Current legislators are about to find out why previous legislatures never tackled school finance reform except when the courts forced them into it.

Property tax drama

There was a major stand-off last week between the two chambers as each urged the other to take up their respective property tax reform bills first. The House was supposed to take up HB 2 by Burrow (R-Lubbock) on Thursday but temporarily postponed it in hopes the Senate would bring up SB 2 by Bettencourt (R-Houston). But SB 2 still lacks the three-fifths vote necessary for consideration under Senate rules because Sen. Kel Seliger (R-Amarillo) has joined the Senate Democrats in opposition. Once it was clear SB 2 was failing to launch on Thursday, the House re-scheduled debate on HB 2 for Monday (potentially making that day’s committee schedule a very, very, very late one because the bill has more than 180 pre-filed amendments). Meanwhile, in the Senate the Lite Guv has threatened to use the “nuclear option” to pass SB 2 on Monday over the top of the objectors. (You don’t even have to know what the “nuclear option” is to know that it’s (a) rare and (b) perceived negatively by those on the receiving end, but you can click on that link in the previous sentence for the details.)

Note also that next week is probably the final week a House bill can be heard in committee and still hope to pass; after that, House bills will still be heard in committees but high volume and impending deadlines will combine to hamstring them before they can cross the finish line.

Looking ahead

Monday could be a long day: HB 2 and SB 2 floor debates; committee hearings on asset forfeiture, the death penalty, LGBTQ issues, sex crimes, DWI blood draws, and more; and a four-day Easter break (finally!) at the end of the week.

Update on various policy topics

Part I of this week’s update included an overview of where various money issues stand, but we thought we’d also give you a quick run-down of where some other issues that we’ve been following this session stand. Here’s the latest (listed alphabetically):

AG authority: SB 1257 by Huffman (R-Houston) has been voted from committee and may soon be posted on one of their “uncontested” calendars; any Senator can knock a bill off that calendar (but doing so invites retaliation). HB 3989 by Leach (R-Plano) is awaiting a vote in House Criminal Jurisprudence on Monday and General Paxton and his staff have been advocating for it with committee members. It is up to Chairwoman Collier (D-Fort Worth) to decide whether to bring it up for a vote.

Bail bonds: All the “reform” bills (in both directions) are pending and awaiting a vote in the House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee.

Death penalty: HB 1030 by Moody (D-El Paso) was amended on the House floor to make it more defendant-friendly; that bill now heads to the Senate Criminal Justice Committee. HB 1139 by S. Thompson (intellectual disability) and HB 1936 by Rose (serious mental illness) are in House Calendars. SB 719 by Fallon (capital murder for child under 15) is on the Senate Intent Calendar. HB 472 by Dutton (law of parties) and HB 3938 (victims’ wishes) will be heard in committee Monday.

DRP repeal: HB 2048 by Zerwas (R-Richmond) received committee approval and now heads to the Calendars Committee while SB 918 by Huffman (R-Houston), its companion, awaits a vote in committee. These bills repeal the surcharge program and transform the existing DWI surcharges into DWI state fines (which can be waived/bargained away like anything else).

Grand jury: HB 2427 by Reynolds (D-Missouri City) and HB 2398 by S. Thompson (D-Houston) are pending in House Criminal Jurisprudence and may be called up for a vote as soon as Monday if Chairwoman Collier wishes.

Local gov’t lobbying: SB 29 by Hall (R-Edgewood) is on the Senate Intent Calendar.

Judicial branch pay: The substitute version of HB 2384 by Leach (R-Plano) that includes prosecutors was reported from committee late Friday and is now in the Calendars Committee.

Budget conferees

The House conferees for HB 1 have been appointed by the Speaker. They are: Zerwas, (R-Richmond), chair; G. Bonnen (R-Galveston), S. Davis (R-West University Place), Longoria (D-Mission) and Walle (D-Houston). The Lite Guv is expected to appoint the Senate conferees next week, and then those ten legislators will disappear for a month to hammer out the final budget compromise.

Scattershots

Here are stories and articles we don’t have time to summarize, but they might be of interest to some of you:

• Dallas DA enacts reforms to end mass incarceration (Texas Observer)
• These three lawyers want to dismantle the State Bar (Texas Lawyer [$])
• Republican lawmaker who halts abortion bill now faces security concerns (Texas Tribune)
• Obstructionist or principled stand? State rep stalls other members’ bills (Dallas Morning News)

More committee hearings

For a reminder of everything set for Monday, April 8, see Thursday’s report. Here are summaries of the relevant committee notices posted for later in the week:

Monday, April 15

House Judiciary & Civil Jurisprudence – 8:00 a.m., Room E2.026

The following bills were added to the postings in our previous update:

• HB 3807 by Springer creating a criminal district attorney’s office in Cooke County
• HJR 71 to exempt county court-level judges from the constitutional resign-to-run rule
• HJR 148 to authorize a judicial appointment and retention system

House Criminal Jurisprudence – 2:00 p.m. or upon adjournment, E2.012

The following bills were added to the postings in our previous update:

• HB 3177 by Smith criminalizing the continuous sexual abuse of a disabled individual
• HB 3588 by Hunter increasing the penalties for child pornography

Tuesday, April 16

Senate Criminal Justice – 1:30 p.m., Room E1.016

• SB 405 by Birdwell relating to false reports made to jailers or corrections officers
• SB 562 by Zaffirini relating to competency determinations
• SB 583 by Hinojosa relating to representation by public defenders
• SB 1164 by Rodriguez regulating the disposition of counterfeit trademark items
• SB 1268 by Watson authorizing multiple allocution witnesses in a case
• SB 1649 by Kolkhorst authorizing the TIDC to review criminal defense attorney’s fees

Wednesday, April 17

House Homeland Security & Public Safety – 8:00 a.m., E2.016

• HB 107 by Raymond creating a DWI offender registry
• HB 842 by Hernandez creating a registry for certain violent crimes
• HB 1791 by Krause limiting local gov’t ability to restrict licensed carry on their premises
• HB 745 by Rose changing statutes mandating arrests in certain situations
• HB 2607 by K. King establishing DPS checkpoints along the OK and NM borders
• HB 418 by VanDeaver making confidential certain personal information of federal prosecutors
• HB 738 by Harless authorizing bond conditions to be entered into TCIC
• HB 1713 by Ramos requiring family violence offenders to surrender firearms
• HB 2672 by Zweiner requiring DPS to conduct a study on sex crimes prosecutions
• HB 2678 by Zweiner collecting statistics on certain sexual assault kit exams

House Juvenile Justice & Family Issues – 10:30 a.m. or upon adjournment, E2.012

• HB 556 by S. Thompson authorizing entry of a default protective order
• HB 2382 by Dutton reducing certain evading arrest conduct to a CINS offense
• HB 3139 by Bowers relating to personal service of an application for a protective order
• HB 3257 by Raney making imitation firearms a deadly weapon

Thursday, April 18

House Corrections – 8:00 a.m., E2.030

• HB 1076 by White expanding eligibility for an order of non-disclosure for certain state jail felony offenses
• HB 4163 and HJR 130 by S. Thompson authorizing a court to commute a punishment after parole
• HB 4460 by Allen prohibiting revocation of supervision for certain state jail and third-degree felony offenders
• HB 4566 by Allen mandating diligent participation credits for all state jail felony offenders

House County Affairs – 9:00 a.m., E2.028

• SB 710 by Creighton authorizing local ethics commissions in any county
• HB 3294 by Raymond authorizing the use for forfeiture funds to pay autopsy transportation costs
• HB 3716 by Parker limiting the medical examiner mandate to counties with a population of greater than 2 million

If you want to learn more about a bill or find out how to get involved for or against it, contact Shannon for details.

House Calendars Committee

Bills sent to the House Calendars Committee since our last update include: HB 15 by Thompson (omnibus human trafficking bill), HB 309 by Moody (indecent assault), HB 1325 by T. King (industrial hemp), HB 1399 by Smith (DNA collection upon certain arrests), HB 1711 by Paddie (digital license plates), HB 2384 by Leach (judicial branch pay raises), HB 2502 by Moody (minimum jail time ACOP for hit-and-run offenders), HB 3402 by Phelan (walking quorum fix), and HB 3582 by Murr (DWI deferred adjudication).

Upcoming calendars

The following bills have been calendared for consideration on the House floor next week: HB 892 by Kuempel (county regulation of game rooms), HB 629 by Landgraf (statewide protective order registry), HB 1355 by Button (DWI blood search warrants across jurisdictions)

The following bills are eligible to be considered on the Senate Intent Calendar: SB 29 by Hall (limiting local gov’t and association lobbying), SB 346 by Zaffirini (new court cost consolidation), SB 719 by Fallon (capital murder for victims under 15), SB 891 by Huffman (omnibus court/prosecutor creation bill)

These lists change daily, so click on this link to access the latest House Calendar or Senate Intent Calendar.

Other bills on the move

The House passed the following bills over to the Senate: HB 51 by Canales (standardized forms in criminal actions), HB 302 by Paul (limiting landlord regulation of tenant carrying firearms), and HB 1030 by Moody (changing jury instructions in capital cases).

The Senate passed the following bills over to the House: SB 38 by Zaffirini (hazing), SB 341 by Huffman (ban on defense lawyers serving as attorneys pro tem), and SB 1259 by Huffman (fertility fraud). A committee also gave preliminary approval to SB 970 by Creighton (limit on contingent fee legal contracts), which can now go to the floor for full consideration.

Finally, we can announce a sure sign that the end of session is approaching: a bill we are tracking has been passed by both chambers. Specifically, SB 306 by Watson/Israel (sobering centers in lieu of arrest) passed the House and is on its way to the governor’s desk. There will be at least a thousand more bills that follow that path over the next six weeks—let’s pray they are good ones!

Legislative rotation sign-up

Thanks to this week’s scheduled volunteer, Cherokee County DA Elmer Beckworth, for coming to Austin this past week—he set the record for most testimony in one week! Now let’s see who else is ready to step up and challenge that record. We still have volunteer slots open for the next few weeks of the session, so if you want to come to Austin to interact with legislators, contact Shannon for details.

More Quotes of the Week

“Members, we are respectfully working with the Senate on this issue.”

House Speaker Dennis Bonnen (R-Angleton), announcing from the House dais why that chamber is postponing its deliberations on HB 2, their version of property tax reform.

“In this instance, I am the deciding vote unless they go with the nuclear option. I’ve been the deciding vote before. I’m going to vote the way that I think is best for my district.”

State Sen. Kel Seliger (R-Amarillo), the lone Republican hold-out on bringing SB 2 (property tax caps) to the Senate floor.

“I respect our Senate rules, but I do not intend to let a procedural motion stop the Senate from passing this important bill.”

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R-Houston), on his intentions for Monday.

“I’m not going to Washington, I’m staying here. In fact, I can break the news for you on your show right now. It’s a little early, but I plan to run—not plan to run, I am running—for lieutenant governor in 2022. I’m not going anywhere.”

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R-Houston), dispelling rumors that he is interested in the newly-open position of Secretary of Homeland Security in the Trump Administration.

“Everyone is worried that Washington is like House of Cards, while hoping it is like West Wing. [The] truth is that it’s more like Veep.”

Tweet by Congressman Dan Crenshaw (R-TX).

There are fewer than 50 days left in this regular session, but bills opposed by prosecutors are still making progress. If you care about any of them, now is the time to get off the sidelines and into the game. Five different bills to limit or abolish civil asset forfeiture will be heard on Monday, if that’s any incentive for you. Read on for details.

Budgets and paychecks

Earlier this week, the Senate passed its version of HB 1 by Zerwas (R-Richmond), the General Appropriations Act, that will fund state government for the next biennium. The Senate substitute contains ~$248 billion in spending for the biennium, $11.9 billion of which is new spending (a 5.1-percent increase). The bill will now go back to the House, which will reject the Senate changes to HB 1 and seek the appointment of a conference committee of five representatives and five senators who will work out the differences in the two versions of the bill behind closed doors.

There are a number of items of interest to prosecutors in the competing budgets when you look at them together. For starters, all the various judicial branch pay raise options remain on the table in the two budget proposals: an across-the-board pay raise of 10 (or 15) percent, a stair-stepped raise that includes experienced judges and prosecutors, or a stair-stepped raise for those judges that excludes prosecutors. Much depends on the fate of HB 2384 by Leach (R-Plano), the pay raise bill for experienced judges and prosecutors that was approved by the committee on April 1 but has not yet been sent to the Calendars Committee (likely because the fiscal note paperwork is delayed). Meanwhile, everything else is still in play and subject to negotiation and compromise when the conference committee meets behind closed doors. That means we won’t know anything for certain on this topic until a few days before the end of the session.

On assistant prosecutor longevity pay, the House dedicated ~$1.3 million in new general revenue to support the fund through the next biennium. The Senate did not make that appropriation, but we have reason to believe the Senate is waiting to see if a long-term fix to the recurring shortfall emerges after some other budget issues are worked out (fingers crossed).

In other budget news, the Senate version of the budget contains more than $85 million in human trafficking-related funding, including an additional $5.1 million to hire 19 new employees for the attorney general’s human trafficking division, plus an additional $4.5 million to beef up the AG’s election fraud unit. The Senate’s budget also includes $49.2 million in additional funding for DPS crime lab services, compared to Article XI of the House version, which contains $26.6 million to support the hiring of an additional 122 forensic analysists and related staff. Either way, it looks like the state may come through with some much-needed relief for those of you waiting (and waiting … and waiting …) on crime lab results.

Bail bond reform

Monday’s House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee lasted almost 10 hours, ending around 2 o’clock on Tuesday morning. A significant portion of that meeting consisted of a discussion of various bail bond reform bills (HB 1323, HB 2020, and HB 3283). We’d love to provide you with some insight into what the ultimate result will be, but frankly, this issue is still a mess with no clear consensus on what the legislature will do about it, if anything. We’ll let you know more when we know more.

Grand jury changes, Round 2

A week after hearing HB 2427 by Reynolds (D-Missouri City)—which is still pending without a vote in that committee—the House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee took up HB 2398 by S. Thompson (D-Houston) for Round 2 of this policy debate. House Bill 2398 is the broad version from last session that not only puts defense counsel in the grand jury room with their clients but also provides greater discovery, requires recording of proceedings, increases delays, and allows prosecutors to be sued for vexatious litigation, among other “highlights.”

Supporters testifying for the bill were the Texas Defender Service, the Innocence Project of Texas, Just Liberty, and three witnesses from the Texas Public Policy Foundation/Right on Crime, which has been the biggest advocate for these changes. Prosecutors testifying against the bill were Ellis County C&DA Patrick Wilson, Brazoria County CDA Jeri Yenne, Galveston County CDA Jack Roady, Cherokee County DA Elmer Beckworth, and Harris County Assistant DAs Natasha Sinclair and Johna Stallings.

You can watch the debate for yourself at this link beginning at the 00:33:20 mark. Most of the discussion centered on the question of whether defense lawyers should be allowed in the grand jury with their clients (for a second week in a row). The major concern from some committee members seemed to be a fear that otherwise-innocent witnesses and suspects are being misled or coerced into perjuring themselves or otherwise admitting conduct that gets them indicted under circumstances that would not happen if they had a lawyer with them during questioning before the grand jury. Testimony from some supporters of the bill also implied that the bill’s changes are needed because prosecutors cannot be trusted in these proceedings. The prosecutors opposing the bill testified to the various reasons why those fears are misplaced and why this proposed cure would be much worse than the supposed ill it seeks to cure, especially in serious and complex criminal cases such as officer-involved shootings, organized criminal activity, and human trafficking cases. It was also pointed out how no state in the Union both requires grand jury indictments and also imposes such extensive—and expensive—requirements on their grand juries. Finally, we note that there was much about this bill and its genesis in certain real-world cases that was not brought up before the committee—and indeed, never gets discussed in public—but you can be sure that those cases come up behind closed doors.

We’ll keep you posted if the bill receives a vote in the House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee, but feel free to reach out to the members of that committee if you were unable to register your position in person this week.

Attorney General concurrent jurisdiction, Round 2

In between the grand debate and the discussion on bail reform, HB 3979 by Leach (R-Plano) was heard by the committee. That bill gives the attorney general the independent authority to prosecute “multijurisdictional” human trafficking cases—meaning any case occurring in more than one county, even if wholly within a multi-county district attorney’s judicial district—and imposes on local prosecutors a duty to report to the AG on all trafficking cases in their jurisdictions so that the AG can prosecute those cases if the local DAs don’t. This new authority also empowers the AG to prosecute all other crimes arising from the same trafficking criminal episode.

At the hearing, the bill’s author laid out the narrative supporting the alleged need for this bill: A UT School of Social Work study from 2016 estimated that there are 313,000 trafficking victims in Texas, but in 2017, prosecutors charged only 61 trafficking cases and 81 compelling prosecution cases, and in 2018, only 121 human trafficking and 106 compelling prostitution cases were charged. The message? Local prosecutors aren’t doing a good enough job with sex trafficking cases, so the legislature must empower the AG to step in and do more of it. Never mind that the cited study said that 234,000 of those victims are adult labor trafficking victims, or that both that study and the OCA report cited for the prosecution numbers come with significant caveats from their authors about the limitation of their data—the narrative is the narrative, and that is the field on which the debate is being held.

Several prosecutors testified against the bill, including Travis County DA Margaret Moore, Montgomery County DA Brett Ligon, Comal County CDA Jennifer Tharp, El Paso County DA Jaime Esparza, Tarrant County Asst. CDA Vincent Giardino, and Dallas County Asst. CDA Amy Derrick. Each attempted to educate the panel that the problem isn’t a lack of prosecution by district attorneys but a lack of arrests by law enforcement. Recently-obtained DPS CCH data for human trafficking and continuous human trafficking crimes revealed only 143 statewide arrests in 2017 and 172 statewide arrests in 2018. Those arrests took place in only 26 counties, so most district attorneys have never had a trafficking case brought to them by their law enforcement agencies. Prosecutors stressed that they enjoy a good working relationship with the attorney general, and that the award of original criminal jurisdiction to the AG is unnecessary and ultimately harmful to a unified effort to combat human trafficking.

Unfortunately, proponents of giving the attorney general this new power continue to sidestep the jurisdiction conflicts by arguing that this is merely another tool in the fight against this horrible crime—and who can be against another tool, right? And to legislators who are talking about spending tens of millions of additional dollars on combatting human trafficking, it may be preferable to give additional money and power to someone who is across the street in Austin rather than a group of local, independent officials scattered across the state. This is especially true now that the AG has become a one-stop shop, with investigation and prosecution under one roof (like the Feds), despite the fact that this proposed AG authority almost certainly crosses the line into a separation of powers violation under the Texas constitution.

Ultimately, if the estimates of the prevalence of trafficking in this state are accurate, it is unrealistic to think that any attorney general can make a serious dent in the numbers of these crimes. The problem is too large and pervasive to be handled from an office in Austin. Only local district attorneys—who already represent the State of Texas in every corner of this state—can provide a comprehensive prosecutorial solution to this problem, and only then if they are brought those cases by law enforcement agencies who have the funding and training necessary to carry out that mission. The problem is that no one can convey that message to legislators except you—and if you don’t start conveying it, the issue may soon be moot. (To get a better idea of the tenor of the discussion, you can watch the debate for yourself at this link beginning at the 04:39:35 mark.)

House Bill 3979 was left pending in the Criminal Jurisprudence Committee but could be voted upon as soon as Monday. In the Senate, its companion, SB 1257 by Huffman (R-Houston), was voted out of committee last week and could be heard on the Senate floor soon. The bill author needs 19 (of 31) votes to bring the bill up for consideration on the Senate floor, meaning that any combination of 13 senators who oppose it can keep it from passing.

What Schoolhouse Rock did not teach you

That old “How a bill becomes a law” episode may have covered the basics, but it neglected to mention that the entire legislative system is set up to kill bills, not to pass them. That’s why only roughly 20 percent of filed bills ever become law. The primary hurdle is at the committee level (which is why we spend so much time updating you on what is being heard in those hearings). But only slightly less well-known is what happens to bills that emerge from committee, which varies depending on which chamber you are discussing.

In our state Senate, senators may set their bills that have a committee’s stamp of approval on the Intent Calendar to indicate their … well, intent (duh) to bring the bill up for a vote on the floor. That requires a three-fifths (60 percent) vote, or 19 of the 31 senators (assuming everyone is in attendance at that time). That hurdle rarely comes into play, but it does happen—just ask the author of SB 2, the Senate’s property tax cap bill that has been stuck in limbo for almost two months. But even if a Senate bill can clear that hurdle, there is another one looming even larger. Senate rules give the Lieutenant Governor, as presiding officer, the sole authority to recognize a senator to bring up a bill. If the Lite Guv doesn’t like a bill, he can ignore the author’s request to bring up that bill and kill it—even if it has unanimous support. It’s like a governor’s veto, only this one cannot be overridden. (And now you know one of the reasons our state’s lieutenant governor is so powerful.) This system is also why there is no way to know what bills on each day’s Intent Calendar will be heard when—it is entirely up to the whim of the Lite Guv.

Across the rotunda, House rules are both more (little-D) democratic and more orderly (which is something of a paradox). Rather than give the Speaker powers similar to those of the Lite Guv, the House uses a Calendars Committee of 11 representatives who decide (without any public testimony) not only which bills get debated on the House floor and which don’t, but also in what order the lucky winners get heard. This makes the Calendars Committee members increasingly powerful as the session goes on and bills start dying on the vine due to various deadlines that kick in a few weeks from now. Therefore, if you are interested in a House bill that has received initial committee approval, and if you know any members of the Calendars Committee, now is the time to give them a ring and let them know your thoughts on that bill. Many a House bill will die a mysterious death in the Calendars Committee with nary a fingerprint left behind to prove what happened to it—and that is a feature of this system, not a bug. [Note: Both chambers also have “uncontested” calendars, but we’ll save that lesson for later.]

For the curious, the members of the House Calendars Committee are: Four Price (R-Amarillo), chair; Joe Moody (D-El Paso), vice-chair; Joe Deshotel (D-Beaumont), John Frullo (R-Lubbock), Craig Goldman (R-Fort Worth), Oscar Longoria (D-Mission), Will Metcalf (R-Conroe), Tom Oliverson (R-Houston), Eddie Rodriguez (D-Austin), Toni Rose (D-Dallas), and John Wray (R-Waxahachie).

Bills currently in (or headed to) that committee include:

• HB 8 by Neave (omnibus sexual assault exams bill)
• HB 63 by Moody (civil fine for marijuana)
• HB 64 by Canales (expunctions of deferred adjudications)
• HB 176 by Canales (no waiver of rights to expunction/OND)
• HB 281 by Middleton (no lobbying by local officials)
• HB 344 by Dutton (juvenile “raise the age” bill)
• HB 433 by Shaheen (disclosure of public money spent to influence legislation)
• HB 667 by K. King (sexual assault enhancement for incest)
• HB 902 by Landgraf (increasing punishments for assaulting pregnant women)
• HB 1139 by S. Thompson (pre-trial death penalty determination of ID)
• HB 1661 by Herrero (changes to continuous FV offense)
• HB 1936 by Rose (death penalty exemption for serious mental illness)

As the session goes on, we’ll continue to let you know when certain bills get to the Calendars Committee; after that, it’s up to you to act on that information.

House calendar

The House will take up HB 2 by Burrows (R-Lubbock) today; if the building is still left standing upon completion of that debate, we’ll let you know in our next update what is on tap for next week.

Senate Intent calendar

This list changes daily, but as of now, eligible bills on Senate Intent include: SB 2 by Bettencourt (property tax caps), SB 29 by Hall (ban on local gov’t and association lobbying), and SB 1259 by Huffman (fertility fraud).

Upcoming committee hearings

Here are summaries of the relevant committee notices posted so far:

Monday, April 15

House Judiciary & Civil Jurisprudence – 8:00 a.m., Room E2.026

• HB 4504 by Landgraf creating a system for the non-partisan election and retention of judges
• HB 3061 by Allison authorizing a study on the selection of certain trial and appellate judges
• HB 3449 by Smithee providing employment protections for jury service
• HB 1222 by Wray increasing the salaries of Texas’ Chief Justice and Presiding Judge
• HB 4441 by Neave requiring the reporting to OCA of various data on state jail felony diversions
• HJR 63 by Pacheco increasing the experience required to serve as a judge

House Criminal Jurisprudence – 2:00 p.m. or upon adjournment, E2.012

Asset forfeiture bills:

• HB 171 by Canales applying the exclusionary rule to civil asset forfeiture proceedings
• HB 182 by Canales requiring clear and convincing evidence for forfeitures and establishing a minimum threshold for federal equitable sharing
• HB 404 by S. Thompson repealing civil asset forfeiture
• HB 479 by Dutton requiring a conviction for asset forfeiture
• HB 1615 by Schaefer requiring State to disprove innocent owner defense in forfeitures
• HB 386 by Burns authorizing non-lawyer JPs to issue DWI blood search warrants
• HB 472 by Dutton eliminating the death penalty for convictions under PC §7.02(b) (law of parties – conspiracy)
• HB 828 by Rose providing jail credits toward discharge of fines and costs
• HB 980 by Beckley repealing the criminal offense of homosexual conduct
• HB 1029 by Moody making CAC videos subject to regular discovery procedures
• HB 1445 by Rosenthal creating an offense for carrying a firearm while intoxicated
• HB 1498 by Metcalf expanding and clarifying the scope of continuous sexual abuse of a child
• HB 1811 by Murr applying high-BAC enhancement to boating while intoxicated cases
• HB 2034 by VanDeaver increasing the penalty for invasive visual recording of a victim under 18
• HB 2361 by Moody clarifying jurisdiction to prosecute certain business entities
• HB 2381 by Dutton requiring parole for certain re-arrested parolees
• HB 2754 by White barring arrests for certain Class C offenses and FTAs and limiting capiases
• HB 2896 by Collier prohibiting a plea by citation or lawyer in Class C family violence cases
• HB 3281 by Hinojosa barring the use of a “gay panic” defense
• HB 3490 by Cole criminalizing abusive communications on the Internet
• HB 3539 by Rose requiring preferential appointment of public defenders in capital cases
• HB 3589 by Sanford granting various jail credits toward laying out fines in Class C cases
• HB 3729 by Shaheen making it a crime for an animal abuser to subsequently possess an animal
• HB 3824 by Sherman authorizing family violence findings for stalking and certain PC Chapter 25 offenses
• HB 3938 by Moody mandating the consideration of victims’ views in death penalty cases
• HB 4237 by Turner relating to stalking
• HB 4287 by Zedler barring community supervision for various sex trafficking and prostitution crimes
• HB 4323 by Reynolds making confidential certain information about child victims

Tuesday, April 16

Wednesday, April 17

Thursday, April 18

[check our next update for bills set on these dates]

If you want to learn more about a bill or find out how to get involved for or against it, contact Shannon for details.

Other bills on the move

As the volume of bills moving through the system increases, our ability to report on them decreases. Going forward, we must necessarily give you a “skinnier” summary of what is happening in this new section. With that in mind, here are just a fraction of the bills that are making progress right now.

Passed the House, headed to the Senate: HB 226 by Krause (repealing various non-Penal Code crimes), HB 446 by Moody (legalizing knuckles and clubs [amended]), HB 869 by Hefner (gas pump card skimmers), HB 1030 by Moody (changing jury instructions for death penalty special issues [amended]).

Approved by a House committee: HB 309 by Moody (indecent assault), HB 335 by Dutton (Class C punishment for POM < 1 oz.), HB 353 by Blanco (accessing cell site information), HB 1539 by Geren (evidence tampering in misdemeanor cases), HB 1609 by Tinderholt (confidentiality of grand jurors’ names).

Passed the Senate, headed to the House: SB 21 by Huffman (increasing smoking age to 21), SB 325 by Huffman (statewide protective order registry), SB 1640 by Watson (PIA walking quorum fix).

Approved by a Senate committee: SB 719 by Fallon (death penalty for murder of child under 15), SB 891 by Huffman (omnibus new courts bill), SB 1259 by Huffman (fertility fraud).

Scattershots

Here are some stories and articles we don’t have time to summarize, but they might be of interest to some of you:

• Representative’s wife seeks more time for sexual abuse victims to sue (Texas Tribune)
• Hemp, CBD legalization bill passes first hurdle (Dallas Morning News)
• House Speaker, gun rights activist come face-to-face at GOP fundraiser (Texas Tribune)
• Brazos County DA opposes bill giving AG jurisdiction over human trafficking cases (KBTX News)

Quotes of the Week

“We’re already behind 42 other states. … It’s the proper time and this bill is a great start.”

Rick Hardcastle, former state representative, testifying before the House Agriculture and Livestock Committee in favor of HB 1325 by T. King (D-Batesville), which would legalize industrial hemp and certain hemp-derived products such as CBD oil that contain less than 0.3 percent of THC. The bill was approved by that committee and is now pending in the House Calendars Committee.

“I’m the Speaker of the House. I don’t need to be in that type of confrontation. So I left.”

House Speaker Dennis Bonnen (R-Angleton), after leaving an event at which he was seated next to a gun rights activist who controversially visited Bonnen’s home last week.

“If a member is a catalyst of putting another member in danger, that behavior is not going to be rewarded.”

State Rep. Terry Canales (D-Edinburg), providing one of several explanations for why Rep. Jonathan Stickland’s (R-Bedford) bill to ban red light cameras has not been called up for a vote after the recent dust-up over his constitutional carry bill.

When it rains, it pours. (And no, we aren’t talking about this weekend’s weather.)

Looking ahead

Now the struggle gets real in the House. Due to looming deadlines, you can probably stick a fork in any House bill that has not been heard in a committee in the next two weeks. (Senate bills have until early May to get heard though.) That means long bills lists and short notices are now the norm going forward. Committee hearings are the best place to slow down bills, so pay attention to these bill postings below and get involved if you want to sink (or save!) a bill.

Because we aren’t busy enough already …

It looks like we’ll be talking about bail bond reform next week (finally).

Before adjourning for the weekend, the House suspended its normal posting requirements to allow Monday’s Criminal Jurisprudence Committee meeting to include HB 1323 by Murr (R-Junction), HB 2020 by Kacal (R-Bryan), and HB 3283 by White (R-Hillister). In order, those are: the chief justice’s plan, the governor’s plan, and … another, more modest bail bond bill that hasn’t gotten much attention. Oh, and both of the first two bills are called “The Damon Allen Act” in memory of a fallen highway patrol trooper, even though they do very different things. All three bills are now part of the full committee agenda on Monday.

HB 1323 by Murr is the bail bond reform pushed last session by the chief justice. For a full summary of the bill, see our Week 5 Legislative Update. The main sticking point with it for some prosecutors last session was the denial-of-bail provisions that trigger a new right to an evidentiary hearing within 10 days at which witnesses may be called by either side and the State must prove by clear and convincing evidence that the arrestee is a flight risk who will endanger the public/victims. That proposal was eventually stripped from last session’s Senate version before the bill died in the House, but it has re-appeared in the current bill as filed.

HB 2020 by Kacal is the governor’s preferred vehicle for bail bond “reform,” although it does little to address various federal cases challenging current practices. Instead, it seeks to ensure potentially dangerous offenders are not released with inadequate security. The most controversial part of this bill as filed is probably the requirement that only a district court judge can grant bail to arrestees accused of felonies and misdemeanor crimes of violence. There is likely to be a new version of this bill laid out in committee on Monday, but we have yet to see it.

HB 3283 by White authorizes the use of local bail schedules but allows a defendant who cannot meet the amount set in his case to make a “counter-offer” which must be considered by a magistrate within 48 hours, and if rejected, the defendant has a right to another hearing for re-consideration within four days of that determination.

These three bills now join the AG’s trafficking bill, grand jury reform, and 24 other bills teed up for consideration on Monday—all in the same committee. If we survive it, we’ll update you next week on how things shake out.

AG’s trafficking bill update

To update Thursday’s report: The Senate version of SB 1257 by Huffman (R-Houston) was voted out of the Senate State Affairs Committee last night by a 7-0 vote (Nelson (R) and Lucio (D) absent). Once the paperwork is done, it may be considered by the full Senate via the Senate Intent Calendar (requiring a three-fifths majority vote) or on the Local and Uncontested Calendar. As previously reported, the House version—HB 3979 by Leach (R-Plano)—is set for a hearing Monday afternoon in the House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee. Contact Rob if you want to get involved in this issue, time is of the essence.

“Stay in your lane, bro”

Those of you coming to Austin to help legislators craft good public policy should know that not everyone appreciates your unsolicited input. Specifically, the Texas Public Policy Foundation and various Tea Party-affiliated groups deem your involvement at the legislature to be “taxpayer-funded lobbying” and want to curtail your ability to impact the legislative process. Most of their efforts are directed at the cities, counties, and school districts who have thwarted some of their preferred policy initiatives over the years, such as school choice, property tax restrictions, and more. But make no mistake: Prosecutors and law enforcement are also in their crosshairs, both individually and as a group—namely, TDCAA—and for the same reason. (Think civil asset forfeiture, grand jury reform, and various other policy proposals pushed by Right on Crime and its supporters). All told, there are more than a dozen of these kinds of bills filed this session. Here are the ones that are actually moving through the legislative process right now:

• HB 281 by Middleton (R-Wallisville): Political subdivisions that impose a tax may not spend money to influence legislation or pay dues to associations that do so (passed House State Affairs Committee, soon to be sent to House Calendars Committee)
• SB 29 by Hall (R-Edgewood): No political subdivision may spend money to influence legislation or contribute to or pay in any manner an association that influences legislation (passed Senate State Affairs Committee, awaiting consideration on Senate floor)
• SB 702 by Bettencourt (R-Houston): Political subdivisions must approve by public vote each individual expenditure to influence legislation and report all such expenditures to the Ethics Commission, including association dues (passed Senate, referred to House State Affairs Committee)

We will leave it to you to decide what action, if any, these bills call for on your part. While a few of you might find the more drastic proposals somewhat offensive, please do not take it personally. If anything, it is a compliment to you—both individually and as members of our association—that certain advocacy groups who cannot beat you and your subject-matter expertise on the battlefield of ideas are now trying to take you off that field altogether.

Feel free to contact Shannon for more information about any of these bills.

Money

The Senate will take up their version of HB 1, the state budget, on Tuesday, but that debate is usually quite perfunctory in comparison to the House’s all-nighter. Once the Senate replaces the House’s language with their own and sends it back to the House to go to a conference committee, we’ll provide you with a House/Senate comparison and update you on where related issues (judicial branch pay raise, longevity pay, etc.) stand.

Upcoming committee hearings

For a reminder of everything set for Monday, April 8, see Thursday’s report. Here are summaries of the relevant committee notices posted for later in the week:

Tuesday, April 9

Senate Criminal Justice – 1:30 p.m., Room E1.016

• SB 691 and SCR 10 repealing automatic DL suspensions for certain drug offenses
• SB 1125 by Hinojosa permitting video testimony by forensic analysts in criminal proceedings
• SB 1698 by Whitmire barring juvenile certifications/transfers for state jail or 3^rd-degree felonies
• SB 1754 by Huffman simplifying the elements of taking a weapon from certain officers
• SB 2114 by West requiring law enforcement agencies to confirm compliance with discovery laws
• SB 2381 by Hughes legalizing long knives in bars, amusement parks, and churches

Wednesday, April 10

House Homeland Security & Public Safety – 8:00 a.m., E2.016

• HB 372 by Allen reducing penalties for DWLI
• HB 1207 by Rodriguez creating a criminal penalty for failure to report a lost or stolen firearm
• HB 1208 by Rodriguez relating to storing firearms for certain protective order respondents
• HB 1590 by Howard creating the Office for Sexual Assault Survivor Assistance
• HB 3106 by Goldman requiring ongoing sex crime investigations to be entered into TDEx
• HB 3191 by Moody requiring protective order respondents to surrender their firearms
• HB 3540 by Burns authorizing peace officers to release in lieu of arrest certain disabled persons
• HB 4236 by Anderson allowing viewing of certain body cam footage by victims’ families

House Juvenile Justice & Family Issues – 10:30 a.m. or upon adjournment, E2.012

• HB 2491 by Wu prohibiting commitment to a TJJD facility for any state jail felony
• HB 2756 by Leach protecting parental rights in CPS cases
• HB 4606 by White mandating diversion programs for youths accuses of Class C offenses

Thursday, April 11

House Corrections – 8:00 a.m., E2.030

• HB 1115 by White mandating policies for the placement of children accompanying arrestees
• HB 1271 by Thompson granting certain 3g offenders early parole consideration
• HB 2481 by Metcalf authorizing certain veterans deferred adjudication for DWI
• HB 2772 by Wilson barring mandatory supervision release of TDCJ inmates from county jails
• HB 3297 by Allen barring probation revocation for any unadjudicated new offense
• HB 3303 by Bowers barring probation revocation of kid’s caretakers absent certain new offenses
• HB 3512 by Pacheco mandating early release of compliant probationers after half their term
• HB 4009 by Toth creating victim-offender mediation programs
• HB 4104 by White mandating specialty court probation for certain felony prostitution cases
• HB 4594 by J. Gonzalez mandating probation for state jail and 3^rd-degree felony drug cases

House Pensions/Investments/Financial Services – 8:00 a.m., E2.026

• HB 2624 by Perez facilitating the prosecution of criminal offenses involving fraud
• HB 2625 by Perez creating the offense of mass fraudulent use/possession of credit/debit information
• HB 2945 by Perez criminalizing payment card skimmers on gas pump dispensers

Senate Finance – 9:00 a.m., E1.036

•   SB 918 by Huffman repealing the DRP and replacing it with other fees and DWI fines

House Public Health, Subcommittee on Medical Marijuana – 10:30 a.m. or upon adj., E2.012

• HB 122 by Hinojosa prohibiting investigation or prosecution of certain doctors
• HB 1365 by Lucio III legalizing and regulating medical cannabis
• HB 3703 by Klick expanding Texas’ Compassionate Use Act
• HB 4045 by Dominguez legalizing and regulating medical cannabis
• HB 4097 by Blanco legalizing and regulating medical cannabis by veterans for PTSD
• HB 4276 by Zedler legalizing certain CBD oil
• HB 4508 by Lucio III exempting low-THC CBD oil from the criminal definition of marijuana

If you want to learn more about a bill or find out how to get involved for or against it, contact Shannon for details.

Upcoming calendars

The following bills have been calendared for consideration on the House floor next week: HB 226 by Krause (revising or repealing various non-Penal Code crimes), HB 444 by Meyer (insider trading), HB 446 by Moody (removing knuckles from the list of prohibited weapons), HB 869 by Hefner (credit card skimmers at gas pumps), and HB 1030 by Moody (revising jury instructions in capital cases).

The following bills are eligible to be considered on the Senate floor at any point:

SB 9 by Hughes (election fraud), SB 38 by Zaffirini (hazing), SB 325 by Huffman (protective order registry), SB 710 by Creighton (county ethics commissions), and SB 1640 by Watson (“walking quorum” fix).

These lists change daily, so click on this link to access the latest House Calendar or Senate Intent Calendar.

Floor action

The House passed the following bills over to the Senate: HB 27 by Canales (assault of federal officer) and HB 101 by Canales (new crime of false caller ID).

The Senate passed the following bills over to the House: SB 201 by Huffman (looting enhancements) and SB 702 by Bettencourt (counties must disclose money spent to influence legislation).

Committee action

House bills approved by committees last week include: HB 344 by Dutton (raising juvenile jurisdiction to include 17-year-olds), HB 1139 by S. Thompson (pre-trial determination of intellectual disability in capital cases), HB 1364 by Wu (excluding from juvenile jurisdiction 10- and 11-year-olds who commit offenses below a second-degree felony), HB 1482 by Lozano (hazing), and HB 1936 by Rose (no death penalty for murderers with serious mental illness). These bills now go to the Calendars Committee, which decides which of them will be heard by the full House.

In the Senate, committees approved the following bills: SB 21 by Huffman (no smoking under age 21), SB 370 by Watson (employment protections for jurors), SB 801 by Rodriguez (protective order revisions), SB 891 by Huffman (omnibus new courts bill), and SB 1802 by Huffman (enhancements for human trafficking-related crimes). These bills are now eligible to be placed on the Senate Intent Calendar at the discretion of their authors.

More Quotes of the Week

“That’s gutless. Mr. McNutt knew exactly where I was. I was on the House floor and he chose to go to my home, to Lake Jackson where my 14-year-old son was.”

House Speaker Dennis Bonnen (R-Angleton), responding to news that an advocate of “constitutional carry” personally visited the homes of several House members last week in a lobbying stunt he publicized on social media. The following day, State Rep. Jonathan Stickland (R-Bedford) announced he would not seek a hearing for HB 357, his permit-less carry bill.

“My mother’s fertility doctor decided to use his own sperm instead of the sperm donor that my parents selected and consented to, and without their knowledge. And then I had to be the one to tell my mother that this had happened.”

Eve Wiley, who is seeking legislation to make assisted reproduction or fertility fraud a criminal offense under the current sexual assault statute.

“I believe this is the legislative session that we come together, in bipartisan fashion, to pass a bill to prohibit this practice that can have life-altering consequences for those who unnecessarily end up in jail. Ending this practice will free up time for police to attend to serious crimes.”

State Rep. Senfronia Thompson (D-Houston), touting HB 482, her bill to ban arrests for most Class C misdemeanors.

“I messed up. The mistake was, it was an archaic 180-page document that I did not know contained this particular provision. I guess I did not scour everything that could possibly disrupt a run.”

New Harris County Civil Court-at-Law #4 Judge William McLeod, who did not realize that he was resigning from the bench by operation of law when he announced his candidacy for the Texas Supreme Court.

They say every hurricane has a calm eye where you can find some brief rest, but there are only seven weeks left before the legislature adjourns sine die and we’re still looking for that bit of peace and quiet.

The gloves are coming off

On Tuesday, the “Kumbaya Session” officially ended (at least in the state Senate). On the heels of debates over, and the passage of, two red meat bills on abortion and religious liberty, the Senate Republicans sprang a surprise vote on the Senate Democrats over SR 535, a resolution filed that same day supporting President Trump’s declaration of an emergency along the Texas-Mexico border. This was not an item posted for consideration, and the opponents of the resolution did not take kindly to that unusual tactic. Things were then made worse by some unkind words used about a certain senator’s district (mental note: Don’t refer to someone’s home district as a “ghetto”), and all hell broke loose. The resolution eventually passed on a party line vote after several hours of debate, but the damage has been done. Expect more bare-knuckle politics from here on out.

The Attorney General, concurrent jurisdiction, and human trafficking

This morning, the Senate State Affairs Committee took testimony on SB 1257 by Huffman (R-Houston). The committee substitute that was laid out confers concurrent jurisdiction on the attorney general in all multijurisdictional human trafficking cases, gives the AG the right to take all crimes and offenses related to that human trafficking case, and gives the local prosecutor a right of first refusal for a local human trafficking case—meaning that if the local DA decides not to prosecute the case, the AG can step in and prosecute it.

For the first time in his tenure, Attorney General Ken Paxton (R-McKinney) personally testified for the bill. He talked about his passion for this issue and professed that this bill is only about assisting prosecutors, while entirely avoiding any discussion of the jurisdiction-grab issue. However, citing Office of Court Administration statistics for the proposition that only 16 counties have seen human trafficking prosecutions since 2016, he argued that his office needs the authority to step in to prosecute human trafficking cases where local prosecutors are not.

Speaking against the bill was a diverse group of prosecutors: El Paso County DA Jaime Esparza, Brazos County DA Jarvis Parsons, Bexar County CDA Joe Gonzales, Montgomery County DA Brett Ligon, Harris County DA Kim Ogg and her assistant DA, Johna Stallings, Rockwall County CDA Kenda Culpepper, Comal County CDA Jennifer Tharp, and Dallas County Asst. CDA Amy Derrick (plus several others who registered their opposition without testifying). They testified that: 1) prosecutors are trying human trafficking cases under different Penal Code provisions that are not captured in the statistics; 2) the OCA statistics undercount human trafficking cases because of that (something noted by OCA’s own report); 3) district and county attorneys have a good working relationship with the AG which will be unnecessarily jeopardized by this jurisdiction bill; 4) any grant of criminal jurisdiction to the AG without the local prosecutor’s consent is unconstitutional; and 5) district and county attorneys are prosecuting the human trafficking cases that they get and doing a darn good job of it, too. It was quite a strong showing, and the media even picked up on the debate and observed how opposition to this bill had apparently galvanized prosecutors from both parties. The bill was left pending but could soon be voted on in the Senate State Affairs Committee (membership here) at any time. If that occurs, the bill author needs 19 votes to bring the bill up for consideration on the Senate floor, and we will discuss that process in greater detail should the need arise.

Meanwhile, we just received notice that the House companion to this bill—HB 3979 by Leach (R-Plano)—will be heard in the House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee this upcoming Monday, April 8. If you need more information or want to get involved, please contact Rob ASAP.

Grand jury update

The House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee heard HB 2427 by Reynolds (D-Missouri City) on Monday. This bill would grant grand jury witnesses and targets the right to have a lawyer accompany them in the grand jury room during questioning. Several elected prosecutors—including Midland County DA Laura Nodolf, Washington County DA Julie Renken, Rockwall County CDA Kenda Culpepper, and Dawson County DA Philip Mack Furlow—testified against the bill, and various other offices registered opposition without testimony. The only testimony in favor of the bill came from representatives of the Texas Defender Service (which represents death row inmates in habeas litigation) and the Texas Public Policy Foundation, the Austin policy think tank that birthed the Right on Crime movement. The opposition was relatively uninspired apart from those two lobbyists, highlighting the lack of any grassroots demand for systemic change in this area. We’ll keep you posted if the bill receives a vote in the House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee, but feel free to reach out to the members of that committee if you were unable to register your position in person this week.

And if you were unable to make Monday’s hearing, fear not! You’ll have another chance this upcoming Monday, when HB 2398 by S. Thompson will be heard. This is the omnibus version from last session that not only puts defense counsel in the grand jury room with their clients but also:

• Provides a right to full discovery for any target subpoenaed to appear before a grand jury;
• Requires recording of the grand jury proceedings and production to the defense;
• Requires prosecutors to present exculpatory evidence to the grand jury;
• Provides notice to witnesses who are subpoenaed to testify to hire counsel or have counsel appointed for them;
• Bars re-presentment for the same conduct unless there is new material evidence; and
• Allows grand jury targets to sue prosecutors for vexatious litigation and recover fees and costs—even if indicted.

The hearing on HB 2398 (and more than 25 other bills, including the AG’s human trafficking legislation) starts at 2:00 p.m. or upon adjournment of the House and may run past most normal people’s bedtimes, but who ever said we were normal people? Come down and join in the fun if this bill concerns you.

DRP repeal and replace

The House Homeland Security & Public Safety Committee heard HB 2048 by Zerwas (R-Richmond) that would repeal the Driver Responsibility Program (DRP—aka the DPS surcharges) and replace it with a new $2 fee on auto insurance policies, an increase in the State Traffic Fine from $30 to $50, and—here’s the kicker—a conversion of the current DWI surcharges into mandatory State DWI Fines of $3,000 for a first offense, $4,500 for high BAC cases, and $6,000 for repeat offenders. All other surcharges are repealed, but the DWI “fines” are being kept because that is the biggest revenue generator under the current system.

Supporters of this plan include hospitals, Texas Association of Counties (TAC), and your local county commissioners, sheriffs, and JP and constables associations; opponents include the auto insurance industry, the Texas Association of Business (TAB), and various advocates for indigent offenders. Glaringly absent from the hearing—and from the many stakeholder meetings behind the scenes on this issue—were any of the courtroom lawyers and judges who will be tasked with actually raising these funds off DWI offenders, but our interpretation of this change is that these new fines can be bargained, reduced, or waived in the same manner as any other court cost, fee, or fine. We’ll let you decide for yourself what this switch from an administrative surcharge to a criminal court cost/fine will do to your misdemeanor DWI caseloads, but there is momentum to end the ill-conceived DRP program and this bill has bi-partisan support, so read the bill and let us know what you think.

Scattershots

Here are some stories and articles we don’t have time to summarize, but they might be of interest to some of you:

• Border lawmaker makes another push to put eight-liners on local ballots (Texas Tribune)
• Hemp will soon be removed from Schedule I in Texas; what does that mean? (Dallas Morning News)
• Under the Dome: Sex trafficking advocate seeks state funding (Texas Tribune video)

Floor and committee actions, etc.

We’ll update you tomorrow or this weekend on the other bills that are moving—we’ve got some catching up to do with all the craziness going on!

Upcoming committee hearings

Here are summaries of the relevant committee notices posted so far:

Monday, April 8

House Judiciary & Civil Jurisprudence – 8:00 a.m., E2.026

• HB 896 by Tinderholt criminalizing certain abortions
• HB 1359 by Wu authorizing lawyers to bypass courthouse security upon presentation of a State Bar card
• HB 1481 by Murr creating the office of Medina County Criminal DA
• HB 2120 by Leach, the omnibus court creation bill
• HB 3976 by Leach facilitating civil enforcement of a criminal restitution order
• HB 4173 by Leach making non-substantive revisions to CCP provisions on grand juries and other statutes

House State Affairs – 10:30 a.m. or upon adjournment, JHR 140

• HB 3457 relating to attorney fees and litigation cost assessments in PIA lawsuits
• HB 3531 by Shine clarifying procedures for the recusal of judges and prosecutors in certain investigations

House Criminal Jurisprudence – 2:00 p.m. or upon adjournment, E2.012

• HB 324 by Murr defining “sexual contact” for improper student-educator conduct
• HB 464 by Moody expanding post-conviction scientific writs to apply to punishment evidence
• HB 545 by Nevarez expanding the offense of unlawful transfer of a firearm
• HB 1231 by Flynn lowering penalties for licensed carrying of a handgun in various locations
• HB 1316 by Moody authorizing the disclosure of criminal history records in discovery
• HB 1456 by Dominguez allowing counsel to be appointed for magistration or citation purposes
• HB 1761 by Coleman granting certain credits for time served
• HB 2342 by Dutton legalizing “location-restricted” long knives in bars, amusement parks, and churches
• HB 2344 by Dutton limiting the use of electronic communications as evidence of stalking for purposes of protective order applications
• HB 2369 by Miller increasing the punishment for theft of delivered packages
• HB 2398 by Thompson changing grand jury procedures
• HB 2421 by Smith changing which judges can issue search warrants for wireless communications devices and certain tracking equipment
• HB 2874 by Y. Davis expanding abandoning/endangering to include the elderly and disabled
• HB 2875 by Y. Davis expanding guilt/innocence evidence admissible in an exploitation trial
• HB 3453 by Clardy relating to subpoenas, orders, and warrants for certain location and wireless communication data
• HB 3500 by J. Gonzalez granting counsel for certain post-conviction writs of habeas corpus
• HB 3554 by Farrar allowing defense forensic evidence from non-accredited or -licensed witnesses
• HB 3587 by Hunter increasing the punishment for certain aggravated kidnappings
• HB 3845 by Calanni authorizing video teleconferencing for forensic analysts’ testimony at trial
• HB 3979 by Leach granting the AG prosecution authority in human trafficking cases
• HB 4157 by Anchia expanding the type of law enforcement agencies that may seek tracking and surveillance orders
• HB 4202 by Smithee authorizing the re-sentencing of any case by consent of the State and defense.
• HB 4235 by Anderson increasing the punishment for burglary of a business

Senate Water and Rural Affairs – 2:00 p.m. or upon adjournment, E1.012

• SB 970 by Creighton restricting contingent fee legal contracts by local governments

Tuesday, April 9

Wednesday, April 10

Thursday, April 11

[check our next update for bills set these dates]

If you want to learn more about a bill or find out how to get involved for or against it, contact Shannon for details.

Legislative rotation sign-up

Thanks to this week’s scheduled volunteers, Midland County DA Laura Nodolf and Smith County Asst. Criminal DA Thomas Wilson, for coming to Austin this past week to keep an eye on the legislature for everyone else. (Boy, did they get an eyeful!) We still have volunteer slots open for the rest of this session, so if you want to come to Austin to interact with legislators, contact Shannon for details.

Quotes of the Week

“I do not believe that it is a proper exercise of my judgment … to proceed with the further prosecution of what I believe to have been an ill-conceived path that this District Attorney’s Office was set upon almost four years ago, and I do not believe that path should continue to be pursued.”

Barry Johnson, McLennan County DA, announcing he is dismissing all remaining criminal charges resulting from the 2015 Twin Peaks biker shootout in Waco.

“These [prosecutors] did this on their own: They targeted her and took this on lock, stock, and barrel, and investigated their own case. That’s not what prosecutors do normally. It sends a message to prosecutors across the state and the land: Don’t engage in this type of behavior, because if you do and it blows up in your face, you are going to get sued.”

Scott Palmer, plaintiff’s lawyer for former state district judge Suzanne Wooten, who is suing the former Collin County CDA and former AG (among others) in federal court for maliciously prosecuting an election fraud case. A federal court recently denied the defendants’ motion to dismiss Wooten’s lawsuit on various immunity grounds, allowing the case to proceed.

“This bill has brought some strange bedfellows together, and I’m happy to be in bed with everybody.”

Steve Bresnen, an Austin-based attorney and lobbyist, testifying before a House committee on an anti-SLAPP bill. 

“It felt like the Republicans have been turned French and equipped with a white flag.”

A tweet by Michael Quinn Sullivan, CEO of Empower Texans, during the House debate on the next state debate, which various grassroots conservative advocates lamented for being too large.

“This [bill] has gotten [Harris County] DA Kim Ogg and me on the same page. This is a bipartisan opposition.”

Montgomery County DA Brett Ligon, noting the bipartisan nature of prosecutors’ opposition to SB 1257, the bill that would give independent prosecution authority to the attorney general.

This addendum to our most recent legislative update includes notice of committee hearings on several bills that were not previously posted, including:

• HB 482 by S. Thompson (D-Houston) prohibiting arrests for fine-only offenses
• HB 1399 by Smith (R-Van Alstyne) authorizing the collection of DNA samples from certain arrestees
• HB 1771 by Thierry (D-Houston) prohibiting arrest, referral, or prosecution of a person younger than 18 for prostitution
• HB 2003 by Leach (R-Plano) limiting local governments’ contingent fee contracts
• HB 2048 by Zerwas (R-Richmond) repealing the Driver Responsibility Program
• HB 3582 by Murr (R-Junction) authorizing deferred adjudication for certain first-time DWI offenders
• HB 4189 by Middleton (R-Wallisville) limiting the duty to report suspected child abuse
• SB 891 by Huffman (R-Houston) creating various new court and prosecutor offices

Read on for details!

Updated committee hearing notices

Here are summaries of the relevant committee notices posted for next week, with new additions in italics:

Monday, April 1

House Judiciary & Civil Jurisprudence – 8:00 a.m., Room E2.026

• HB 504 by Dutton providing employment protection for persons serving on grand juries
• HB 2003 by Leach requiring OAG approval of local governments’ contingency fee agreements
• HB 2730 by Leach narrowing the scope of the Texas Citizens Participation Act (TCPA)
• HB 3336 by Leach relating to practices and procedures in civil cases
• HB 2350 by Capriglione relating to the prohibition of abortion
• HB 1531 by Neave creating a specialty court for sexual assault victim services
• HB 1196 by Meza changing statutory references from “marihuana” to “cannabis”
• HB 978 by Beckley repealing the criminal offense of homosexual conduct

House Agriculture & Livestock – 8:00 a.m., E2.036

• HB 989 by Guillen legalizing and regulating industrial hemp
• HB 1230 by Dominguez legalizing and regulating hemp and hemp products
• HB 1325 by T. King legalizing and regulating hemp and hemp products
• HB 1657 by Gutierrez legalizing and regulating hemp and hemp products

Senate State Affairs – 9:00 a.m., Senate Chamber

• SB 205 by Perry relating to lists of noncitizens excused or disqualified from jury service
• SB 362 by Huffman relating to civil commitments for outpatient treatment in criminal cases
• SB 466 by Fallon clarifying ex-felons’ ineligibility to run for certain elective offices
• SB 751 by Hughes criminalizing the creation of a deceptive video for use in an election
• SB 891 by Huffman, the omnibus court-creation and local prosecutor jurisdiction bill
• SB 903 by Hughes relating to election integrity
• SB 904 by Hughes banning the use of governmental communications for political advertising
• SB 1728 by Huffman authorizing an interim study on judicial selection methods
• SB 1887 by Huffman allowing juvenile courts to transfer cases to CPS courts

House State Affairs – 10:30 a.m. or upon adjournment, E2.028

• HB 1784 by Capriglione requiring employee training on records storage and management
• HB 2401 by Deshotel mandating employee training on cybersecurity
• HB 2965 by Toth addressing State v. Doyal on walking quorums
• HB 3402 by Phelan addressing State v. Doyal on walking quorums
• HB 3752 by Walle relating to public information laws during catastrophic events
• HB 3834 by Capriglione requiring cybersecurity training for state and local gov’t employees

House Criminal Jurisprudence – 2:00 p.m., E2.012

• HB 15 by S. Thompson, omnibus human trafficking bill
• HB 221 by Gervin-Hawkins expanding pool of lawyers qualified for death penalty cases
• HB 261 by Frank expanding capital murder to include the murder of children under 15
• HB 300 by Murr relating to JPs’ inquest summary reports
• HB 309 by Moody creating the offense of indecent assault
• HB 335 by Dutton reducing the penalty for POM < 1 oz. to a Class C misdemeanor
• HB 371 by Allen reducing the penalty for POM < 1 oz. to a Class C misdemeanor
• HB 753 by Wu reducing the penalty for POM < 0.35 oz. (10g) to a Class C misdemeanor
• HB 981 by Parker relating to money laundering of digital currency
• HB 1088 by Geren increasing certain habitual misdemeanor offenses
• HB 1206 by Cole reducing all marijuana possession penalties by one degree
• HB 1320 by Moody requiring mental health diversion courts in larger counties
• HB 1573 by Raney expanding capital murder to include the murder of EMS personnel
• HB 1812 by Murr revising indigent funding to counties
• HB 2130 by Walle requiring findings before ordering reimbursement for appointed counsel
• HB 2131 by Walle removing public defender’s duty to share clients’ financial condition with the court
• HB 2164 by Burns creating penalties for business owners who ban peace officers from carrying firearms
• HB 2427 by Reynolds creating a right for defense lawyers to be in the grand jury
• HB 2518 by Toth reducing the penalty for POM < 2 oz. to a Class C misdemeanor
• HB 2894 by Collier relating to the prosecution of health care fraud
• HB 2937 by Sheffield enhancing aggravated assault with DW and SBI to a 1^st-degree felony
• HB 3590 by Hunter increasing punishments for various prostitution and trafficking offenses
• HB 3637 by Guillen protecting the mailing address of an applicant for an order of emergency protection
• HB 3827 by Sherman clarifying when the Office of Capital and Forensic Writs can be appointed
• HJR 108 by Canales proposing a constitutional amendment to legalize cannabis

Tuesday, April 2

House Human Services – 8:00 a.m., E2.030

• HB 3331 by Frank limiting terminations of the parent-child relationship
• HB 4188 by Middleton barring certain CPS interviews of children at school
• HB 4189 by Middleton limiting the duty to report suspected child abuse

Licensing & Administrative Procedure – 8:00 a.m., E2.028

• HB 2303 by Moody re-defining “bet” for the purposes of legalizing fantasy sports gambling

Senate Criminal Justice – 1:30 p.m., E1.016

• SB 719 by Fallon expanding capital murder to include the murder of children under 15
• SB 1147 by Buckingham authorizing medication-assisted treatment in DWI cases
• SB 1154 by Perry relating to the Texas Civil Commitment Office
• SB 1259 by Huffman adding assisted reproduction fraud to the offense of sexual assault
• SB 1820 by Huffman revising the offense of impersonating a public servant

Wednesday, April 3

House Homeland Security & Public Safety – 8:00 a.m., E2.016

• HB 107 by Raymond creating a DWI offender database at DPS
• HB 264 by Blanco requiring DPS to track and report certain border security data
• HB 482 by S. Thompson prohibiting arrests for fine-only offenses
• HB 887 by S. Thompson revising legal standards for officers’ use of force
• HB 943 by Dutton requiring peace officers to sign their offense reports and supplements
• HB 1399 by Smith authorizing the collection of DNA samples from certain arrestees
• HB 2015 by Dutton limiting the use of SWAT teams
• HB 2048 by Zerwas repealing and replacing DPS’s Driver Responsibility Program with fines
• HB 3016 by Schaefer legalizing holstered handguns in LTC licensee’s vehicles
• HB 3231 by Clardy limiting cities’ and counties’ regulation of their employees carrying at work
• HB 3800 by S. Thompson requiring the reporting of human trafficking data in larger counties

House Juvenile Justice & Family Issues – 10:30 a.m. or upon adjournment, E2.012

• HB 1771 by Thierry prohibiting referral or prosecution for prostitution by a person under 18
• HB 3525 by Rose destroying all juvenile records of victims of sex trafficking

House Public Health – 10:30 a.m. or upon adjournment, E2.026

• HB 75 by Minjarez creating an exception to drug paraphernalia charges for needle exchanges
• HB 1268 by Lucio III relating to dangerous wild animals

Thursday, April 4

House Corrections – 8:00 a.m., Room E2.030

• HB 1343 by Leach expanding the offense of improper inmate contact to cases with adult victims
• HB 2012 by Lucio III imposing certain conditions of supervision for animal-related offenses
• HB 3078 by S. Thompson relating to clemency for offenders who were also victims of human trafficking or family violence
• HB 3582 by Murr authorizing deferred adjudication for certain DWI offenders
• HB 3831 by Sherman banning probation revocation for certain technical violations
• HB 4044 by Dominguez changing CSCD funding for pretrial diversions

House County Affairs – 9:00 a.m., E2.028

• HB 1662 by Herrero relating to grants for monitoring family violence defendants
• HB 4468 by Coleman relating to county criminal justice reform
• HB 4567 by Coleman relating to county issues

If you want to learn more about a bill or find out how to get involved for or against it, contact Shannon for details.

Things have cranked up in Austin and the volume of news is starting to come faster than ever. We apologize in advance for this long update, but there’s probably something in it to please and displease everyone, so you’ll want to read it all!

Looking ahead

Monday’s House committee schedule includes a defense-lawyer-in-the-grand-jury bill (more on that below), seven marijuana bills, four hemp bills, two death penalty bills, and a partridge in a pear tree. (OK, maybe it just feels like that to us, but you get the drift.) The House will also take up HB 3, its version of school finance reform, on Wednesday, which will consume that chamber for an entire day.

Defense lawyers in the grand jury?

The House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee will hear 25 bills on Monday afternoon, including HB 2427 by Reynolds (D-Missouri City), which would grant grand jury witnesses and targets the right to have a lawyer accompany them in the grand jury room during questioning. Specifically, the filed version of the bill:

• Entitles all witnesses/targets to have a lawyer present with them in the grand jury while being questioned or offering testimony;
• Authorizes the lawyer to interrupt questioning to consult with the witness outside;
• Grants any subpoenaed witness or target a “reasonable opportunity” to lawyer up beforehand; and
• Amends the Michael Morton Act to add information obtained via grand jury proceeding to what must be disclosed under CCP Art. 39.14(h).

This concept is one that Texas prosecutors have been opposing for more than 25 years. If you find yourself in that camp, now is the time to be heard. The bill will be heard at a hearing of the Criminal Jurisprudence Committee (membership here) that starts Monday at 2:00 p.m. or upon adjournment of the House. For information on how to get involved, contact Rob ASAP; it’s likely some prosecutors will meet Monday morning at the TDCAA offices to prepare for the hearing.

House budget debate

On Wednesday, the House debated and passed SB 500 by Nelson (R-Flower Mound), the supplemental appropriation bill for the remainder of this fiscal year, and HB 1 by Zerwas (R-Richmond), the House’s proposed $251 billion state budget for FY 2020–’21. The budget debate involved the consideration of more than 300 pre-filed amendments and lasted for more than 12 hours and ended after midnight, but everyone behaved themselves and there were surprisingly few fireworks.

Most of the budget drama centered on issues that don’t impact your offices. Among the issues that do impact you, we note that the House’s $9 billion supplemental appropriation bill for FY 2019 passed with a “patch” of almost $550,000 in general revenue to shore up the flagging surety bond fund. That bill now returns to the Senate with changes in other areas that will require the Senate to concur or ask for a conference committee to work out the differences before sending it to the governor. Either way, the longevity pay fix for FY 2019 looks good.

As for HB 1, the House’s version of the General Appropriations Act passed with another $1.3 million in general revenue added to the longevity pay program to prop it up for the next two years—not a long-term fix, but enough to keep things afloat while budget writers consider a new funding mechanism. Meanwhile, over in the Senate, the Finance Committee will consider its version of the General Appropriations Act today or tomorrow, and we are hopeful the $1.3 million is in the Senate bill pattern as well; we will know for sure when the committee’s final bill is unveiled by the end of the week.

Judicial branch raises

Last week the House Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence Committee heard testimony on a committee substitute to HB 2384 by Chairman Leach (R-Plano) which included district and county attorneys. As we told you, the filed bill (without prosecutors) was weighed down by a $47 million fiscal note, and the Office of Court Administration (OCA) is working to fund that and the new additions in the committee substitute version. Meanwhile, we have learned of an additional fiscal snag that impacts retired district attorneys.

Normally, across-the-board judicial and DA pay raises always result in retirement increases for retired prosecutors, but last week, analysts at the state’s Employee Retirement System (ERS) advised us that the amended plan in HB 2384 would increase retirement benefits for current retirees beyond what is actuarially sound for the system as a whole, an outcome that is prohibited by state laws designed to ensure the health of that retirement system. Therefore, we expect the Judiciary Committee to consider yet another committee substitute version (as yet unseen) that includes raises for district attorneys but leaves retired district attorneys pegged to the current $140,000 base salary. (Whether retired judges will similarly be frozen at existing benchmarks remains to be seen.) That committee could vote on the bill at any time, and we will keep you updated as events warrant.

Contingency fee contracts

On Monday of this week, the House Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence Committee heard testimony on HB 2826 by Greg Bonnen (R-Friendswood). This bill would crack down on contingency fee contracts for legal services by political subdivisions (read: cities and counties) by requiring the attorney general to approve such arrangements. The hearing quickly turned into a tort reform-type battle between Texans for Lawsuit Reform (TLR), which is for the bill, and the Texas Trial Lawyers Association (TTLA) and some county attorneys, who were against the bill. Team TLR claimed the bill is needed because: 1) there is no public input on these contingency contracts; 2) they aren’t bid competitively; 3) local governments ignore the current approval process so the AG needs authority to step in; 4) counties are spending too much on legal services; and 5) the process is driven by lawyers who convince counties to sue people just to make a contingency fee.  John Odom, an Assistant Harris County Attorney, and the TTLA lawyers responded that: 1) elected officials, including the county judges and commissioners, are already accountable to voters; 2) the opioid crisis and similar problems require skilled and well-funded attorneys to represent the injured parties; 3) the bill gives the AG a veto over lawsuits that may require outside counsel; 4) ironically, the AG can enter into this kind of contract with no similar oversight or accountability; and 5) the bill’s procedures give potential defendants an unfair advantage by forewarning them of a lawsuit. After all that debate, the bill was left pending but is eligible for a vote as early as this upcoming Monday, when the committee will also hear HB 2003 by Leach (R-Plano), a similar (but narrower) bill filed by the chairman.

Changes coming to capital cases?

Three death penalty-related bills were voted from the House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee earlier this week: HB 1030 by Moody (changing jury instructions in capital cases), a revised version of HB 1139 by Thompson (pre-trial determination of intellectual disability), and a revised version of HB 1936 by Rose (exempting offenders with “serious mental illness” from the death penalty). (To read the new versions of the latter two bills, select the “House committee report” version available under the “text” tab, which were still not available as this update went to press but should be uploaded soon.)

At the committee level, only HB 1936 (serious mental illness) had any significant amount of opposition registered against it (and that was from law enforcement representatives who did not provide oral testimony). HB 1139 (intellectual disability) has been tweaked to accommodate the concerns of some prosecutors, and the bill author has agreed to make at least one additional change on the House floor to address a remaining concern about the trigger for the pre-trial determination of that issue. All three of these bills now go to the Calendars Committee, which decides whether or when they will be heard by the full House.

Bail bond litigation

While interested parties watch and wait to see what the legislature does in response to various federal court orders on pre-trial release practices, the lawyers in those bail cases are still lawyering away in places like Galveston, where the ACLU has sued that county, its district court judges, and its Criminal DA, Jack Roady. The plaintiffs in that case have raised a claim that the setting of bail is a “critical stage” that triggers a defendant’s 6^th Amendment right to counsel, and the federal district judge hearing the case may support the position that the initial bail determination—even at an Article 15.17 magistration hearing—is a “critical stage” during which the defendant is entitled to counsel. The Galveston CDA is preparing a brief responding to this claim and wants to be sure other prosecutors are aware of the issue in case anyone would like to submit an amicus brief. An adverse ruling on this issue could create tremendous pressure on your (and your county’s) limited resources if bail-setting events become adversarial proceedings requiring participation by defense counsel and prosecutors.

Briefs are due in the federal litigation by Wednesday, April 3, 2019. If you are interested in preparing—or participating in the preparation of—a quick amicus brief on this issue, email Jack Roady or call him at 409/766-2354, and he will attempt to coordinate those efforts among the interested parties.

Floor action

Besides the budget bills, the House also passed the following bills over to the Senate: HB 364 by Tinderholt (ignition interlock database and criminal offense), and HB 1389 by S. Thompson (preferential treatment of defendants who are primary caregivers).

The Senate passed the following bills over to the House: SB 194 by Perry (creating offense of indecent assault) and SB 923 by Huffman (age restrictions on employees at sexually-oriented businesses).

Upcoming calendars

The following bills have been calendared for consideration on the House floor next week: HB 27 by Canales (enhancing assault of a federal law enforcement officer), HB 101 by Canales (creating a criminal offense for spoofing caller ID information), and HB 374 by Allen (probation meetings).

The following bills are eligible to be considered on the Senate floor at any point: SB 201 by Huffman (penalty enhancements during disasters) and SB 586 by Watson (officer training on trauma-informed investigations).

These lists change daily, so click on this link to access the latest House Calendar or Senate Intent Calendar.

Committee action

House bills approved by committees last week include: HB 8 by Neave (rape kit testing and storage), HB 63 by Moody (civil infraction for POM < 1 oz.), HB 64 by Canales (expunction of certain deferred adjudication records), HB 85 by M. Gonzalez (applying Romeo & Juliet defense in same-sex relationships), HB 121 by Swanson (defense to trespass with a handgun), HB 176 by Canales (prohibiting waivers of expunction/nondisclosure rights), HB 281 by Mayes (limiting lobbying activities by local political subdivisions), HB 869 by Hefner (organized criminal activity relating to credit card skimmers), HB 902 by Landgraf (enhancing assault against a pregnant woman), HB 940 by S. Davis (dog tethering), HB 979 by Hernandez (DNA collection after assault, other convictions), HB 1279 by Allen (corrections to parole instructions), HB 1355 by Button (out-of-county execution of DWI blood search warrant), HB 1625 by K. Bell (false report of misconduct by peace officer), HB 1653 by White (pre-trial diversion funding of CSCDs), and HB 1661 by Herrero (continuous family violence venue). These bills now go to the Calendars Committee, which decides which of them will be heard by the full House.

In the Senate, committees approved the following bills: SB 38 (hazing), SB 961 by Bettencourt (cite and release for criminal trespass), SB 971 by Huffman (officer training on strangulation in FV cases), and SB 1804 by Kolkhorst (entry of certain bond conditions into TCIC). These bills are now eligible to be placed on the Senate Intent Calendar at the discretion of their authors.

Upcoming committee hearings

Here are summaries of the relevant committee notices posted so far:

Monday, April 1

House Judiciary & Civil Jurisprudence – 8:00 a.m., E2.026

• HB 504 by Dutton providing employment protection for persons serving on grand juries
• HB 2003 by Leach requiring OAG approval of local governments’ contingency fee agreements
• HB 2730 by Leach narrowing the scope of the Texas Citizens Participation Act (TCPA)
• HB 3336 by Leach relating to practices and procedures in civil cases
• HB 2350 by Capriglione relating to the prohibition of abortion
• HB 1531 by Neave creating a specialty court for sexual assault victim services
• HB 1196 by Meza changing statutory references from “marihuana” to “cannabis”
• HB 978 by Beckley repealing the criminal offense of homosexual conduct

House Agriculture & Livestock – 8:00 a.m., Room E2.036

• HB 989 by Guillen legalizing and regulating industrial hemp
• HB 1230 by Dominguez legalizing and regulating hemp and hemp products
• HB 1325 by T. King legalizing and regulating hemp and hemp products

House State Affairs – 10:30 a.m. or upon adjournment, E2.028

• HB 1784 by Capriglione requiring employee training on records storage and management
• HB 2401 by Deshotel mandating employee training on cybersecurity
• HB 2965 by Toth addressing State v. Doyal on walking quorums
• HB 3402 by Phelan addressing State v. Doyal on walking quorums
• HB 3752 by Walle relating to public information laws during catastrophic events
• HB 3834 by Capriglione requiring cybersecurity training for state and local gov’t employees

House Criminal Jurisprudence – 2:00 p.m., E2.012

• HB 15 by S. Thompson, omnibus human trafficking bill
• HB 221 by Gervin-Hawkins expanding pool of lawyers qualified for death penalty cases
• HB 261 by Frank expanding capital murder to include the murder of children under 15
• HB 300 by Murr relating to JPs’ inquest summary reports
• HB 309 by Moody creating the offense of indecent assault
• HB 335 by Dutton reducing the penalty for POM < 1 oz. to a Class C misdemeanor
• HB 371 by Allen reducing the penalty for POM < 1 oz. to a Class C misdemeanor
• HB 753 by Wu reducing the penalty for POM < 0.35 oz. (10g) to a Class C misdemeanor
• HB 981 by Parker relating to money laundering of digital currency
• HB 1088 by Geren increasing certain habitual misdemeanor offenses
• HB 1206 by Cole reducing all marijuana possession penalties by one degree
• HB 1320 by Moody requiring mental health diversion courts in larger counties
• HB 1573 by Raney expanding capital murder to include the murder of EMS personnel
• HB 1812 by Murr revising indigent funding to counties
• HB 2130 by Walle requiring findings before ordering reimbursement for appointed counsel
• HB 2131 by Walle removing public defender’s duty to share clients’ financial condition with the court
• HB 2164 by Burns creating penalties for business owners who ban peace officers from carrying firearms
• HB 2427 by Reynolds creating a right for defense lawyers to be in the grand jury
• HB 2518 by Toth reducing the penalty for POM < 2 oz. to a Class C misdemeanor
• HB 2894 by Collier relating to the prosecution of health care fraud
• HB 2937 by Sheffield enhancing aggravated assault with DW and SBI to a 1^st-degree felony
• HB 3590 by Hunter increasing punishments for various prostitution and trafficking offenses
• HB 3637 by Guillen protecting the mailing address of an applicant for an order of emergency protection
• HB 3827 by Sherman clarifying when the Office of Capital and Forensic Writs can be appointed
• HJR 108 by Canales proposing a constitutional amendment to legalize cannabis

Tuesday, April 2

Wednesday, April 3

Thursday, April 4

If you want to learn more about a bill or find out how to get involved for or against it, contact Shannon for details.

Legislative rotation sign-up

Thanks to this week’s volunteers, Yoakum County Criminal DA Bill Helwig and Kaufman County Criminal DA Erleigh Wiley, for coming to Austin this past week to keep an eye on the legislature for everyone else! We still have volunteer slots open for this session—including next week!—so if you want to come to Austin to interact with legislators, contact Shannon for details.

Award nominations due!

Now that the Grammys and Oscars are over, it’s time for the really BIG awards to be handed out! If you would like to nominate a TDCAA member for an Oscar Sherrell Award or the Suzanne McDaniel Award, check out this webpage and follow the instructions there. Nominations are due April 12, 2019.

New website … almost …

For the first time in over a decade, we have a new, state-of-the-art TDCAA website! This is Version 3.0 of TDCAA’s internet presence, optimized for portable use on the go from your smartphone or tablet. We are still working out the kinks during the change-over and are not yet at 100-percent functionality, but check it out at the usual address (https://www.tdcaa.com/) and let us know what you think.

Quotes of the Week

“I am very optimistic about the conversations that are going on now among lawmakers in Austin. There is no question that the majority understand that we must make substantial property tax reforms before we go back home—whether that is at the end of May, or as many special sessions as it takes.”

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R-Houston), in an email to supporters, as reported in an article on the current status of property tax relief legislation.

“[Texas should] resist the billion-dollar pro-marijuana industry’s agenda to progressively desensitize the public to this very addictive and dangerous drug.”

Steve Dye, Grand Prairie police chief, at a Capitol press conference in which several rural and suburban police chiefs and sheriffs expressed opposition to any change in marijuana penalties.

“You can actually change the budget if you get enough support. For the most part, though, it’s a lot of theater, and it’s a lot of people trying to understand what’s happening, including the members themselves.”

Eva DeLuna Castro, budget expert with the Center for Public Policy Priorities, describing the House’s floor amendment process that leads to final passage of the state budget.

“We’ve been saying to anyone who will listen, this is homicide prevention.”

Mike Tobin, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney in the Northern District of Ohio, on the national trend of federal prosecutors enforcing firearms prohibitions against domestic violence abusers.

“Adios, Matt Rinaldi! Now he really knows what it’s like to be an immigrant—broke and without a job.”

State Rep. Ramon Romero (D-Fort Worth), speaking a party fundraiser about a former Republican state representative who, before he was defeated last November, was perhaps best known for threatening to report House gallery protestors to immigration officials. Romero later tweeted a clarification that he was only joking.