Our noisy neighbors are back and making a ruckus again.

Annual Conference

TDCAA’s board of directors met by Zoom earlier this week and gave our 2021 Annual Conference the green light next month. Repeat, we are a “go” for launch! We have accepted 949 registrations as of yesterday, so we know many of you are excited for the opportunity to come together in lovely Galveston for some great CLE opportunities, and we are still taking registrations HERE if you’d like to join us. We will also honor any cancellation requests for those not able to join us due to their changing circumstances. Those of you who are registered for the conference will receive more information by email regarding our health and safety protocols as we near that time, so be on the lookout for that in a few weeks.

Sputtering back to life

The Texas House has maintained a quorum for the past week and its members have been debating and passing bills. Yesterday’s initial approval of SB 1 by Hughes/Murr—the “election integrity” bill—drew the most attention from the general public, and the House will consider it on third reading for final passage later today. Afterwards, the lower chamber is scheduled to take up SJR 3 by Huffman/Kacal (denial of bail) and SB 6 by Huffman/Smith (bail bond reform), which are the bills we have been following more closely. The House tweaked SB 6 in the committee process, and more amendments are likely to be offered on the House floor today, but it may be Monday before we have access to all of the changes made to the version that will be sent back to the Senate.

The House is also expected to give final approval on third reading today to SB 13 by Huffman/Hunter, which will implement a sliding calendar of filing and election dates for the 2022 elections that will depend on the outcome of the redistricting situation later this year. Be sure to familiarize yourself with those details if you are on the ballot in 2022.

Note that all of these Senate bills are being passed by the House in a form different than the versions passed by the Senate, so all of them will be returned to that upper chamber for it to either concur with the changes or request a conference committee to work out the differences.

Legislative Update CLEs

Thank you to everyone who was patient with us this week while we worked through a short delay in launching our first-ever online version of the 2021 Legislative Update. We appreciate your patience and hope it was worth the wait!

To date, 181 people attended our in-person 2021 Legislative Update in Rockwall and 1,603 registrants are in the process of completing, or have completed, our online update. To register for the online course, CLICK HERE; the program will be available throughout the fall, but most of the changes take effect September 1, 2021, so don’t wait too long or you’ll be left behind!

Those of you going to Galveston for the Annual Conference next month (or who are otherwise up for a quick road trip) can also attend our only other scheduled in-person version of the Legislative Update on Tuesday, September 21; it’s at the Galveston Island Convention Center, same as our Annual—registration information is available HERE. To date, 505 people have registered for that course, which will be held in the convention center’s cavernous main ballroom, so the more, the merrier!

Scattershooting

Some articles that you might find interesting:

• “DA: ‘I don’t have 100 percent confidence that I have every document’ impacted by evidence loss” (Dallas Morning News)
• “After quorum break’s dramatic end, fractured Texas Democrats look for best path forward” (Dallas Morning News)
• “Speeding in Texas? New analysis reveals where police pulled over the most people” (Houston Chronicle)

Quotes of the Week

“You can try to push too hard on 149 Type-A members of the House and get an outcome that’s decidedly worse. … Sometimes it just takes time.”
            —House Speaker Dade Phelan (R-Beaumont), when asked about his approach to dealing with the quorum-busting House Democrats.

“You know, for a divided legislative session, a great thing happened. Sen. Miles carried a bill that serves our Harris County residents, especially our most vulnerable elderly and disabled individuals living at a lower socioeconomic level.”
            —Harris County DA Kim Ogg, at a press conference in Houston on SB 500 by Miles (D-Houston)/Rose (D-Dallas), which creates criminal penalties for the operation of certain unlicensed boarding homes.

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Habemus quorum!

Wait, what?

That’s right. For the first time in almost six weeks, the Texas House had a quorum thanks to a few newly-returned Democrats and two seats vacated through unrelated resignations that lowered the two-thirds requirement for a quorum to 99 members. That number was reached around 6:00 p.m. yesterday through a combination of 82 Republicans and 17 Democrats, which enabled the speaker to gavel them in and refer bills to committees before adjourning until Monday at 4:00 p.m.

Now, we know what you’re probably thinking: “Wait, they finally got a quorum and then they adjourned?!?” Well, yes. And for two good reasons. First, the House can’t do anything on the floor until bills have been considered and approved by House committees, which can be done while they are adjourned from floor duties. (More on that below.) And second, many House members have been kept on a short leash in Austin, day after day for weeks, awaiting a possible quorum. This adjournment lets some of them go home and rest up for the coming mad dash to the finish line, which is Sunday, September 5, 2021—a mere 17 days away.

All that being said, where things go from here is anyone’s guess. There isn’t even any guarantee that the House will have a quorum again on Monday. But if there is, we will be here to report to you if they do anything that could impact your offices.

Hearings

Wasting no time, the House has scheduled committee hearings with the knowledge that it would only take a few untimely (or intended) absences to fall short of a quorum next week and grind everything to a halt again. Those hearings include:

House Select Committee on Constitutional Rights & Remedies
Saturday, August 21, at 8:00 a.m., Capitol Extension Auditorium (E1.004)
SB 6 by Huffman relating to bail reform
(Note that this posting may still include SB 1 by Hughes relating to election integrity, but the hearing on that controversial bill is going to be postponed to Monday, August 23.)

That same select committee—which was created by the Speaker during the first called session for the specific purpose of facilitating the passage of some hot-button issues—also met earlier today (Friday) to approve SJR 3 by Huffman/Kacal, the proposed constitutional amendment permitting the denial of bail for certain violent or sexual offenses. That measure could reach the House floor by next week, where it will require approval by two-thirds of the House before it can be placed on a ballot in May 2022. The committee also approved SB 13 by Huffman/Hunter to implement a sliding calendar of filing and election dates for the 2022 elections that will depend on the outcome of the redistricting situation later this year (if at all). Those of you up for re-election in 2022 may want to familiarize yourselves with those options by reading that bill.

Legislative Update CLEs

As of this morning, we have accepted:

• 494 registrations for the in-person course in Galveston (September 21); and
• 1,455 registrations for the online course that will go live later this month.

Registration details are available at either of those links, so click on the one that interests you and sign up now. Those of you who registered for the online course before last week should have already received your book, so feel free to read through it ahead of time if you want to get the full benefit of our commentary when it goes online sometime NEXT WEEK*!

(*Assuming no Acts of God or the Legislature intervene, which at the rate 2021 is going, we can’t promise.)

Scattershooting

Some articles that you might find interesting:

• “Bexar County judge invalidates Gov. Abbott’s executive order limiting jail releases during pandemic” (KSAT.com)
• “Advocates say courts are failing domestic violence victims after 24-year-old mother’s death” (Houston Chronicle)
• “Troubleshooters CASE CLOSED: DA cuts grass on El Paso Street” (KZTV Action 10 News)

Tribute to Judge Cathy Cochran

A Celebration of Life for former Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Cathy Cochran (who passed away on February 7, 2021) will be held on September 18, 2021, from 1:00­­-4:00 p.m. at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center Auditorium, 4801 La Crosse Avenue, in Austin. Following Judge Cochran’s instructions, she wants a happy gathering with family, friends, and colleagues that includes cookies, coffee, and good conversations. The family is requesting that all attendees wear a mask while indoors.

Dr. Tony Fabelo is working with Rusty Hardin and family to organize the event. To RSVP, contact Dr. Fabelo’s wife, Dr. Dora Fabelo, at [email protected].

Quotes of the Week

“I don’t know what it’s a solution to. I don’t know what the problem was to start with.”
            —James McLaughlin, executive director of the Texas Police Chiefs Association, as quoted in an article about law enforcement concerns on the eve of the implementation of “constitutional carry.”

“I feel like it’s the right thing to do. I think sometimes we don’t look at what something does to an institution. If we don’t start working to make the world work again, it will never happen.”
            —State Rep. Garnet Coleman (D-Houston), announcing earlier this week that he will return to the House floor after a long medical absence. Coleman had earlier expressed support for his fellow Democrats’ quorum bust but never actually participated in the walk-out.

“All the parliamentarian wants for her birthday is a quorum.”
            —House Speaker Dade Phelan (R-Beaumont), after the House members present on the floor Tuesday sang “Happy Birthday” to parliamentarian Sharon Carter.

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Scene 1, take 2. And … rolling!

The NeverEnding Story

For a state that prides itself on a legislature meeting for only 140 days every two years, we sure can’t seem to quit them. Or get rid of them. (Take your pick.)

While the House continues to have trouble scraping together the necessary quorum of warm bodies to conduct business, the Senate has been churning through its agenda at warp speed—performative filibusters notwithstanding. Their work product includes the latest versions of bail reform, which passed the Senate earlier this week in the form of SB 6 and SJR 3 by Huffman (R-Houston), both of which were approved by 27-2 margins (with two senators absent due to medical situations).

The latest version of SB 6 is only slightly different from the version that almost passed in the regular session, and what corrections have been made since then are probably for the better. As for SJR 3, it is identical in substance to the version that died on the last night of the regular session, but due to the ongoing quorum bust, that proposed constitutional amendment can no longer be passed in time to make the November 2021 general election ballot, so now it will appear on the ballot in May 2022 if it passes. However, both bills’ fortunes are still questionable without a functioning lower chamber to also approve them.

Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!

If you like to geek out on obscure legal questions relating to the use of or limits upon federal, state, and local governmental power, then you are in high cotton right now. Whether it’s interdiction of border “trespassers,” pandemic anti-mask mandates, “vaccine passports,” or legislative warrants for quorum-busters, there is going to be some new law made by the judiciary over the next few weeks and months. Good luck to any of you who get caught up in those legal and political whirlwinds.

Legislative Update CLEs

As of this morning, we have accepted:

• 462 registrations for the in-person course in Galveston (September 21); and
• 1,305 registrations for the online course that will go live later this month.

Registration details are available at either of those links, so click on the one that interests you and sign up now—especially because early registration guarantees that you will receive your complimentary 2021–23 Legislative Update book. Those of you who registered for the online course before last week should have already received your book, so feel free to read through it ahead of time if you want to get the full benefit of our commentary when it goes online.

TAC Legislative Conference

The Texas Association of Counties (TAC) Legislative Conference will be held September 1–3 at the Fairmont Hotel in Austin. The conference will include sessions on topics such as criminal justice initiatives proposed during the 87^th Session (featuring special guest star Staley Heatly, 46^th Judicial DA), the American Rescue Plan, emergency management, and redistricting. Other conference sessions will give an overview of funding for counties in the state budget, resources available through the National Association of Counties, and a discussion on how courts across the state have adapted to the effects of COVID-19. There will also be a breakout meeting for each of TAC’s affiliate associations, with Rockwall County CDA Kenda Culpepper helping to moderate the discussion for county and district attorneys. This will be a hybrid event, meaning you can register for virtual or in-person participation. If you’d like more details, the full agenda is available here and registration here.

Scattershooting

Some articles that you might find interesting:

• “Texas is first state to make buying sex a felony” (Houston Chronicle)
• “In Atlanta, a glimpse of why ‘defund the police’ has faltered” (Christian Science Monitor)
• “‘He’s Not Charismatic. … I Think That Has Been Part of His Success’” (POLITICO) (yes, we are going to make you click on that link to find out to whom it refers)

Quotes of the Week

“This bill isn’t going to prevent all crime. It’s not going to prevent individuals from committing crimes if they do make a bond. But it will give trained magistrates and judges all the information that they need to use their judicial discretion to make what we hope will be appropriate bond decisions.”
            —State Sen. Joan Huffman (R-Houston), during floor debate on her Senate Bill 6, the bail reform bill which is on its third go-round before this legislature.

“I can definitely tell you it’s not gonna be like nothing happened. You’re not gonna see the normal handshakes, fist bumps, and smiles that you would on [the first day of a session]. … There’s been some significant—if not irreparable—damage to the relationships within the body.”
            —State Rep. Justin Holland (R-Rockwall), in an article discussing the potential fallout from the two recent quorum breaks by House Democrats.

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That was a waste of everyone’s time, wasn’t it?

Second verse, same as the first?

The first called special session ended today with nothing to show for its 30 days of existence, and the next special session begins tomorrow. Governor Abbott is calling the 87th Legislature back to Austin at noon on Saturday, August 7—but it’s anyone’s guess as to who will or will not show up.

Topics

The official proclamation for the second called session—aka “87(2)”—consists of some things old and some things new, including:

• bail reform
• election integrity
• criminal laws and funding related to border security
• cybersecurity
• modification of 2022 election dates and filing periods

All told, there are 17 separate issues on the call of this special session. You can read the full proclamation for yourself if you want to know what other red meat it contains.

Legislative Update CLEs

As of this morning, we have accepted:

• 230 registrations for the in-person course in Rockwall (August 12, room capacity of 250—walk-ins cannot be guaranteed admission);
• 437 registrations for the in-person course in Galveston (September 21); and
• 1,244 registrations for the online course that will go live in the latter half of August.

Registration details are available at any of those links, so click on the one that interests you and sign up now—especially if you are taking the course live in Galveston or online, as early registration guarantees that you will receive your complimentary 2021–23 Legislative Update book. We will start shipping the first of those books to our online registrants next week, while in-person attendees will receive theirs at the door.

Scattershooting

Some articles that you might find interesting:

• “Federal judge temporarily blocks Gov. Greg Abbott’s order to pull over vehicles with migrants, which drew racial profiling concerns” (Texas Tribune)
• “Local mask mandates pop up in defiance of Gov. Greg Abbott’s executive order banning COVID-19 restrictions” (Texas Tribune)

Quotes of the Week

“The courts are unique in that the judicial system is a separate branch of government.”
            —Ronald Morgan, Jr., director of district court administration in Williamson County, in a written statement announcing those courts’ adoption of a mask mandate despite Gov. Abbott’s recent executive order prohibiting local governments from imposing such mandates.

“If you are not vaccinated … your chances of getting through this without having to become either vaccinated or infected is essentially zero.”
            —Dr. David Persse, the health authority for the City of Houston, in response to recent news that there is now more COVID-19 in the city’s wastewater system (where it ends up through human waste) than at any time in the pandemic, marking the latest warning that the virus may be spreading at an unprecedented rate.

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One more week left in the special session … before we get to do it all over again, most likely.

The final week

The current special session must adjourn sine die on Friday, August 6. If anything is going to happen, it has to occur before that deadline. If not, the governor will have to start things all over again with a second called session.

Meanwhile, the Senate’s new Select Committee on the Future of College Sports in Texas is going to meet on Monday so members can share their favorite internet memes about UT and OU’s attempt to jump ship from the Big XII to the SEC. Otherwise, the capitol will remain quiet until the House Democrats return from their exodus.

More executive orders

Governor Abbott issued two executive orders yesterday related to the on-going pandemic.

Executive Order GA-37 relates to “the transportation of migrants during the COVID-19 disaster.” This order authorizes DPS troopers to stop any civilians providing ground transportation to migrants who have illegally crossed the border and then been released by the Feds. DPS is further ordered to re-route those vehicles to a port of entry or impound the vehicles of those drivers who refuse to return.

Executive Order GA-38 relates to “the continued response to the COVID-19 disaster” and is a laundry of preventative steps that state and local governmental entities and officials are not permitted to take in response to the recent increases in COVID-19 transmission caused by the delta variant. You’ll have to read the details for yourself to see how it applies to your local jurisdictions, but we note that at least two provisions—paragraphs 3(g) and 4(a)—may directly conflict with the Texas Supreme Court’s Emergency Order No. 40, issued July 19, 2021, which instructs courts to take all reasonable actions deemed necessary to avoid exposing court participants to the virus, including various best practices recommended by OCA.

Good luck figuring out how any of this works in practice. These are uncharted waters.

Legislative Update CLEs

We’ll continue to monitor the special session while finalizing our Legislative Update course for launching next month. As of this morning, we have accepted:

• 235 registrations for the in-person course in Rockwall (August 12, room capacity of 250);
• 413 registrations for the in-person course in Galveston (September 21); and
• 1,148 registrations for the online course that will go live in the latter half of August.

Registration details are available at any of those links, so click on the one that interests you and sign up now—especially if you are taking the course online, as early registration guarantees that you will receive your complimentary 2021–23 Legislative Update book in time to follow along with our speakers as you take the course.

Scattershooting

Some articles that you might find interesting:

• “‘Holy moly!’: Inside Texas’ fight against a ransomware hack” (AP News)
• “Gov. Greg Abbott orders Texas National Guard to help with migrant arrests at the border” (Texas Tribune)
• “Gov. Greg Abbott’s border security initiative rolls out with confusion, missteps and a whole lot of state troopers in Val Verde County” (Texas Tribune)
• “Fentanyl deaths are soaring in Texas, and officials aren’t taking key steps to stop them” (Houston Chronicle)

Quotes of the Week

“We’re not sitting around Ranch 616, sucking down Ranch Waters. There’s always real business to do.”
            —State Rep. James White (R-Hillister), referencing a local Austin watering hole that is popular with the capitol crowd when explaining how the House members left behind are biding their time in Austin.

“We have (to) meet people where they’re at sometimes … #HOLLA.”
            —Michigan State Rep. Jewell Jones (D-Inkster), in a text reply to a reporter asking why he spent campaign money at a local strip club for a “constituent meeting.” For the rest of the story—including details of Rep. Jones’ other legal problems—see this article in The Detroit News.

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Wake us when something happens.

Next week

Who knows? If the House Democrats come back during this first called session, their best bargaining position would be found in the waning days before it ends on Friday, August 6—any return before those final few days will likely result in them getting steamrolled. But that assumes either side has a plan, and as of right now, there is insufficient evidence to draw such a conclusion.

Legislative Update CLEs

We’ll continue to monitor the special session while finalizing our Legislative Update course for launching next month. As of yesterday, we have accepted:

• 218 registrations for the in-person course in Rockwall (August 12, room capacity of 250);
• 369 registrations for the in-person course in Galveston (September 21); and
• 1,024 registrations for the online course that will go live in the latter half of August.

Registration details are available by clicking any of those links, so click on the one that interests you and sign up now—especially if you are taking the course online, as early registration guarantees that you will receive your 2021–23 Legislative Update book in time to follow along with our speakers as you take the course.

Scattershooting

Some articles that you might find interesting:

• “In Texas, Top Two Republicans Steer Ship of State Hard to the Right” (New York Times)
• “Democrats who stayed behind as colleagues fled to D.C. quietly try to take care of business in Texas” (Dallas Morning News)
• “Converted Texas prison gets first immigrant detainees as Gov. Greg Abbott’s border security effort ramps up” (Texas Tribune)
• “Texas Supreme Court may decide next plot twist in the Democratic walkout, and the fate of 2,100 state employees” (Texas Tribune)

Quote (singular) of the Week

“If you’re a fully vaccinated individual and you’re meeting with somebody who has COVID, you really don’t have much to fear from the virus. The vaccines are very robust. … What we’re seeing now in the United States, as the CDC director said, is a pandemic of the unvaccinated. That’s where the risk is.”
            —Dr. Amesh Adalja, senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, in a national story about the latest COVID-19 surge.

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