Legislative Updates

Each week during Texas legislative sessions, TDCAA recaps the most important news and events. Look to this page for current and past issues of TDCAA’s Legislative Updates.

For information concerning legislation filed during the 87th Regular Session, visit the state legislature’s web site or e-mail Shannon Edmonds, Director of Governmental Relations, or call him at (512) 474-2436.

Updates

TDCAA Legislative Update: 88-3 Called Session: Week 2

October 23, 2023

Happy Monday! Here’s a (late) recap of the second week of the current special session, plus important information on some upcoming events.

Senate Bill 22 rules

The Comptroller has a new webpage dedicated to SB 22 that you can access HERE. That page includes basic information about these grants, the text of the proposed rules and applicable statutes, and an FAQ section. The public comment period for the Comptroller’s proposed rules for administering those grants is now in effect and ends on November 12, 2023. Comments about potential changes to those rules can be submitted to Russell Gallahan, Manager, Local Government & Transparency, at [email protected].

Our friends at the Texas Association of Counties (TAC) have also posted a podcast on this topic in which TAC’s Skylor Hearn interviews Mr. Gallahan of the Comptroller’s Office. Interested listeners can stream that podcast online HERE or on your podcast app of choice (search for “Texas County Voice” Episode 43).

This new rural law enforcement grant program was a topic of much discussion at last week’s Fall Regional courses in Amarillo and Midland, so if you want to discuss this topic with your peers, consider attending one of our two remaining regional courses this Friday in Laredo or Tyler. (Online registration for these free CLE courses is closed but walk-ins will be accepted.)

Special session action

This week it is the House’s turn to tackle the governor’s priority legislation for the special session, including:

  • Increasing penalties for human smuggling or operation of a stash house (SB 4 by Flores); and
  • Creating a state crime for illegal entry from a foreign nation (SB 11 by Birdwell).

Senate Bill 4 (smuggling) was passed out of a House committee late last week and will be eligible for consideration by the full House later this week. Senate Bill 11 (illegal entry) was left pending in committee so that language more clearly limiting its application to actors actually seen coming across the southern border can be refined and adopted before the bill is sent to the full House for further consideration.

Other special session bills on border wall funding, COVID-19 vaccines, and school choice are also making their way through the system, but we’ll leave coverage of those bills to your local fish wraps.

Elected Prosecutor Conference

The holiday season will be upon us before you know it, and that means it is also almost time to gather for our annual Elected Prosecutor Conference! This year’s event will be held at the Embassy Suites in Frisco and will include a Wednesday night reception honoring the Texas Prosecutor Society’s Class of 2023 that will be held on the field of the Cowboy’s indoor practice facility field at The Star. The dates for this conference are November 29–December 1, 2023 (the week after Thanksgiving). For more details about the course or to register for it, click HERE.

Note also that we will 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:

  • “Texas judges must retire at age 75. Voters could give them four more years on the bench.” (Houston Chronicle [free link])
  • “Mexican Sinaloa Cartel’s Message to Members: Stop Making Fentanyl Or Die” (Wall Street Journal [free])
  • “Nearly half of Houston likely voters identify crime as top issue in mayoral race, survey finds” (Houston Chronicle [free])
  • “No longer above the fray, state supreme courts pulled into overtly political conflicts” (Route Fifty [free])
  • “New Orleans District Attorney and mother forced out of SUV by thieves in Lower Garden District” (NOLA.com [free])

Quotes of the Week

“We have a lot of divisive issues we deal with on the House floor. Many of them are political; some of them are geographical. I just ask that you show respect to your colleagues over the Astros-Rangers games.”
            —Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan (R-Beaumont), before adjourning the House for the day (with tongue firmly planted in cheek) this past Monday.

“Let me be clear, while other members of @KenPaxtonTX trial team run for office—notably @TonyBuzbee2 running for Houston City Council and my friend @realmitchlittle who is running for the Texas House—the only thing I intend to run for is my toilet at 3 a.m. You’re welcome.”
            —Tweet by Dan Cogdell, defense counsel for AG Ken Paxton, posted after his co-counsel Mitch Little initiated a run for a Texas House seat currently held by a Republican member who voted to impeach their client.

[NOTE: Future Friday updates may be thrown off schedule due to the regional courses we are hosting this month; we apologize in advance for any delivery irregularities.]

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