Report- Texas Legislative Session; Is it Over?

 

The 2023 Regular Session has ended and we are currently in the Second Special Session.  The Governor has said that he plans to call a series of special sessions to address a host of issues.  Currently, the Texas legislature appears to be deadlocked regarding a plan to implement property tax relief.

When the regular session began, the PBT legislative committee was implementing a new bill review process.  Since the last regular session Glenn Strickland passed away and Glenn had been in charge of reviewing all the bills filed to select bills to be tracked.  Therefore, new people were recruited and a new system had to be worked out to review bills once they were filed.  From there, bills that could impact the bail industry or the criminal justict system are identified.  From there, the PBT Legislative Committee chair determines which bills will be tracked by the committee. 

Therefore, the committee was tracking over 50 bills during the legislative session.  Here are highlights of some of the important bills from the 2023 Regular Legislative Session:

HB 227 by Representative Ann Johnson

This bill was an attempt to codify the local rule by the Harris County Bail Bond Board to require bonding companies to collect 10% of the face amount of the bond before the bond is posted.  The bill was filed on November 14, 2022.  The bill was assigned to the House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee on February 23, 2023.  A hearing was scheduled on the bill in the committee on March 28, 2023.  PBT appeared and testified against the bill.  Further, PBT implemented its new "Call to Action" system over the bill.  Over 2,000 emails were sent to committee members and staff opposing the bill by the bail industry.

PBT also drafted a Whitepaper regarding this bill identifying several drafting issues with the bill.  The bill sought to amend article 17.06 of the Texas Occupations Code which is entitled "Corporation as Surety."  Therefore, the industry did not believe that the proposed bill would apply to both property bondsmen and corporate sureties.  Further, since the provision was only Chapter 17 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and not in 1704 of the Texas Occupations Code, it was believed that the language would only apply to non-board counties.

The bill was left pending in committee and died.

HB 1454 by Representative Anchia

A portion of HB 1454 sought to repeal 17.16 (a-1) of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure.  A similar bill passed the session before but was vetoed by the Governor.  

HB 1454 was filed on January 19, 2023.  it was referred to the Houst State Affairs Committee on March 3, 2023.  It never had a hearing before the committee and died.

HB 1709 by Representative Canales

HB 1709 sought to amend article 22.17 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure to change the statute of limitations for filing a statutory bill of review from two years to four years.  

The bill was filed on January 16, 2023.  It was referred to the House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee on March 7, 2023.  It was considered at a public hearing on March 28, 2023.  It was reported favorably by the committee on April 4, 2023.  It was placed on a General State Calendar on April 26, 2023.  The bill passed the House on April 27, 2023.

The bill was received by the Senate on May 1, 2023.  It was referred to the Senate Criminal Justice Committee on May 4, 2023.  The bill was never set for a hearing and died.

HB 1728 by Representative Cunningham

HB 1728 sought to set a minimum amount of bail for certain offenses.  The bill set a minimum bond of $5 million for a capital offense, a minimum bond of $3 million for a felony of the first degree, and a minimum bond of $2 million for a felony of the second degree.

The bill was filed on January 26, 2023.  The bill was referred to Criminal Jurisprudence on March 7, 2023.  The bill was never set for hearing and ultimately died.

HB 1731 by Representative Jones of Harris

HB 1731 sought to require that certain defendants be released on a personal bond if the defendant met certain requirements which included that the defendant was charged with a misdemeanor that did not have an element of "use of force."

The bill was filed on January 26, 2023.  The bill was referred to the House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee on March 7, 2023.  The bill was considered at a public hearing on April 4, 2023.  The bill was left pending and ultimately died.

HB 4517 by Representative Moody

HB 4517 sought to amend 17.03 of the Texas Occupations Code to require that a defendant charged with a misdemeanor offense be released on a personal bond unless the trial court made certain findings.

The bill was filed on March 9, 2023.  The bill was referred to the House Criminal Jurisprudence committee on March 22, 2023.  The committee heard testimony on the bill on March 28, 2023.  The bill was left pending in committee.

(Representative Moody sought to add an amendment to SB 1318 to include this language and the committee substitute of SB 1318 was voted out of committee with this language).

HJR 94 by Representative Cunningham

HJR 94 was a proposed constitutional amendment which was a companion bill for HB 1728 and would allow the voters to authorize the Texas Legislature to impose a minimum amount of bail for certain offenses.

The bill was filed on January 26, 2023.  It was referred to the House Criminal Jurisprudence committee on March 3, 2023.  The resolution was not set for hearing and ultimately died.

SB 106 by Senator Menendez

SB 106 was similar to HB 1454 in that it sought, as a part of the bill, to repeal 17.16 (a-1) of the Texas Occupations Code which passed in the last legislative session, but was vetoed by the Governor.

The bill was filed on November 14, 2022.  The bill was referred to the Senate State Affairs committee on February 15, 2023.  The bill was not set for a hearing and died.

SB 1151 by Senator Whitmire

SB 1151 was the Senate companion bill to HB 227.  

The bill was filed on February 23, 2023.  The bill was referred to the Senate Criminal Jurisprudence Committee on March 9, 2023.  The bill was considered in committee on March 21, 2023 and a committee substitute was voted out of committee that same day.  The bill passed the Senate on March 28, 2023.  

The bill was received in the House on March 29, 2023.  The bill was referred to the House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee on April 3, 2023.  No further action was taken on the bill.

SB 1318 by Senator Huffman

SB 1318 was the major clean up bill for SB 6 from the last session.  The bail industry was fully supportive of the bill as filed.  The bill was filed on February 28, 2023.  It was referred to the Senate Criminal Justice committee on March 1, 2023.  It was considered in the committee on March 7, 2023.  The bill was sustituted and voted out of committee on March 27, 2023.  The bill passed the Senate on March 29, 2023.  The bill was received in the House on March 30, 2023.  

In the House, the bill was referred to the House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee on April 10, 2023.  The bill was considered by the committee on April 25, 2023.  A committee substitute was presented that added Moody's proposal for a presumption of a personal bond for most if not all misdemeanor charges.  The amended bill was approved by the committee on May 15, 2023.  The bill was sent to Calendars and was placed on Major State Calendar on the last possible day on May 23, 2023.  The bill was considered at 10:00 pm on May 23, 2023 which was the last day for consideration and was postponed which caused the bill to die.

SJR 44 by Senator Huffman and Hinojosa

SJR 44 is the proposed constitutional amendment which was filed last session and which ultimately failed to received the required 2/3rds vote in the House to pass.

PBT is neutral on the bill.  The proposed constitutional amendment requires courts to use the "least restrictive conditions" in setting bail.  Without this language PBT would be fully supportive of the bill.

PBT questions whether this language should be elevated to a constitutional provision.  New York just passed its third or fourt roll backs of its bail reform law and repealed similar language in its statutes.  It this language is elevated to the constitution in Texas, then to repeal it (as New York has just done), would require another constitutional amendment.

The resolution was filed on February 13, 2023.  It was referred to the Senate Criminal Justice committee on February 22, 2023.  It was considered in the committee on March 7, 2023.  The bill was sustituted and voted out of committee on March 7, 2023.  The bill passed the Senate on March 20, 2023.  The bill was received in the House on March 21, 2023.  

In the House, the bill was referred to the House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee on April 10, 2023.  The bill was considered by the committee on April 25, 2023.  A committee substitute was presented by Representative Moody that changed the resolution to expand the listed offenses in which bail could be denied.  The amended resolution was approved by the committee on May 15, 2023.  The bill was sent to Calendars and was placed on Constitutional Amendments Calendar on the last possible day it could be considered on May 23, 2023.  The bill was considered at 10:00 pm on May 23, 2023 which and was postponed which caused the bill to die.

Is It Over?

The Texas Regular Session has ended and we are currently in the second of a series of Special Sessions that the Governor has stated he plans to call.

Does the Governor intend to include Bail on the agenda for one of these Special Sessions?

On June 13, 2023, the Governor issued the following tweet-