(Texas Scorecard) – The Texas Senator on the State Affairs Committee has considered election-related measures.
Senate Bill 1026, introduced by State Sen. Brian Hughes (R-Minola), provides for a “criminal prosecution” in which the attorney general criminally prosecutes an electoral crime if the local district attorney fails to begin a lawsuit six months after notification.
“Under this bill, local law enforcement agencies that usually submit probable causes reports to local prosecutors must also submit these reports to the Attorney General,” Hughes said.
“And at the request of the Attorney General, local prosecutor’s lawyers or law enforcement agencies must also take over all information regarding criminal investigations regarding these crimes,” he added.
Jeff Barr, the Attorney General’s Director of Election Integrity, argued that for almost 70 years since 1951, the Texas Attorney General had the simultaneous authority to prosecute election crimes through state law.
However, in December 2021, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruled that the Attorney General could not unilaterally prosecute criminal election violations without the consent of a local district attorney.
“In their opinion, the majority of the judiciary… “The decree didn’t do that, so there’s a possibility that AG could be prosecuted. So we don’t just mean that, but it means that the local DA will give you consent,” Barr said.
Barr praised Hughes’s action to create a “implicit consent” for the local district attorney.
“If a local district attorney receives a law enforcement report establishing the cause of a possible election crime, it does not continue within six months… and this bill basically agrees to indict AG,” Burr said.
He also emphasized the importance of adjusting the 1951 law. The Attorney General emphasized that he would prosecute allegedly “May” crimes, prosecute alleged crimes, and return simultaneous state authorities.
Sen. Brian Birdwell (R-Granbury) praises Hughes’s action, but said he is concerned that the Attorney General’s discretion is limited to “implicit consent.”
“I think it should be specified in contrast to the suggestion,” Birdwell said. “So, if the district attorney doesn’t do anything, if the Attorney General reviews it, there’s some sort of requirement that the Attorney General have to say, ‘Here I’m deconquering and I’m going to prosecute?” Or, “This is why I agree, and I’m not going to prosecute.”
Hughes sympathised with Birdwell’s concerns and asked whether the Senator’s idea could be implemented in future floor revisions without compromising the remaining measures.
Barr told Hughes he could do that, saying, “Our office certainly can provide the language in that respect.”
Groups like the American Civil Liberties Union in Texas and the Texas Civil Rights Project have testified against the measure, claiming that Barr misinterpreted the Criminal Appeal Court’s 2021 ruling and pushed for expanding the power of the Attorney General.
Former election judge Ken Moore testified in support of SB 1026, saying he has first-hand experience with potential election-related crimes across the state.
“If you have local prosecutors who refuse to do their job and refuse to prosecute these misconduct, you’re really against the wall,” Moore said. “Ironically, the Stevens case (from 2021) helps to highlight this because it was the local prosecutor who refused to deal with the case.”
SB 318, submitted by State Sen. Brandon Clayton (R-Conroe), will establish the Department of Election Integrity in the Texas Attorney General’s Office. The office already has election integrity lawyers, but they are currently organised under the criminal division.
“We don’t necessarily know if future AGs will ensure that this priority set remains the best in protecting the public from these types of incidents,” Clayton said.
Barr warned that because election crimes are seasonal outbreaks, creating new divisions could potentially have inappropriate taxpayer money.
“My concern with the bill is to question whether it will specifically fund the cause or issue of the election prosecutor,” Barr said.
Barr added that the Criminal Appeal Court’s 2021 ruling and the recent federal court ruling restricting state prosecutions for ballot harvesting have limited the ability of election-hearted lawyers.
Sen. Tan Parker (R-Flower Mound) asked Barr if there was an internal solution to how workloads can be changed seasonally.
“I hope so,” replied Barr. “I think we need some flexibility to be able to do that.”
Emily Eby French, policy director at Common Cause Texas, testified against SB 318. She has particularly challenged the notion that election-honest lawyers have been in effect in recent years under Attorney General Ken Paxton.
“From October 2020 to September 2021, the Attorney General’s team of lawyers worked on more than 20,000 hours of election lawsuits, closing three people, and closed only three years a year in 2016, 2017 and 2019,” French said.
“In the fiscal year 2022-2023, the force charged four cases and spent nearly $2.3 million. From September 2023 to August 2024, they closed just two cases and spent about $1 million,” she added.
The senators also considered other election-related measures.
SB 108, submitted by state Sen. Bob Hall (R-Edgwood), clarifies state law and standardizes the process of how election clerks are appointed.
“In past elections, some counties have allowed polling judges to be the sole apprentices of election clerks, which could create an unbalanced system where irregularities occur,” Hall said.
“SB 108 will ensure a shared political power and create a procedure for both judges and alternative judges to appoint secretaries,” he added.
Also, Hall’s action allows the alternative judge to uphold the Speaker Judge if he or she is not present and allow the alternative judge to “freely occupy or observe” the place of vote.
SB 533, submitted by State Sen. Kevin Sparks (R-Midland), must request an election for bonds or tax increases to take place on the unified election day in November.
Bond elections can be held throughout the year. However, according to the Texas Public Policy Foundation, dates set outside of the regular election season usually have much lower turnouts.
James Quintero, policy director for the TPPF’s Taxpayer Protection Project, was called “Commonsense Election Reforms” while testifying in support of SB 533.
“The $86 million proposal from Banquete ISD received just 159 votes,” Quintero said. “Early, Donna City’s $114.7 million proposal won just 614 votes.”
“In elections outside Nobon, large, expensive debt measures have been approved by only a handful of people,” he added.
SB 511, submitted by State Sen. Paul Bettencourt (R-Houston), prohibits, with a small amount of exception, from distribution to state officers or employees, or to anyone who did not request a voter registration card.
“If someone asks for it, the government can send it to them. But frankly, instead, there are volunteer deputy registrars, high school deputy registrars, political parties, candidates everywhere.
“But the government should not scale their thumbs without solicitation from voters, just like absentee polling locations,” he added.
Kyle Sinclair, vice-chairman of Bexar County Republicans, testified in support of SB 511, explaining his local party’s experience dealing with automatic voter registration.
“There is an organization called Civic Government Solutions that has won a $400,000 contract to register 220,000 members in Bexar County.
According to Sinclair, the organization’s founders also lead partisan groups, communicating with at least 40 other Texas counties and signing four more contracts.
“We’ve found that this organization is being revealed in four different states that do exactly that,” Sinclair added.
Paxton began an investigation into the Bexar County Commission Court in September 2024 for contracting with Civic Government Solutions.
The measures remained pending by the committee until later.
