Who thought it would be this hard for politicians to give away money?
Review, preview
This 30-day first called session ends on Wednesday, June 28. Nothing of substance is cooking right now, but political tensions are boiling. We do have some good news for you below, however, so keep reading!
Impeachment news
The House impeachment managers continue to investigate matters in preparation for the Senate trial. Meanwhile, the attorney general’s lawyers are lobbying the Senate to decide the matter on briefs, or via the impeachment equivalent of summary judgment, in an apparent attempt to prevent live witnesses from testifying before the Senate. On Tuesday, the Senate will re-convene at 11:00 a.m. to hash out those procedural and evidentiary rules for the trial, which may be illuminating.
Also, in a related criminal case against the attorney general that has been pending for eight—yes, eight, like ocho—years, the Court of Criminal Appeals ruled this week on the proper venue for those proceedings (Harris County, instead of Collin County; read the majority opinion here).
Compensation changes signed into law
Good news for some of you: Governor Abbott has signed HB 3474 by Leach/Hughes, the omnibus court administration bill that includes two priorities of TDCAA’s Compensation Committee!
Specifically, provisions of ARTICLE 6 of the bill amend Gov’t Code §41.013 (Compensation of Certain Prosecutors) and §46.003 (Compensation of State Prosecutors) to grant eligible elected felony prosecutors:
1) cross-service credits for time spent as an elected county attorney or judge for purposes of determining their salary tier (100 percent, 110 percent, or 120 percent of the $140,000 benchmark judicial salary under §659.012 (Judicial Salaries)), and
2) a longevity pay bump after 12 years of service, which will give prosecutors at that service mark an additional raise of five percent ($8,400) of that 120-percent salary tier amount in accordance with §659.0445 (Longevity Pay for State Judges and Justices), as amended.
If our math is correct, these two changes could result in a potential raise of up to $36,400 for some of you with time served in those other elected positions. However, as the kids say, YMMV (“your mileage may vary”) depending upon your personal circumstances, so we cannot make blanket statements across the board for all of you. Instead, we will defer to the experts at the Judiciary Section of the Comptroller’s Office who will figure it all out before the changes go into effect on September 1, 2023.
Finally, credit for these changes goes to those in our membership who made them happen: 46th Judicial DA Staley Heatly (Compensation Committee Chair), Comal Co. CDA Jennifer Tharp (Legislative Committee Co-Chair), 8th Judicial DA Will Ramsay and 79th Judicial DA Carlos Omar Garcia (who both worked to get longevity pay measures filed as separate bills), and everyone who showed up in Austin to support these measures or worked on it behind the scenes from home. We love it when a plan comes together!
New laws
The governor signed into law the following bills from the regular session:
HB 63 by Swanson/Sparks limiting anonymous reports of child abuse or neglect
HB 165 by A. Johnson/Whitmire increasing the criminal penalties for mass shooting assaults
HB 291 by Murr/Hughes revising occupational driver’s license procedures
HB 422 by VanDeaver/Perry authorizing juvenile detention hearings using remote technology (eff. June 13)
HB 730 by Frank/Hughes requiring certain quasi-criminal notices and burdens of proof in child abuse investigations and proceedings
HB 1163 by Smith/King creating the offense of boating while intoxicated with child passenger
HB 1243 by Hefner/Hughes increasing the criminal penalty for illegal voting
HB 1730 by Schaefer/Hughes increasing the criminal penalty for repeat indecent exposures
HB 2127 by Burrows/Creighton pre-empting certain local city and county enforcement actions
HB 3474 by Leach/Hughes, the omnibus judicial branch administration bill
HB 3956 by Smith/Creighton expanding the collection of DNA upon felony arrests
HB 4635 by Guillen/Flores creating civil and criminal racketeering laws
The governor has until this Sunday to sign or veto a bill passed by the legislature; after that, all un-vetoed bills become law as of Monday whether signed or not (with most of those new laws becoming effective September 1, 2023).
Vetoes
Speaking of vetoes, Governor Abbott spiked eight bills this week, including SB 467 by Bettencourt/Leach which would have increased penalties for criminal mischief involving a motor fuel pump. That may seem like an odd bill to veto, but consider his veto message an insight into the current level of discourse in the capitol right now, along with the fact that six of the eight bills the governor has vetoed this week were authored or sponsored by Senator Bettencourt (R-Houston), who just so happens to be the primary author of the Senate’s property tax relief proposal that the governor has rejected in favor of the House’s version—which the Senate refuses to pass.
So, if you have been following a Senate bill you want to see become law—especially one by Senator Bettencourt—and it has not been signed by now, you might have a very nervous weekend thanks to the House-Senate impasse over property tax reform. Welcome to politics, #txlege-style.
We’ll provide a rundown of all the vetoes in next Friday’s update, but if you need intel on something before then, contact Shannon.
Legislative Update CLEs and books
Did you know that the 88th Legislature passed 1,259 bills and joint resolutions before adjourning sine die last month? Are you ready to start implementing and enforcing the new laws relevant to your work come September 1, 2023? No, of course you aren’t. No one could be! But have no fear, that’s why we are here.
TDCAA will once again offer our popular—dare we say, essential—Legislative Update course online in August of 2023, before (most of) those new laws go into effect. Keep checking our Training webpage for details on when that online course will become available. And for those of you who prefer in-person training, we will offer a live Legislative Update presentation on Tuesday, September 19, in Round Rock in conjunction with our Annual Criminal & Civil Law Conference being held that week at the Kalahari Resort and Convention Center. Again, check our Training webpage for the latest information. Registration for that course will be online.
We are also taking online pre-orders for all of our updated code books which will be shipped out starting in August. For information on how to order your updated books, visit our Publications webpage.
Scattershooting
Here are some recent stories you might’ve missed:
- “2023: The Best and Worst Legislators” (Texas Monthly)
- “Gov. Greg Abbott says he won’t renew his COVID-19 disaster declaration later this week” (Texas Tribune)
- “Election fraud a felony in Texas again after Gov. Abbott signs bill” (Dallas Morning News)
- “Trap-neuter-release programs for cats may soon be legally protected in Texas” (Texas Tribune)
Quotes of the Week
“The intent of the bill is to go after the distributors, go after the dealers. We’re not going to go after someone who calls 9-1-1 to try and save somebody’s life.”
—Rep. Craig Goldman (R-Fort Worth), author of the fentanyl bill (HB 6) that makes delivery resulting a death prosecutable as murder, responding to objections that it could result in more deaths if people are afraid to seek help for those overdoses due to that new penalty. (The bill does not include a “good Samaritan” defense.)
“As we get closer and closer to this Sunday, all of these bills that have yet to be signed face the possibility—if not the probability—that they’re going to be vetoed.”
—Governor Greg Abbott, rattling his veto saber over the failure of the Senate to pass his preferred property tax solution, as proposed by the House.
“In a ploy to apparently get his way, Governor Abbott suggests he is threatening to destroy the work of the entire 88th Legislative Session—hundreds of thousands of hours by lawmakers doing the work the people sent us to do. The Governor’s suggested threat today to veto a large number of Senate bills is an affront to the legislative process and the people of Texas.”
—Excerpt from a lengthy tweet reply by Lt. Governor Dan Patrick.
“Just know this: There will be no future special sessions unless and until the Texas Senate and Texas House get together and come up with an agreement about how we are going to … [cut] property taxes on Texans and what they have to pay every year.”
—Governor Greg Abbott, at a bill signing ceremony earlier this week, in response to a question from the press about his school choice pet project.
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