All gas, no brakes! Bail reform bills fly through the Senate, and next stop is the Texas House. The Senate moved like a well-oiled machine with barely any opposition to the bail reform bills. 

Bail Reform Passes the Senate

The Senate, composed of 20 Republicans and 11 Democrats, emphatically passed Senator Huffman’s (R-Houston) four bail reform bills, sending them over to the Texas House. Senate Bill 9, which is the clean-up bill that mandates written findings for “no probable cause” determinations by magistrates and shifts bond-setting authority from appointed magistrates to elected judges for certain types of charges, passed 28–2. Senate Joint Resolution 1, now known as “Jocelyn’s Law” in memory of Jocelyn Nungaray, is the bill that denies bail for illegal aliens accused of felony offenses, and it passed 29–2. Senate Bill 40, which prohibits political subdivisions from using public funds to pay nonprofits that help defendants pay bail costs, passed 27–3. And Senate Joint Resolution 5, which gives judges the discretion to deny bail to certain violent or sex crimes offenders, passed 28–2.

During the discussion of SJR 5, Senator Huffman thanked the prosecutors who joined a letter of support authored by Dallas County CDA John Creuzot. She specifically mentioned Comal County CDA Jennifer Tharp and Fort Bend County DA Brian Middleton as proof of the bipartisan support for her attempt to amend the Constitution on this issue. Now those measures head over to a House that has been more skeptical of putting such proposals on the ballot for consideration by voters.

Bill Filings

Earlier this week we logged our 1,000th bill (and counting) into our bill tracking system. By our count, 23 percent of the 4,500+ bills filed to date might impact you or your work. Here’s a list of them … yeah, no, that’s a joke. An impossible task. You don’t even want to read through that, trust us—those are hours of your life you will never get back. But on a serious note: How can we best convey to you what you want to know?

For starters, we have links to three online bill tracks on our Legislative webpage: Penal Code, Code of Criminal Procedure, and “Bills to Watch” (they’re in the blue column on the right side of the page). The first two are self-explanatory, while the third is an entirely subjective list of about 60 bills right now (but that will grow). It’s a good place to start if you want to get acquainted with what some might consider a best/worst list of bills filed to date. (You get to decide in which category they fall, of course!)

We also track bills using 46 different categories, whether by code (Family, Health & Safety, etc.), subject matter (bail, drugs, DWI, juveniles, etc.), or impact (new duties, new crimes, new punishments, etc.). If you have an interest in a particular category like that and want to know what we are watching, feel free to email Hector and ask for it. He can share individual snapshots of those tracks upon request, complete with links to the state’s website for free access to details on each tracked bill. Similarly, if you have questions about a specific bill, reach out to Hector or Shannon with that bill number and we will be happy to tell you what we know about it.

Future Committee Hearings

We have a committee hearing notice! And on non-emergency items, no less! The Senate State Affairs Committee posted notice yesterday of a slate of bills it will be considering on Monday. Here’s how we will post notice of such events going forward:

Monday, February 24

Senate State Affairs – 2:00 p.m., Senate Chamber
SJR 34 by Hughes protecting the right of parents to raise their children
SB 890 by Paxton relating to the issuance of a license to carry to certain judges

Practice tip: If you click on the committee name, you’ll see that there are actually almost a dozen bills being heard by that committee. We aren’t tracking all of them, and even of the ones we are tracking, not all will be listed by us. If we did, these updates would be 15 pages long when committees are firing on all cylinders. Instead, we will note a few bills we think might interest some of you, but you must always click on the notice link for the full list. Those notices also include specific instructions and information for participants, including potential time limits on testimony. Please keep that in mind as the session progresses. (tl;dr version: Always click the link!!)

Random Notes

• The Texas House released its committee schedules. The Criminal Jurisprudence Committee will meet on Tuesdays at 10:30 a.m. (but no hearing is posted for next week). The rest of the committees will meet Monday through Thursday, and we will include relevant notices in our Friday newsletters.
• SCOTX Chief Justice Jimmy Blacklock will address a joint session of the Texas Legislature on Wed., Feb. 26 at 11:30 a.m. for his “State of the Judiciary” Address. Traditionally, that ceremonial address marks the end of the beginning of a session, and then we enter the committee hearing phase. We’ll have a summary of his remarks in next week’s update, including what he says about judicial branch pay.
• Legislators will likely file more than 3,000 bills and resolutions over the next three weeks leading up to the filing deadline on Friday, March 14, and we get the privilege of reviewing them for you. #prayforus

Austin-bound?

If you are ready to clear your calendar and come to Austin for a few days in the coming months to weigh in on the bills filed to date this session, please call or email Hector to reserve that week ahead of time. Slots are filling up, but we always have room to help willing participants!

Quotes of the Week

“I think every D.A. in the state should be supporting this bill.”

           —Senator Paul Bettencourt (R-Houston) discussing SJR 5 with Senator Huffman (R-Houston) on the Senate floor.

“If you are taking an oath to defend the Constitution and if you are an elected district attorney in this state, you should, your No. 1 priority should be public safety and protecting the citizens of this state, of your county. And how you would not want this tool as an option, as a tool to request a no-bond in the most violent and the most serious of offenses, is a flagrant violation of your duties and a questionable use of your conscience.”

           —Senator Huffman (R-Houston) discussing who has and has not supported SJR 5 with Senator Bettencourt (R-Houston) on the Senate floor. (The full discussion of SJR 5 can be found starting at the 8-minute mark of this video.)

“The Texas Senate will pass this bail reform package over and over again until the Texas House passes it. As I stated last week, I am prepared to ask Gov. Abbott to call a special session if the House fails to pass bail reform in the regular session.”

           —Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, in a press release after the Senate passed several bail reform bills this week.

“I remember when I was coming into the Attorney General’s Office, [Governor Greg] Abbott had served as the longest-serving AG in Texas history—12 years—before becoming governor. I’m now about to tie that. But it was—he was the one that told me the most powerful elected officials in the country are Texas district attorneys because they can do whatever they want. They can allow any crime they want. They can let their friends commit crimes. And there’s nothing that can be done to them. They are free to do what they want.”

           —Yet another remark from Attorney General Ken Paxton in his YouTube interview with Tucker Carlson that we mentioned last week. You can watch the excerpt for yourself here.

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