. Special congratulations go out to this year’s award winners who were recognized in Galveston, including Prosecutor of the Year Fredericka Sargent (Tarrant County ACDA), Lone Star Prosecutor Awardees Eric Erlandson (Cooke County ADA) and Chris Gatewood and Richard Vance (Smith County ACDAs), and C. Chris Marshall Awardees Allenna Bangs and Ronny Dale Smith (Tarrant County ACDAs).

Other newsworthy items coming out of the Annual Conference included the announcement that our Annual Conference will return to Round Rock’s Kalahari Resort in 2025 and change to a Tuesday-through-Thursday schedule (more details available here). In addition, TDCAA’s Board of Directors adopted an increase in conference fees starting in 2025. Going forward, most of our fee-based courses will be charged as follows:

• $250.00 for a Training-only registration
• $500.00 for a full Training and Association fee registration
• $750.00 for attendees outside of TDCAA’s service group

The Board did not make this decision lightly, but unfortunately, post-pandemic inflation has spared no one. For what it’s worth, our current fees were last raised in 2014, more than a decade ago—not many outfits can say that!—and our conference costs remain a bargain compared to most other CLE providers. But to ease the impact of that news, let us tell you about some free training we are currently offering.

Free regional trainings in October

We are traveling to four TDCAA regions next month to talk in person with elected prosecutors and their leadership teams about various issues in the offing for 2025. To learn more about these events in Waco (Oct. 18), Fredericksburg (Oct. 18), Mineral Wells (Oct. 25), and Conroe (Oct. 25), visit our training webpage. These free events are open only to TDCAA members, and our reserved hotel room blocks close soon, so sign up today!

Free online trainings

TDCAA is proud to invite you to remotely attend our first online juvenile law course! Click here to register for Introduction to Juvenile Law, which is worth 4 hours of MCLE to those who complete it.

Our Grievances & Prosecutorial Ethics online course is also available again. Dues-paying members of TDCAA can obtain 2.75 hours of free ethics MCLE by completing this course, which has been updated to include an additional 0.75 hours of credit covering recent changes to the state’s ethics rules that take effect October 1, 2024.

Key Personnel–Victim Services Board elections

Elections for the 2025 TDCAA Key Personnel–Victim Services Board (representatives for Regions 1, 2, 3, and 7) will be held on Thursday, November 14, at our Key Personnel & Victim Assistance Coordinator (KP–VAC) Conference in Sugar Land. If you know of people in your office who would be a good fit for this board, please consider sharing this information with them and encouraging them to attend. And if you have any questions, you may direct them to [email protected].

The Round-Up rides on

We have been cranking out weekly “Round-Up” emails all summer with links to interesting news stories on topics that may impact your work. If you aren’t already one of the 650+ subscribers benefitting from those emails, sign up here to start receiving those weekly updates in your inbox every Thursday morning.

Job posting

The application period for the position of TDCAA Staff Counsel & Director of Governmental Relations ends today, and interviews to fill that position will be held in October. For more information or last-minute applications, click here.

Quotes of the Month

“It is an honor to have earned the trust and support of over half of my Republican colleagues who will be serving in the 89th Legislative Session. This vote highlights the growing momentum for change within the Texas House, as members rally behind a shared vision of a decentralized leadership model that empowers all members.”
           —State Rep. David Cook (R-Mansfield), in a tweet after he emerged from a group of six House Republicans as the chosen candidate to try to unseat current speaker Dade Phelan.

“Today’s gathering is little more than an orchestrated scheme to generate headlines and fuel social media clicks, driving our caucus headlong into unnecessary chaos. … Not only are their actions disappointing and unacceptable, they are futile, as I proudly have the clear majority votes needed to be the Speaker today, and will have the clear majority support needed to become Speaker again come January.”
           —Current Speaker Dade Phelan (R-Beaumont), tweeting his response to news that a “reform caucus” of House Republicans selected a standard-bearer in their challenge to Phelan next session.

“This case is not over. I will continue to fight this on the merits to uphold Texans’ ability to defend themselves, which is protected by State law. While Texas clearly prohibits this type of gun ban, I will be working with the Legislature this session to protect law-abiding citizens’ Second Amendment rights on public property.”
           —Attorney General Ken Paxton, in a press release issued after the Texas Supreme Court unanimously rejected his attempt to overturn the decision by the State Fair of Texas to ban firearms on its grounds. (You can also read the short concurrence to the denial for some rather scathing criticisms of the AG’s legal arguments—or lack of arguments—in this lawsuit, which appears to have been little more than a publicity stunt in support of future legislation.)

“Yesterday was the autumnal equinox here in Texas, which makes today the first full day of fall. Or, as we here in Texas call it, fake news.”
           —Tweet earlier this week by @TracesofTexas, one of our favorite follows.

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