It’s Day 25 of our 140-day voyage, but it still feels like we have yet to weigh anchor and leave port. That may change when the Senate Finance Committee begins its budget hearings next week. Let’s hope for weather more fair than foul in the offing.
“Brimming with promise”
Or at least that was the term used by Governor Abbott to describe Texas in Monday’s State of the State Address (transcript here). Fair enough.
The main news to come from this speech was the governor’s identification of five issues he has deemed “emergency items,” qualifying them for immediate action by the legislature. Those five items are: expanding broadband internet access, punishing local governments that “defund the police,” bail reform (of the lock-’em-up variety), “election integrity,” and limiting civil liability for businesses open during the pandemic. Other than the first item, which enjoys broad bipartisan support, the rest of these issues will get a head start by being deemed emergencies, but none are guaranteed to pass. Furthermore, the mention of these issues in Monday night’s speech is not actually binding—instead, the governor must file proclamations with the legislature to make it official, and that will be where the rubber meets the road regarding the specificity and scope of what will or won’t constitute an emergency.
Besides these five emergency items, the governor also mentioned dozens of other policy issues that he supports or wants to see passed by the legislature, and Lt. Gov. Patrick is expected to roll out Senate bills on many of those topics soon. Stay tuned for a review of those bills as soon as next week.
House committees
House Speaker Dade Phelan (R-Beaumont) released this session’s House committee assignments yesterday. The turnover was significant: Of the 35 standing House committees, 29 (!) now have new chairs. What that means for the future of individual bills remains to be seen. All that can be said with certainty right now is that there will be a distinct lack of certainty in predicting the fate of many issues in the House because of these changes. The chairs are the gatekeepers for which legislation gets heard in committee, and in a session in which fewer committee hearings are expected to be held, these new chairs are in a position to kill thousands of bills by mere indifference. With that in mind, here’s the skinny on some House committees relevant to your work.
APPROPRIATIONS: G. Bonnen (R-Friendswood), chair; M. Gonzalez (D-Clint), vice-chair; Ashby (R-Lufkin), C. Bell (R-Magnolia), Capriglione (R-Southlake), Dean (R-Longview), Dominguez (D-Brownsville), Gates (R-Rosenberg), Holland (R-Rockwall), Howard (D-Austin), A. Johnson (D-Houston). Ja. Johnson (D-Houston), Ju, Johnson (D-Dallas) [yes, there are three Democratic Johnsons on one committee!], Minjarez (D-San Antonio), Morrison (R-Victoria), Raney (R-Bryan), Rose (D-Dallas), Schaefer (R-Tyler), Sherman (D-Dallas), Stucky (R-Denton), E. Thompson (R-Pearland), Toth (R-The Woodlands), VanDeaver (R-New Boston), Walle (D-Houston), Wilson (R-Marble Falls), Wu (D-Houston), Zweiner (D-Driftwood).
Notes: R chair, D vice-chair, 14 Rs, 12 Ds. Wholesale changes include a new chair, vice-chair, and 10 of the 26 members. The former subcommittee chairman for your budget items is also gone; stay tuned for news on that appointment in a few weeks.
CALENDARS: Burrows (R-Lubbock), chair; Moody (D-El Paso), vice-chair; Craddick (R-Midland), Harris (R-Palestine), Hefner (R-Mt. Pleasant), Hernandez (D-Houston), Leman (R-Iola), Patterson (R-Frisco), Rose (D-Dallas), Slawson (R-Stephenville), Talarico (D-Round Rock).
Notes: R chair, D vice-chair, 7 Rs, 4 Ds. Nine of 11 members are new, including the chair, which means there could be a substantial change in how the committee operates. This is the committee that determines what bills do—and do not—get to the House floor, and its real work is done almost entirely behind closed doors. If your House member is on this list, we hope you have a good relationship with him/her because you may need it this session.
CORRECTIONS: Murr (R-Junction), chair; Allen (D-Houston), vice-chair; Bailes (R-Shepherd), Burrows (R-Lubbock), Martinez Fischer (D-San Antonio), Rodriguez (D-Austin), Sherman (D-Dallas), Slaton (R-Royce City), White (R-Hillister).
Notes: R chair, D vice-chair, 5 Rs, 4 Ds. New chair, four new members (of nine). Oversees TDCJ, TJJD, BPP.
CRIMINAL JURISPRUDENCE: Collier (D-Fort Worth), chair; K. Bell (R-Forney), vice-chair; Cason (R-Bedford), Cook (R-Mansfield), Crockett (D-Dallas), G. Hinojosa (D-Austin), A. Johnson (D-Houston), Murr (R-Junction), Vasut (R-Angleton).
Notes: D chair, R vice-chair, 5 Rs, 4 Ds. Same chair, but six of nine members are new, including five freshmen. While that is more new faces than usual, seven of the nine committee members are lawyers, which is an unusually high rate. However, to our knowledge only two have practiced criminal law—Crockett (a former public defender) and Johnson (a former Asst. DA in Harris County). Compared to the Senate Criminal Justice Committee’s heavy Harris County contingent, House “Crim Jur” (as we call it) looks weighted toward the DFW Metroplex, which should make for an interesting contrast. This committee handles the largest percentage of bills we track in the House during a session, so if you have any House members on this committee, be sure to reach out to them—they may become your new best friends at the capitol this session.
HOMELAND SECURITY & PUBLIC SAFETY: White (R-Hillister), chair; Bowers (D-Rowlett), vice-chair; Goodwin (D-Austin), Harless (R-Spring), Hefner (R-Mt. Pleasant), E. Morales (D-Eagle Pass), Patterson (R-Frisco), Schaefer (R-Tyler), Tinderholt (R-Arlington).
Notes: R chair, D vice-chair, 6 Rs, 3 Ds. New chair and vice-chair, both of whom are new to the committee; in fact, seven of nine members are new. Some hot-potato policing reform bills may get referred here, so this committee could be in the spotlight more than usual.
JUDICIARY & CIVIL JURISPRUDENCE: Leach (R-Plano), chair; Y. Davis (D-Dallas), vice-chair; Dutton (D-Houston), Ju. Johnson (D-Dallas), Krause (R-Fort Worth), Middleton (R-Wallisville), Moody (D-El Paso), Schofield (R-Katy), Smith (R-Van Alstyne).
Notes: R chair, D vice-chair, 5 Rs, 4 Ds. Same chair, plus four other returning members. Seven of nine members are lawyers. If you are seeking a statutory change to your office’s authority or if your local jurisdiction is seeking a new court, this is the committee that will hear it in the House.
JUVENILE JUSTICE & FAMILY ISSUES: Neave (D-Dallas), chair; Swanson (R-Spring), vice-chair; Cook (R-Mansfield), Frank (R-Wichita Falls), Leach (R-Plano), Ramos (D-Richardson), Talarico (D-Round Rock), Vasut (R-Angleton), Wu (D-Houston).
Notes: D chair, R vice-chair, 5 Rs, 4 Ds. All but one member is new to the committee, including the chair and vice-chair.
STATE AFFAIRS: Paddie (R-Marshall), chair; Hernandez (D-Houston), vice-chair; Deshotel (D-Beaumont), Harless (R-Spring), Howard (D-Austin), Hunter (R-Corpus Christi), P. King (R-Weatherford), Lucio III (D-Brownsville), Metcalf (R-Conroe), Raymond (D-Laredo), Shaheen (R-Plano), Slawson (R-Stephenville), Smithee (R-Amarillo).
Notes: R chair, D vice-chair, 8 Rs, 5 Ds. New chair; all told, six of 13 members are new. This committee traditionally gets referred bills on several very controversial social and political issues, including the issue of local government advocacy. Interestingly, these returning members voted 7-5 against the “taxpayer-funded lobbying” ban last session, with the new chairman voting “nay.” It will be interesting to see if any of those votes change in 2021.
These are the House committees in which prosecutors are most likely to find themselves during a session, but for others, you can find the full list of committee line-ups here. If you are so inclined, now is a good time to reach out to your local legislator(s) to congratulate them—or commiserate with them—on their committee assignments. And if they are on one of the committees listed above, this is also the time to start educating them on the issues relevant to those committees that are important to you. Due to the significant turnover reflected in these assignments, much of your past work and relationship-building in that regard may need to be repeated with new members. Such is the circle of life at the Lege.
Bill filings
Bill filings continue to increase despite the pandemic-related challenges faced by the agency tasked with drafting the official versions of legislation. Due to the resulting delays, if you have a bill idea that has not already been submitted by a legislator for drafting, then we suggest you get that done ASAP or you’ll have to punt it to next session. As for those of you with bill language requests already in the hopper at the Legislative Council, you are probably safe to wait a couple of more weeks for progress, but if your bill author doesn’t have a finished or almost-finished draft in hand by the end of this month, you may want to consider asking them to file a non-council draft and then fix things during the process as needed. (If this is Greek to you or you have questions about the bill-filing process, contact Shannon.)
As of yesterday, we are tracking 665 bills in more than 40 different bill tracks. So far, the 10 most popular tracks are:
Track Bills
Code of Criminal Procedure 199 bills
Penal Code 163
New crimes 106
Guns 91
Policing/new officer duties 87
Drugs/controlled substances 45
Enhancements 40
New prosecutor powers/duties 31
COVID & disaster laws 29
Sex crimes 27
If this were a normal session, we’d expect the bill filing volume to triple between now and March 12, the deadline for filing most bills. However, this is anything but a normal session, so this time around we have no idea what to expect; we just know that they will keep filing bills and we will keep reading them.
To view the bills that would amend the Penal Code or Code of Criminal Procedure or that fall into our “Bills to Watch” category, use the links on the right-hand side of our Legislative page. And as always, if you ever have questions about any piece of legislation, please contact Shannon for more scoop.
Looking ahead
The House and Senate will return for some minimal floor actions on Tuesday and maybe Wednesday of next week, and then … who knows? Rumor has it that both chambers might adjourn again until Tuesday, February 23, but we won’t know for certain until this time next week.
Counties at the Capitol Day
One of the many session traditions put on pause by the pandemic are “advocacy days,” those events during which people united by place (Chambers County Day!) or politics (Republican Women’s Day!) or other predilection (Texas Biker Day!) descend on the capitol to lobby during the day and socialize during the night (and vice versa). Regrettably, current coronavirus restrictions have put an end to most of those events, some of which are being replaced by “virtual” legislative days. One such opportunity that may interest you is TAC’s “Counties at the Capitol” WebEx meeting on the morning of February 16; for details, visit this page of their website.
Legislative CLE
The State Bar will air “Introduction to the Texas Legislative Process 2021” on Tuesday, February 9, from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. The webcast costs $65 and is approved for one hour of MCLE credit, including 0.25 hours of ethics. Click here for registration information.
Quotes of the Week
“Texas has always been a law-and-order state and we are going to stay that way. We will not let Texas cities follow the lead of cities like Portland, Seattle, and Minneapolis by defunding the police.”
—Gov. Greg Abbott (R-Houston), in his State of the State Address Monday night.
“This is a very stupid problem to have. The technology that was created specifically to eliminate car thefts, such as key fob technology, is now being used against us.”
—Anonymous police department official, as recounted in a story about the proliferation of car thefts in the NYC tri-state area.
“It’s been a failure. I wouldn’t want to see Texas go down that route. I don’t think it’s great for this state. I think we’re doing just fine without legalized marijuana.”
—House Speaker Dade Phelan (R-Beaumont), speaking at a Texas Lyceum event last week on the inability of marijuana legalization to eliminate black market sales and related crimes in places like California. (He also downplayed the likelihood of legalized casino gambling in Texas at that same event.)
“If you’re a high-risk danger to the public, you should receive no bond. I don’t know anyone who would argue that, but the Constitution of Texas guarantees a bond. It’s outdated and should be changed.”
—State Sen. John Whitmire (D-Houston), quoted in response to the filing of SB 532 by Bettencourt (R-Houston), aka “Caitlynne’s bill,” which would deny personal bond eligibility to certain offenders and set minimum cash or surety bail amounts for other offenders.
“I don’t have any idea, and neither does anybody else know what it would look like. … So, it’s kind of like fighting a phantom, because I don’t know what that plan exactly entails.”
—Chief Justice Yvonne Rodriguez (D-El Paso), 8th Court of Appeals, referring to rumors about a redistricting of Texas’ appellate courts that would cut the number of courts in a manner that would dilute recent Democratic gains on the urban appellate courts.
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