TDCAA Legislative Update: 88-4 Called Session: Week 4/Sine Die

December 7, 2023

We have one additional survey question for those of you who attended our Elected Prosecutor Conference in Frisco last week: Was the Wednesday night reception our best conference reception of this century, or our best conference reception of all time?  😉

El Fin

The House and Senate adjourned the 4th Called Session sine die on Tuesday, one day before its official deadline. According to local meteorologists, Austin’s ambient air temperature unexpectedly rose five degrees Tuesday afternoon, a phenomenon later attributed to the post-adjournment hot air being vented from both chambers.

The final product from this latest special session consisted of two bills: Senate Bill 3 by Huffman/Jetton (border security funding) and Senate Bill 4 by Perry/Spiller (illegal entry crime). Both now await the governor’s signature. The former includes the House amendment we told you about a few weeks ago that allows some of its $1.5+ billion in border security operations funding to be spent on grants for “local prosecutorial, judicial, and correctional resources.” How such grants will work in practice remains to be seen, though.

As for the new illegal entry crime created by SB 4, that will not take effect until the 91st day after the governor signs the bill. However, we predict the federal government, advocacy groups, or both will seek a federal court injunction against the enforcement of that law before it ever gets that far. We’ll do our best to keep you informed if or when that happens.

Programming note

Now that the Lege has left town and is not expected back in these parts anytime soon (amen!), these weekly updates will shift to monthly missives in January. However, we foresee issuing at least two additional updates before year’s end. One will be a recap after next week’s campaign filing deadline passes—so if you know of local prosecutor races in or around your jurisdiction in 2024, please share them with us—and a second will alert you when the Comptroller’s Office releases its final rules for administering SB 22 rural law enforcement grants. Please keep an eye out for those.

Training notice

Of the 1,650 people who have registered to take our 2023 Legislative Update online, almost half (!) have not yet completed the course. Access to that online course closes on December 31, 2023, so if you or someone in your office registered for that course but did not complete it, you must do so before the end of the year. And for those of you who haven’t taken the course yet, there is still plenty of time to register and complete it! Attendees receive a Legislative Update book by mail and 3.75 hours of CLE upon completion. Please click HERE for more details.

Scattershooting

Here are some recent stories you might’ve missed:

  • “Texas is on the verge of making illegal border crossings a state crime. Here’s what you need to know.” (Texas Tribune)
  • “Former AG official: skewed math obscures Texas victim compensation delays” (KXAN News)
  • “How one man’s open records obsession sparked a fight over transparency and power in East Texas” (Texas Tribune)
  • “State Rep. Frederick Frazier pleads no contest to impersonating a public servant charges” (Dallas Morning News)
  • “DA drops most charges against Austin police officers accused of excessive force in 2020 protests” (Texas Tribune)

Quotes of the Week

“The evidence is clear: Police departments across the country are solving far fewer crimes than they did before 2020.”
            —Jeff Asher, crime data analytics expert, in a recent guest essay in TheNew York Times that noted national police clearance rates for violent and property crimes have fallen to their lowest levels since the 1960s.

“This is our community, and we will elect a representative. The governor will not elect the representative of this district.”
            —State Rep. Hugh Shine (R-Temple), addressing Governor Abbott’s endorsement of his Republican primary opponent due to Shine’s opposition to the governor’s school voucher proposal.

“I don’t think it would be productive to come back now, three weeks before Christmas. I think the best day to come back would be February 5th, 30 days before the election.”
            —Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R-Houston), on the possibility of a fifth called session to take up school vouchers (again).

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