Situational awareness: There is one week left until the bill filing deadline of Friday, March 14. There are 86 days until the legislative session ends. There is one year left until the March 2026 Texas primaries where every statewide elected official will be on the ballot as well as many judicial benches. Speaking of judges …
Newly Added Committee hearings! See below!
Judicial pay
The Senate Finance Committee heard SB 293 by Huffman (R-Houston), this session’s judicial accountability and pay raise bill, and eventually approved it for consideration by the full Senate. Discussion of the bill among the committee members probably lasted longer than the public testimony. The bill author, who also chairs the Finance Committee, reiterated her belief that judicial pay and accountability are “a package deal” and that her goal in SB 293 is to hold the judiciary accountable, improve its efficiency, and restore public trust in the system. When Senator Schwertner (R-Georgetown) asked Senator Huffman about the Judicial Compensation Commission’s recommendations of a 30 percent raise, she noted that the legislature does not give that large a raise to anyone. She added that $180–200,000 is a good salary that comes with benefits, flexible hours, paid vacation, and a pension. In short, she repeatedly signaled that an increase from the proposed 15-percent raise was a nonstarter.
When witnesses were called, one district court judge representing the Judicial Section of the State Bar testified “on” the bill (neither for nor against it), which indicates to us that the judiciary is still not close to getting all their BBs in the same box on this issue. He also mentioned that the judges had submitted additional compensation ideas to Sen. Huffman’s staff relating to additional salary tiers based on experience as well as increases in judicial branch longevity pay (which elected felony prosecutors now receive thanks to legislation passed last session). No other judges testified before the committee, but testimony in support of the bill was provided by 106th Judicial DA Philip Mack Furlow, who thanked Chairwoman Huffman for her past work on judicial branch pay and for the current proposal of a 15-percent increase in the judicial base pay in SB 293. Senate Bill 293 now heads to the full Senate, where we expect it to pass with ease and then be sent to the House for consideration.
Other committee news
House Judiciary & Civil Jurisprudence
The House Judiciary & Civil Jurisprudence (JCJ) Committee held its organizational meeting this week. The first invited witness was Chief Justice Jimmy Blacklock, who affirmed that a judicial pay increase is his highest priority this session. (That said, the chief justice did not appear in Senate Finance to testify on, for, or against SB 293.) His testimony provided State Rep. Ann Johnson (D-Houston) the opportunity to defend some of the Harris County judges who have been getting raked over the coals for their bail decisions. To our knowledge, this was the first public pushback against the Senate bail reform train coming down the tracks in the House, but it won’t be the last. (Game on.) The chief justice also reiterated that his court considers parental terminations in Child Protective Services (CPS) cases “the civil death penalty” and supports further due process protections.
The second witness called before the JCJ Committee was Attorney General Ken Paxton, but he did not appear, nor did anyone from his office appear. The JCJ Committee has oversight authority over OAG, but the chair and vice-chair of the committee were recent House impeachment managers, so perhaps this is an indication that there are still some hard feelings remaining from that recent unpleasantness? (Yes, just call us Captain Obvious.)
Senate Criminal Justice
The Senate Committee on Criminal Justice discussed and then passed several bills that address computer-generated pornographic images of children
Senate Bill 20 by Chairman Flores (R-Pleasanton) would criminalize possession or promotion of material that appears to depict a child under 18 engaging in certain obscene activities, regardless of whether the images are of real children, cartoons, animations, or visuals produced by artificial intelligence (AI).
Senate Bill 1621 by Huffman (R-Houston) updates the child pornography statute to include AI-generated content. The bill creates two new distinct definitions of “depiction of a child” and “depiction of a computer-generated child,” along with updating the prosecutorial standards and penalty ranges for various amounts and different types of content. The bill states that the identity of the child in the material does not need to be proven. The mens rea also includes “should have known” that the depiction is of a child younger than 18 years of age. Employees of a childcare facility, shelter or facility that serves youth, or someone receiving state funds for the care of a child depicted by the visual material convicted of this crime will earn a first-degree punishment level. Anyone who displayed the visual material or caused the visual material to be displayed in a school library will also earn a first-degree punishment level.
Senate Bill 412 by Middleton (R-Galveston) would remove the affirmative defense for pornographic material given to children and sexual performance of a child if done for educational, medical, psychological, or a psychiatric purpose. Middleton claimed that 300 people were arrested for these offenses but only 60 were charged, due to the affirmative defense loophole. Public testimony argued that schools use the educational exemption to allow obscene materials. Middleton argued, “Under what scenario, say, under the sexual performance of a child would it be OK, for educational reasons, to talk about bestiality or sadomasochism? Why would that ever be OK? Right? So that’s there no educational reason for that.” The bill limits those defenses to only judicial or law enforcement purposes.
Senate Bill 441 by Hinojosa (D-McAllen) creates a civil liability for the production, solicitation, disclosure, or promotion of artificial intimate visual material and holds liable the websites and social media platforms that display such material. It is an effort to combat AI deep-fake material. Hinojosa also presented Senate Bill 442, which focuses on the criminal prosecution of AI deep-fake material by using the term media instead of videos. It allows prosecutors to charge repeat offenders with a third-degree felony. Distributors of the deep-fake AI material cannot avoid prosecution by merely adding disclaimers about unauthorized use. All the bills passed through the committee and are on the way to the Senate floor.
Senate State Affairs
The Senate Committee on State Affairs heard Senator Brian Hughes’ (R-Mineola) Senate Bill 1220 to overturns Ex Parte Charette, 2024 WL 4260409 (Tex. Crim. App. Sept. 18, 2024). In Charette, the court held that the Texas Ethics Commission (TEC) has exclusive jurisdiction under Chapter 571 of the Texas Government Code to investigate and determine violations of the Election Code before a criminal prosecution can proceed. Based upon this announced legal principle, the court dismissed the criminal case against Charette because no TEC proceeding had occurred. This bill adds §23.002 to the Government Code clarifying that subject matter jurisdiction in criminal trial courts is not conditioned on the exhaustion of civil remedies. The committee also heard Senate Bill 987 by Bettencourt (R-Houston), which is similar but more specifically limited to Election Code matters. Fort Bend County District Attorney Brian Middleton testified in support of both bills, and State Prosecuting Attorney Stacey Soule testified before the committee as a resource witness. Neither bill had any opposition, and both were left pending.
New bills
Last week we shared with you some bills that get filed session after session after session without success. If legislative sessions were nothing but debating old ideas, it would get old fast. But one of the things that keeps the legislature interesting is all the new bright ideas that find their way into proposed bills. Here is a dozen of those ideas not previously filed (at least to our recollection):
HB 204 by Tepper to remove the “donut hole” from the salary of DAs in counties of fewer than 400,000 population
HB 1953 by Thompson allowing crime victims to mandamus certain prosecutors or judges to enforce victims’ rights (among other proposed changes); Senate companion is SB 761 by C. Hinojosa
HB 2216 by Hull further limiting child removals or the termination of parental rights
HB 2707 by Gervin-Hawkins authorizing paralegals to represent defendants in certain misdemeanor criminal cases
HJR 141 by Leo-Wilson repealing the resign-to-run provision applicable to certain local officials
SB 411 by Middleton directing state judicial branch training grants solely to law schools or the State Bar (see Section 2 of the bill); House companion is HB 1588 by Leo-Wilson
SB 474 by Middleton disbarring a prosecutor removed from office for official misconduct
SB 1124 by Huffman regulating the discovery process involving Heath evidence; House companion is HB 3330 by Cook.
SB 1300 by Flores relating to organized retail theft; House companion is HB 3167 by Cook
SB 1440 by Bettencourt mandating reporting to OAG of certain prosecutorial decisions on violent crimes
SB 1861 by Hughes authorizing the CCA to appoint special prosecutors for Election Code crimes.
Legislators still have one more week to file general legislation. Once the dust settles and we’ve caught up with it all, we’ll try to report on any interesting trends we see.
Upcoming committee hearings
Monday, March 10, 2025
Senate State Affairs: 9:00 a.m., Senate Chamber
SB 893 Johnson, Nathan: Relating to criminal offenses for creating and distributing certain misleading images and videos.
SB 1362 Hughes, Bryan: Relating to prohibiting the recognition, service, and enforcement of extreme risk protective orders.
SCR 22 Hughes, Bryan: Designating the cannon as the official state gun of Texas.
House Subcommittee on County Government: 10:00 a.m., E2.028
HB 318 Guillen, Ryan: Relating to the establishment of grant programs to provide financial assistance to qualified sheriffs’ departments in certain rural counties.
HB 503 Tepper, Carl: Relating to the eligibility of certain counties to participate in the rural sheriff’s office salary assistance grant program and the rural prosecutor’s office salary assistance grant program.
Tuesday, March 11, 2025
House Criminal Jurisprudence: 10:30 a.m., E2.014
HB 268 Landgraff, Brooks: Relating to increasing the criminal penalty for making certain false reports and to restitution for emergency response costs associated with those false reports.
HB 305 Hayes, Richard: Relating to the time period for conducting a pretrial hearing after a criminal defendant has been restored to competency.
HB 307 Vasut, Cody: Relating to credit toward payment of fines and costs for certain defendants.
HB 380 Guillen, Ryan: Relating to the applicability of sex offender registration requirements to the offense of improper relationship between educator and student.
HB 548 Tepper, Carl: Relating to increasing the criminal penalty for the offense of burglary of a vehicle and to grants of community supervision to persons who commit that offense
HB 727 Cortez, Phillip: Relating to the punishment for the offense of burglary of a vehicle
Senate Criminal Justice: 8:00am, E1.016
SB 1281 Parker, Tan: Relating to certain theft offenses involving mail or a mail receptacle key or lock.
SB 1300 Flores, Pete: Relating to the prosecution and punishment of the criminal offense of organized retail theft.
SB 1379 Flores, Pete: Relating to increasing the criminal penalty for the offense of stealing or receiving a stolen check or similar sight order.
SB 1497 Nichols, Robert: Relating to the search of certain wireless communication devices by a peace officer.
SB 1498 Nichols, Robert: Relating to civil asset forfeiture of digital currency or other similar property.
SB 1499 Nichols, Robert: Relating to the operations of the Financial Crimes Intelligence Center.
Wednesday, March 12, 2025
House Homeland, Public Safety, Veterans Committee: 10:30 a.m., E2.016
HB 214 Guillen, Ryan: Relating to the prosecution of the criminal offenses of firearm and ammunition smuggling and terrorism.
HB 626 Bell, Cecil: Relating to granting limited state law enforcement authority to certain federal law enforcement officers.
HB 658 Tepper, Carl: Relating to the carrying of weapons by community supervision and corrections department officers, juvenile probation officers, and certain retired law enforcement officers and to criminal liability.
HB 674 Spiller, David: Relating to the prosecution and punishment of certain criminal offenses committed in the course of or for the purpose of avoiding certain law enforcement checkpoints or evading an arrest or detention
House Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence: 8:00am, E2.030
HB 421 Gonzalez, Mary: Relating to the creation of certain explicit deep fake material.
HB 745 Vasut, Cody: Relating to an exemption from jury service for certain crime victims or close relatives of deceased crime victims.
HB 917 Spiller, David: Relating to a district or county attorney participating as counsel in certain proceedings.
HB 204 Tepper, Carl: Relating to the total annual salary from state and county sources for certain state prosecutors.
Remember to click on the link to the committee posting for all the bills scheduled to be heard, including bills added after our update was issued.
Quotes of the week
“I know that most judges are doing a fabulous job. I get it. There is nothing in this bill that will hurt a good judge. Nothing! They will get a raise, that’s what’s going to happen.”
—Sen. Joan Huffman (R-Houston), laying out SB 293 before the Senate Finance Committee this week.
“Unfortunately, the prosecutors have been punished because many of them, almost all of them—again, there’s some outliers—very much deserve this raise. I want to give these prosecutors raises. So, the way the system has sort of set up, it’s been frustrating because it’s kind of all or nothing.”
—Sen. Joan Huffman, talking about her SB 293 and recognizing that felony prosecutor salary increases have been held hostage to the larger debates over judicial pay and accountability.
“We consider termination of parental rights to be the civil death penalty, and anything that the legislature can do to help parents in situations like that have access to competent counsel to make sure that the courts have the case presented to them properly and that all the arguments are being made [would be welcomed].”
“We can’t stop you guys from doing criminal prosecutions because we’ve got an Ethics Commission, you know, because that’s really, quite frankly, the tail wagging the dog here because the criminal prosecution has to go first.”
—Senator Paul Bettencourt (R-Houston) discussing his bill to overturn the Charette decision in the Senate State Affairs Committee.
###