(Note: This has been updated after its original posting with additional committee notices)

The bill filing deadline portcullis slams down at 6:00 p.m. tonight, leaving many unfiled bill ideas on the outside looking in. Better luck next time for those who couldn’t find a bill sponsor.

A look ahead

This week was mostly about bill filing. The 88^th Legislature filed 1,883 bills the first four days of this week, and it is on pace to set the record for the most bills ever filed during a session. That means next week will be all about bill reading—not just because of the sheer volume of bills filed the past few days, but also because that volume has apparently crippled our bill tracking system, which keeps crashing. Good times.

Anyhow … having passed the 60-day mark of the regular session today, legislators are free to start voting non-emergency matters off their respective floors. So, while many of you are enjoying yourselves on a well-deserved spring break next week, things at the capitol will kick into a higher gear as legislative committees meet to discuss and debate fentanyl test strips, medical marijuana, prosecutor funding, taxpayer-funded lobbying, capital punishment, raising the age of juvenile jurisdiction, human trafficking, expunctions, and more! Read along for more details.

Doing things for you

At some point today, SB 22 by Springer (R-Muenster) should be filed to create a funding mechanism for financial assistance to sheriffs and prosecutors in rural counties. The low bill number identifies this as a priority for Lt. Governor Patrick that could substantially ease the post-COVID personnel challenges many prosecutor offices are experiencing. It also has a bi-partisan list of 16 other senators already signed on as co-authors, so it’s close to a lead pipe cinch to pass the Senate. (But remember, it takes two [chambers] to tango!) We will have more to say about this bill next week, but if you need some good* news heading into the weekend, SB 22 may be your ticket. (*Offer not valid for readers in the state’s 20 or so largest counties.)

For those in urban counties of more than a million people, SB 740 by Huffman (to include prosecutors in the law that restricts urban counties’ ability to reduce law enforcement funding) will be heard in the Senate Finance Committee on Monday.

And for those of you in counties between “rural” and “urban” … <crickets chirping> (LOL) Sorry! But all is not lost. Bills to restore pay parity between elected felony prosecutors and judges have been filed today in both chambers that could help elected felony prosecutors regardless of location. House Bill 5002 by Smith (R-Sherman) and its identical companion, SB 2310 by Hinojosa (D-McAllen), would provide a new third salary tier for elected prosecutors with more than 12 years in office, similar to the arrangement judges received when the current salary structure was enacted in 2019.

We’ll have a lot more to say about these funding measures next week and later in the session, but for now, be sure to bookmark them and follow their process from home.

Doing things to you

OK, enough “good” news. We now return to our regularly scheduled programming. <Insert sad trombone sound here.>

Guess what? That’s right—more “prosecutor accountability”-type bills have been filed over the past week. (Shocker!) By our rough count, 32 (!) bills have now been filed on this topic through yesterday, and more are probably being filed today. It will take us time to sift through the newest ones, so look for a more thorough review of them from us next week.

That said, we can leave you with this teaser: Judging from the low bill numbers, the Speaker’s priority bill on this topic will probably be either HB 17 by Cook (R-Mansfield) or HB 200 by Leach (R-Plano)—the latter being a duplicate refile (albeit with a snazzier bill number) of the prosecutor disciplinary council language we’ve discussed before—and the Lite Guv’s priority bill on this topic will be SB 20 by Huffman (R-Houston). Therefore, if you only have time during your impending spring break vacation to read three bills from this category over the weekend, make it those. The rest of the chaff can wait. (And trust us, there is a LOT more chaff than wheat on this topic this session.)

Floor action

Most people in the capitol were focusing on the impending bill filing deadline this week, but we did see the first bills voted off the floor of a chamber. Specifically, the Senate passed SB 372 by Huffman (criminalizing the unauthorized disclosure of draft judicial opinions) and SB 728 by Huffman (including juvenile information in federal firearm background checks). Those bills will now be delivered to the House, where they will sit on some clerk’s desk for the next six weeks while the House focuses on House bills.

Committee news

The following House bills were reported favorably by committees and now head to the House Calendars Committee for possible consideration by the full House: HB 270 by S. Thompson (expanding postconviction DNA testing), HB 286 by S. Thompson (expanding subsequent writs), HB 381 by S. Thompson (pretrial jury determination of intellectual disability in capital cases), and HB 611 by Capriglione (new doxing crime).

The House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee gave preliminary approval to: HB 178 by Murr (fentanyl testing by crime labs), HB 188 by Moody (jury instructions in capital cases), HB 218 by Moody (reducing marijuana penalties), HB 469 by Smith (jury sequestration), and HB 513 by Metcalf (manufacture or delivery of drugs that cause death).

The Senate Criminal Justice Committee gave preliminary approval to: SB 402 by Whitmire (docket preference for murder cases), SB 645 by Huffman (fentanyl punishments), SB 1004 by Huffman (tampering with electronic monitor), SB 1319 (overdose mapping), and SJR 44 (denial of bail).

To read any bill, visit https://capitol.texas.gov/ and enter “HB ___” or “SB ___” in the “Search Legislation” box, then click on the “text” tab and click on the format in which you wish to read it (PDF, html, or Word).

Future committee hearings

Committees start hitting on all cylinders this week by hearing hundreds of bills. Here are just a few of them (click the committee’s name for the full agenda and additional details, including hyperlinks to the bills’ webpages):

Monday, March 13

House Public Health – 9:00 a.m., Room JHR 120

• HB 362 by Oliverson legalizing fentanyl testing strips
• HB 861 by Lozano legalizing the sale of kratom to those 18 or older
• HB 1805 by Klick increasing the potency of “low-THC” cannabis and expanding its uses

Senate Finance – 10:00 a.m., E1.036

• SB 740 by Huffman limiting urban counties’ ability to reduce prosecutor office funding

Senate State Affairs – 10:30 a.m., Senate Chamber

• SB 175 by Middleton barring the use of public funds for lobbying activities

House Select Committee on Youth Health and Safety – 2:30 p.m. or upon adjournment, E2.026

• HB 828 by Dutton raising the age of criminal responsibility to 18 years old

Tuesday, March 14

House Criminal Jurisprudence – 10:30 a.m., E2.016

• HB 28 by Slawson increasing the punishment range for certain aggravated assaults
• HB 914 by Hefner relating to tampering with temporary vehicle tags
• HB 937 by Dutton relating to inmate legal services
• HB 1004 by Shaheen relating to human trafficking and compelling prostitution
• HB 1088 by A. Johnson relating to the legal representation of CSCDs by OAG
• HB 1203 by Ordaz criminalizing the criminally negligent abuse of non-livestock animals
• HB 1207 by Guillen eliminating the statute of limitations for tampering with a body
• HB 1300 by Geren reducing penalties for tampering with certain evidence
• HB 1347 by Dutton requiring new allegations in a resisting arrest charging instrument
• HB 1385 by Moody relating to criminal history record access by pretrial services
• HB 1394 by Moody expanding eligibility for drug court participation in gun cases
• HB 1528 by Smith relating to magistration, appointment of counsel, etc.
• HB 1589 by Cook expanding the scope of FV findings for enhancement purposes
• HB 1715 by Canales authorizing expunctions of certain deferred adjudications
• HB 1730 by Schaefer increasing punishments for repeat indecent exposure convictions
• HB 1736 by Leach limiting death penalty exposure for party actors and retroactively reviewing death row cases for possible clemency
• HB 1737 by Leach granting automatic orders of non-disclosure for certain deferred adjudications
• HB 1762 by M. Gonzalez expanding the “Romeo and Juliet” defense to same-sex cases
• HB 1907 by Anchia requiring prosecutors to expunge records upon successful completion of certain specialty court or pretrial diversion programs
• HB 1910 by Anchia creating a presumption in forgery cases

House Homeland Security & Public Safety – 2:00 p.m. or upon adjournment, E2.012

• HB 347 by Jarvis Johnson requiring post-arrest child placement policies for all agencies that employ peace officers
• HB 767 by Harless relating to entering stalking bond conditions into TCIC

Wednesday, March 15

House Judiciary & Civil Jurisprudence – 8:00 a.m., E2.016

• HB 1741 by Leach criminalizing the unauthorized disclosure of draft judicial opinions
• HB 2014 by Leach increasing jury service pay
• HB 2015 by Leach limiting certain exemptions from jury service
• HB 1372 by C. Harris relating to the tort of public nuisance

Thursday, March 16

House Corrections – 8:00 a.m., E2.014 (*added after original posting)

• HB 93 by Swanson limiting probation for repeat DWI felony offenses
• HB 252 by A. Johnson expanding nondisclosure eligibility to certain specialty courts
• HB 361 by S. Thompson mandating probation for certain defendants with children
• HB 1227 by Metcalf limiting probation for child pornography offenses

New bills to watch

We can’t even begin to tell you about all the … “interesting” … bills filed over the past week as the filing deadline hits, but here are a few we haven’t already mentioned above that might deserve your attention:

• HB 3474 by Leach, this session’s omnibus judicial branch legislation
• HB 3659 by Hefner limiting the use of civil asset forfeiture
• HB 3675 by Ortega requiring management training for certain elected prosecutors
• HB 3677 by Jolanda Jones creating the offense of prosecutorial misconduct
• HB 3786 by S. Thompson authorizing victims’ enforcement of crime victims’ rights
• HB 4635 by Guillen / SB 1788 by Flores relating to organized crime and racketeering

Many other bills relevant to your work can be accessed on our Legislative webpage under our Penal Code and Code of Criminal Procedure tracks. We also have a list of “Bills to Watch” that includes these new additions above as well as other bills we have highlighted in these weekly updates.

Austin-bound?

If you are ready to clear your calendar and come to Austin for a few days in March, April, or early May to weigh in on the bills we’ve discussed to date this session, please call or email Shannon to reserve that week ahead of time. Ditto for any questions you might have—call or email Rob or Shannon to get the scoop before you make plans.

Scattershooting

Here are some recent stories you might’ve missed:

• “As Texas pushes to ban delta-8, it’s squaring off with the drug’s biggest proponents: the VFW” (Houston Chronicle)
• “Texas law enforcement agencies hope lawmakers will solve state worker shortages” (Austin American-Statesman)
• “Local agency preventing credit card skimming across Texas” (CBS 19 News – Tyler)
• “Federal judge says controversial Missouri gun law violates US Constitution” (CNN) (Note: Texas passed a similar law in 2021, now found in Penal Code §1.10)
• “Bill would allow district clerks to carry handguns to work” (Spectrum News)
• “Murder cases could be in jeopardy as Dallas police review 450 cases for missing evidence” (Dallas Morning News)

Quotes of the Week

“I think what we’re seeing is a backlash to industry overreach, a backlash to an industry that is targeting kids with child-friendly products, an industry that is advertising everywhere, just like Big Tobacco did. I think people in Oklahoma were really sick of that.”
            —Luke Niforatos, executive vice president at Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM), which successfully opposed a recent marijuana legalization proposition in Oklahoma.

“With a mandatory minimum, you’re essentially turning the prosecutor into the judge, jury, and executioner.”
            —Molly Gill, vice president of policy at Families Against Mandatory Minimums, as quoted in a Texas Tribune article on new proposals this session from the governor and lt. governor to impose 10-year mandatory minimum sentences for various offenses.

“Some of these bills should just be tweets.”
            —Amy Bresnen, Austin lobbyist, commenting upon the record number of bills filed by the 88^th Texas Legislature.

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