Three weeks to go. Inside the Big Pink Building, patience is ebbing, nerves are fraying, and tempers are flaring—all right on schedule. Not even COVID-19 can stop the Texas Legislature from #txlege-ing. Some things will never change.

Down to the lick log

A couple thousand House bills (other than a few bills of only local impact) are going to be dead by this time next week. Here’s why:

• A House bill not reported from a committee by Monday night (May 10) is procedurally dead.
• A House bill not approved on second reading by the full House before Thursday at midnight (May 13) is procedurally dead.

Or perhaps we should say “mostly dead,” because a bill may be dead but the language in that bill can be offered as an amendment to another bill on a similar subject still moving forward. So never say never, at least until they adjourn sine die and go home for good. But at least there will be fewer bills moving through the process for us to keep track of the final two weeks of session!

Permitless carry

The Senate passed HB 1927 by Schaefer/Schwertner and sent it back to the House yesterday. In short, HB 1927 would generally authorize adults who are at least 21 years old and not otherwise prohibited from possessing a firearm to carry a handgun in public without a license to carry (LTC). Penal Code §46.035 (Unlawful Carrying of Handgun by License Holder) would be repealed, but unlicensed carry at certain places would still be a crime, and the LTC program would be continued for the purposes of reciprocity privileges with other states that do not allow permitless carry.

Several Senate Republicans were reluctant to vote for permitless carry, especially those who rely on the support of independent swing voters in general elections. But by now it is clear that this has turned into a “primary election session”—in which red-meat issues hold sway—rather than a more ecumenical “general election session” as in 2019. Therefore, the bill was passed by an 18–13 party-line vote after being amended in a manner to make it more palatable for those Republican senators who had been on the fence. Those amendments include:

• increasing penalties for felons and family violence offenders who illegally carry;
• authorizing new, simpler signage for business owners who want to exclude the carrying of firearms on their property; and
• removing House provisions that would have expunged some old gun convictions and restricted officers’ ability to stop and question those carrying handguns.

The bill now returns to the House, which can either accept the Senate changes and send the bill to the governor or reject the changes and request appointment of a conference committee to work out those differences.

Policing reform

The official George Floyd Act (HB 88/SB 161) is dead—mostly because of its proposed limitations on peace officers’ qualified immunity and use of self-defense, but also because the namesake of the bill is controversial in some circles. As a result, supporters of the reforms in that bill have been passing the less controversial parts in piecemeal fashion. Here’s where those bills stand:

• SB 68 by Miles (duty to intervene and to report excessive force): Passed Senate, reported from House committee, eligible for passage by full House next week.
• SB 69 by Miles (choke hold limits): Passed Senate, reported from House committee, eligible for passage by full House next week.
• SB 2212 by West (duty to render aid): Passed Senate, reported from House committee, eligible for passage by full House next week.
• HB 829 by S. Thompson (progressive disciplinary matrix for peace officers): Passed House, awaiting referral to committee in Senate.
• HB 830 by S. Thompson (no arrest for fine-only traffic offenses): Passed House, awaiting referral to committee in Senate.
• HB 834 by S. Thompson (corroboration of undercover narcotics officers): Passed House, awaiting referral to committee in Senate.
• HB 1396 by White (mandatory policies and procedures for citations, cite-and-release, no-knock warrants, use of force, and more): On the House calendar for consideration by the full House later today.

As you can see from the status of these bills, those that started in the Senate are further along than their House counterparts. The Senate bills are expected to pass the House with ease, but the House bills could have a more difficult ride through the Senate.

Another policing reform bill to watch is HB 492 by Wu (no-knock warrants), which passed the House this week and is awaiting referral to a committee in the Senate. That bill imposes new requirements on the application and approval of a no-knock warrants that could unintentionally limit their availability in rural parts of the state; read the text of the engrossed version of the bill (see link above) to determine how it would impact your jurisdiction.

Status updates

Here are updates on other issues we have been following this session:

Bail bonds: Even though SB 21 by Huffman—the Senate’s preferred bail bond reform bill—is now in the House, the lower chamber declined to take it up and instead passed over to the Senate HB 20 by Murr (after amending it 10 times—read the “engrossed” version at the bill link if you want to see what the House version looks like). Each chamber’s preferred language is now pending in the other chamber, passing each other like ships in the night and presaging a stand-off reminiscent of the past few sessions in which bail bond reform legislation would pass one house but not the other. How this impasse will be resolved—or if it will be resolved—remains to be seen.

Death penalty: HB 1340 by Leach (excluding certain party defendants from the death penalty) passed the House this week. As approved by that chamber, the bill would exclude the application of the law of parties under Penal Code §7.02(b) to capital murder and replace it with a new type of co-conspirator party liability law involving a three-pronged test for co-conspirator cases limited to “major participants” who act with “reckless indifference to human life” resulting in a murder committed in furtherance of the original conspiracy. There was no real debate over the law—consistent with the passage of all House bills on the speaker’s “Smarter Justice Safer Texas” platform—and the bill was passed to the Senate for further consideration after being amended with a requirement that the Board of Pardons and Paroles review all death sentences involving the law of parties to identify “appropriate inmates” to recommend to the governor for clemency.

ERS changes: The House Appropriations Committee took testimony on SB 321 by Huffman (R-Houston) Monday. The bill—which we described in some detail in our Week 15 update—ends new enrollments in current ERS defined-benefits plans as of August 31, 2022, and launches “cash balance” plans in their place for all future ERS participants, including most elected felony prosecutors. The bill was favorably received by committee members but was opposed in testimony from the unions for state employees and correctional officers and was eventually left pending. Meanwhile, the House already passed HB 3397 by Murphy (R-Houston) over to the Senate to authorize the ERS Board of Trustees to pump hundreds of millions of dollars into the current defined benefit system, but that bill has yet to be referred to a Senate committee, which may not be a good omen.

Miscellany: If you use a “comfort” dog to help children or other witnesses testify, the Senate committee substitute version HB 1071 by Harris/Whitmire (court dogs) would limit that in the future to only certain specific “facility dogs” with special training; read the bill and contact Shannon if you think this will be a problem for you.

The final hurdle

Bills that have successfully run the legislative gamut and are on their way to the governor include:

• HB 567 by Frank/Hughes limiting CPS intervention in alleged child abuse/neglect cases
• HB 1024 by Geren/Hancock allowing “alcohol to go” from bars and restaurants
• HB 2536 by Krause/Buckingham excluding certain conduct from the definition of “neglect” in child removal actions
• HCR 90 by Rodriguez/Hughes honoring the Texas Chili Parlor in Austin

For those of you who don’t readily recall your Texas civics lessons, a bill sent to the governor can be signed into law, allowed to become law without his signature, or vetoed—and except for the state budget bill, a veto must be for an entire bill—there is no “line item” veto of only part of a bill in Texas. Due to the lateness of the session, those vetoes also cannot be overridden by the legislature, making them final.

We will try to keep you posted as more bills head to the governor, but that could eventually exceed 1,000 different pieces of legislation, so we will be judicious in our selection. If you see a bill on that list on which you want to weigh in for or against, contact Shannon for more details on how to do that effectively.

Floor calendars

House and Senate floor calendars for next week have not been finalized yet, so we will issue a supplement this weekend with more details when that becomes public.

Calendars Committee bills

The final House calendar for House bills must be published by 10:00 p.m. on Tuesday, May 11, so all eyes are on the Calendars Committee to see what it will put on those final few calendars. We are currently tracking 160 bills in that committee that are eligible for consideration by the full House. Bills sent to the Calendars Committee this past week include:

• HB 137 and HJR 10 by S. Thompson (judicial termination of a parole sentence)
• HB 140 by Rose (serious mental illness exemption from the death penalty)
• HB 169 by S. Thompson (reduction of various drug penalties)
• HB 836 by Dutton (notice requirement in resisting arrest charge)
• HB 929 by Sherman (Botham Jean Act)
• HB 1750 by Crockett (adding an element for self-defense)
• HB 2081 by Reynolds (criminalizing certain vehicle-pedestrian collisions)
• HB 2144 by Harris (limiting certain civil litigation filed by local governments)
• HB 2795 by S. Thompson (solicitation of prostitution)
• HB 3598 by Leach (mandatory minimum sentence for intoxication manslaughter)

To read the text or status of these or any other bill, visit the state legislature’s website and enter that HB or SB number in the appropriate search box. Remember, the Calendars Committee does not take additional testimony on bills sent to it from other committees; instead, its members take input on bills individually. If you know any members of that committee, don’t be shy about reaching out to them on bills as you see fit.

Committee notices

From here on out, notice of committee hearings will be limited. Bills that have had one public hearing in their house of origin may or may not get a second public hearing in the other chamber, leaving further public involvement in the process up to the discretion of each chairman. As of now, there are no relevant Monday hearings, but we’ll update that statement over the weekend with more information as (or if) it is released.

Scattershooting

Here are some articles we read this week that you might find interesting:

• “How voters see the issues legislators are deciding, according to the UT/TT Poll” (Texas Tribune)
• “The US saw significant crime rise across major cities in 2020. And it’s not letting up.” (CNN)
• “Bail bill backed by governor that would ban pre-trial release in some violent crimes passes Texas House” (Dallas Morning News)
• “Texas’ pandemic budget shortfall disappears, as latest forecast shows a surplus” (Texas Tribune)
• “Texas Lawyer Gets 15 Years for Scheme to Defraud Cocaine Traffickers” (New York Times)

Prosecutor rotation

Thanks to Kaufman County CDA Erleigh Wiley, Comal County CDA Jennifer Tharp, and the assistant prosecutors who came to Austin this week to support or oppose various pieces of legislation. If you want to see how the sausage is made, contact Shannon for details on how to get involved in Austin. There are only more weeks of committee hearings, and then it’s all over but the crying.

Quotes of the Week

“We are reacting to one case out of California and changing the law in Texas because of it, and we’re doing it in a way that does not sync up with what we’ve been doing for years on criminal justice reform.”
            —State Rep. Joe Moody (D-El Paso), arguing against passage of HB 9 by Klick (R-Fort Worth), which increases penalties for certain acts of obstructing a highway by protestors. (The bill passed anyway.)

“People still need to understand gun laws, gun ownership, proper storage, and proper handling of a firearm. I trust our citizens to exercise proper diligence in obtaining their proficiency in those areas.”
            —State Sen. Charles Schwertner (R-Georgetown), Senate sponsor of HB 1927 to authorize permitless carry of handguns.

“I had to take the COVID test, wait for the negative results, get tagged like a cow, [and] get a wristband put on before I could enter the building.”
            —State Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller (R-Stephenville), testifying in a Travis County courtroom in support of his lawsuit challenging the State Senate’s current COVID-19 protocols. Miller—who once travelled to Oklahoma on the State’s dime in part to have an ex-felon administer a “Jesus shot” to him for chronic pain—declines to get vaccinated.

“Oh my G-d, the judge is a “f—ing idiot.”
            —Outburst by an insurance adjuster in California who was monitoring remote court proceedings in a civil insurance case, unaware that he could be heard by the judge and jurors.

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