The House Democrats came back to Austin this week. They missed the Capitol so much that several of them had a slumber party on the House floor. The party was short-lived, though, as the returning lawmakers were hit with nearly a $10,000 fine for their absence. The House got back to work now in Special Session 2 and started passing bills. The question now lingers: Will they finish their work, or will there be a trilogy of special sessions?
Full House
The House wasted no time and passed out its congressional redistricting maps and flood relief bills. The following bills have passed out of House committees and will be eligible to be heard by the full House.
HB 12 by Shaheen gives the OAG authority to unilaterally prosecute Election Code crimes; it is the companion to SB 12. The bill passed favorably out of the House State Affairs Committee.
HJR 1 proposes a constitutional amendment granting the OAG concurrent jurisdiction with each county or district attorney to prosecute election crimes. The constitutional amendment would be a more direct attempt to supersede the Stephens opinion regarding separation of powers. The bill passed favorably out of the House State Affairs Committee and would require a two-thirds vote from the entire House to pass to the Senate.
HB 16 is the Second Special Session’s omnibus judicial courts bill. It creates new courts, new district attorney offices, new punishment enhancements, and various other changes. Importantly, the bill includes a new reporting requirement for local prosecutors regarding some bail provisions and the resources prosecutors have on hand to carry out their work. This was a standalone bill from the regular session that failed to pass, then it was amended into the omnibus bill (which was vetoed), and it’s back again in this new version.
Bills the Senate passed in Special Session 2
The following bills passed through the Texas Senate. These are mostly refiled copies of the bills the Senate passed in Special Session 1.
SB 6 by Perry (R-Lubbock) bans most forms of THC. This is the same bill Governor Abbott vetoed. We have not heard any news that the Governor has changed his mind on this topic.
SB 11 by Parker (R-Flower Mound) creates an affirmative defense to prosecution for certain victims of human trafficking and compelling prostitution. This bill was vetoed by the Governor in the regular session for being too broad. The new version is narrower but also more complicated. Read the text for yourself and see what you think. This bill passed out favorably from the Texas House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence.
SB 12 by Hughes (R-Mineola) gives the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) authority to unilaterally prosecute Election Code crimes.
SB 13 by Mayes (R-Galveston) prohibits local governments from sending money to local associations that advocate on their behalf at the Texas Legislature, unlike any other private organizations or businesses in Texas. This bill could directly affect TDCAA’ s legislative efforts, although that depends entirely on the final version of any legislation.
SB 15 by King (R-Weatherford) is a priority bill for CLEAT (Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas) that would create a uniform confidentiality standard for law enforcement personnel files. This version protects the ability of unconfirmed disciplinary issues to be disclosed in the criminal discovery process under Article 39.14 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. This bill passed out favorably from the House Committee on Homeland Security, Public Safety & Veterans’ Affairs today.
SB 16 by West (D-Dallas) creates new criminal offenses for Real Property Theft and Real Property Fraud (also known as title theft or deed fraud). This bill passed out favorably from the Texas House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence.
Legislative Update Courses
Are you wondering what the Texas Legislature did for you this past legislative session? Are you wondering how you can learn about all the new prosecutorial tools that will help you see justice done? Well, wonder no longer. We wrote the book and are polishing up the online CLE course about all the changes, and we’ve also scheduled several live CLE events for those who prefer that option.
Click here for the combo pack that includes the book and the online course, which will be available later this month.
Click here to sign up for one of our in-person courses. We’ll be coming to Houston, Fort Worth, San Antonio, and Round Rock, with one more bonus offering to be announced soon!
Quotes
“As Attorney General, I will fight every single day for our God-given rights, for our families, and for the future of Texas. No more [George] Soros-funded judges and DAs putting criminals on our streets. No more judge-made mandates that Texans pay for illegals in our public schools. No more communities built on Sharia law.”
—Congressman Chip Roy (R-21st Congressional District) discussing why he decided to run for Texas Attorney General.
“The problem is, the pimps are really smart.”
—Representative Ann Johnson (D-Houston) discussing the new version of SB 11, adding that pimps will try to force their victims to commit crimes that are excluded from the newest version of the bill.
“Today I am expanding the agenda for the second Special Session to include important issues that will benefit Texas. First, we need to ensure that rogue lawmakers cannot hijack the important business of Texans during a legislative session by fleeing the state.”
—Governor Greg Abbott discussing the need for new legislation to impose penalties or punishments for legislators who willfully absent themselves during a session.