The official expiration date for the third called session is tomorrow, but the contents of this particular milk jug went sour long ago. Now we wait and see if the governor calls the Lege back to a fourth special session this week.
Senate Bill 22 rules
Consider this your final warning: The public comment period for the Comptroller’s proposed rules for administering SB 22 grants ends this week, so suggest changes now or forever hold your peace. For more details, see the dedicated webpage for all things SB 22-related (available HERE). And to help us keep track of who is concerned about what, please consider cc’ing Shannon on any comments you submit to the agency. Thanks!
Special session (in)action
With the political in-fighting reaching a fever pitch on the GOP sidelines, the two “head coaches” at the Lege effectively refused to bring their teams out of the locker room and onto the field for the final quarter of the third special session, which will now end tomorrow with a whimper rather than a bang. (All the banging is occurring on Twitter/X, which is how everyone learned state government works from our high school civics classes, right?)
We will spare you the political blow-by-blow and summarize the current state of things thusly: There are two “parties” within our one-party state government who are engaged in a political cage match and nothing much is going to get done until one of them wins by knockout, which may not happen until the March 2024 primaries. And if that is an accurate take on things, then no number of subsequent special sessions is going to change things. But that doesn’t mean the special sessions will stop because a governor can call as many as he wishes from now until kingdom come, and the current holder of that office has showed he is more than happy to do that.
Special session output
Two bills did emerge from the Lege before it melted down last week.
Senate Bill 4 by Flores/Guillen will increase the penalty ranges for multiple crimes involving conduct related to human smuggling activity, even imposing 10-year mandatory minimum sentences for some. That bill should be signed by the governor—after all, he asked for it—and take effect sometime around February 6, 2024, if our math is correct. In keeping with our past practice, TDCAA will not re-print our Penal Code publications to include these changes but will instead offer a PDF version of the corrected statutes on our website.
The only other bill heading to the governor’s desk is Senate Bill 7 by Middleton/Leach, which will generally prohibit non-governmental employers from requiring a COVID-19 vaccine as a condition of employment.
Other than these two measures, no other legislation passed both chambers of the legislature during this special session. That list of failed bills includes the dueling versions of HB 4/SB 4 to criminalize illegal aliens’ entry into the state, each of which was killed by the opposing chamber in a very public fight over who had the bigger … border security credentials.
Election Day
If you need help navigating tomorrow’s slate of proposed constitutional amendments, our friends at TAC have compiled some background information for you HERE.
Retirements
Turnover is a fact of life at the capitol, and a number of legislators have already announced their transition to greener pastures, whether that be a move up (to D.C.) or a move out (back home). Here is the list of public resignations to date:
- Rep. Doc Anderson (R-Waco)
- Rep. Abel Herrero (D-Robstown)
- Rep. Julie Johnson (D-Farmers Branch) (running for Congress)
- Rep. Tracy King (D-Uvalde)
- Rep. Lina Ortega (D-El Paso)
- Rep. Four Price (R-Amarillo)
- Rep. John Raney (R-College Station)
- Rep. Matt Schaefer (R-Tyler)
- Rep. Carl Sherman (D-DeSoto) (running for U.S. Senate)
- Rep. Ed Thompson (R-Pearland)
There are also two state senators running for other offices right now: Sen. John Whitmire (D-Houston) is on tomorrow’s ballot for Houston Mayor, while Sen. Roland Gutierrez (D-San Antonio) is running for U.S. Senate.
SART report reminder
As we mentioned in our previous update, Local Government Code §351.257 (“Report”) requires all county sexual assault response teams (SARTs) to submit a biennial report to their commissioners courts no later than December 1, 2023. To access a PDF copy of a proposed “Framework for Writing the SART Biennial Report,” click HERE.
Elected Prosecutor Conference reminder
This year’s Elected Prosecutor Conference will be held at the Embassy Suites in Frisco and will include a Wednesday night reception on the field of the Dallas Cowboys’ indoor practice facility at The Star. The conference will be held November 29–December 1, 2023 (the week after Thanksgiving) and details about it are available HERE.
We will also hold TDCAA’s Annual Business Meeting on Wednesday, November 29, 2023, at 5:00 p.m., at the Frisco Embassy Suites immediately upon adjournment of that day’s training session.
Scattershooting
Here are some recent stories you might’ve missed:
- “Fighting between legislative leaders imperils Texas border security bills” (Texas Tribune [free link])
- “Dan Patrick diagnosed with viral pneumonia as lawmakers ready for another possible session“ (Austin American-Statesman [free])
- “Supreme Court grapples with fights over public officials blocking constituents on social media” (CBS News [free])
- “Austin Law Department Argues City Council Can’t Stop Austin Police from Keeping Secret Files” (Austin Chronicle [free])
- “A public health response helped reduce fatal car wrecks in Texas. Can it do the same for gun deaths?” (Texas Tribune [free])
- “One City’s Surprising Tactic to Reduce Gun Violence: Solving More Nonfatal Shootings” (The Marshall Project [free])
Quotes of the Week
“I suggested to @GregAbbott_TX that if the Texas House fails to pass acceptable school choice legislation this fall, I would support him calling us back on February 5th, 2024.”
—Tweet by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R-Houston) last week. With many House members (but almost no Senate members) facing primary opponents next March, a February special session would cripple the campaigning and fundraising ability of many state representatives heading into the home stretch of their races.
“How do we write a narrow opinion that does no harm here?”
—U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch, pondering out loud the challenge faced by that court in Culley v. Marshall, a civil asset forfeiture due process case argued before it last week.
“[H]earing that a Harris County judge has ordered Collin County to pay the Paxton prosecutors $300/hour for past and future invoices. Never mind that both the 5th COA and the Texas CCA ruled in our favor against these fees. Good luck with that.”
—Tweet by Chris Hill, County Judge for Collin County, after the Harris County judge before whom the Paxton securities fraud prosecution is pending issued an order in favor of the special prosecutors, who have not been paid for any work on the case since 2016.
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