Bill Text: TX HB17 | 2023-2024 | 88th Legislature | Introduced
NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft
Bill Title: Relating to official misconduct by and removal of prosecuting attorneys.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 64-1)
Status: (Passed) 2023-06-07 - Effective on 9/1/23 [HB17 Detail]
Download: Texas-2023-HB17-Introduced.html
Bill Title: Relating to official misconduct by and removal of prosecuting attorneys.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 64-1)
Status: (Passed) 2023-06-07 - Effective on 9/1/23 [HB17 Detail]
Download: Texas-2023-HB17-Introduced.html
By: Cook | H.B. No. 17 |
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relating to the official misconduct and removal of district | ||
attorneys and county attorneys. | ||
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
SECTION 1. Subchapter B, Chapter 87, Local Government Code, | ||
is amended by amending Sections 87.011, 87.015, and 87.018 to read | ||
as follows: | ||
Sec. 87.011. DEFINITIONS. In this subchapter: | ||
(1) "District attorney" includes a criminal district | ||
attorney. | ||
(2) "Incompetency" means: | ||
(A) gross ignorance of official duties; | ||
(B) gross carelessness in the discharge of those | ||
duties; or | ||
(C) unfitness or inability to promptly and | ||
properly discharge official duties because of a serious physical or | ||
mental defect that did not exist at the time of the officer's | ||
election. | ||
(3) "Official misconduct" means intentional, unlawful | ||
behavior relating to official duties by an officer entrusted with | ||
the administration of justice or the execution of the law. The term | ||
includes: | ||
(A) an intentional or corrupt failure, refusal, | ||
or neglect of an officer to perform a duty imposed on the officer by | ||
law; and | ||
(B) the adoption or implementation of a formal or | ||
stated policy by a district attorney or a county attorney under | ||
which that attorney prohibits or materially limits the enforcement | ||
of any criminal offense other than to comply with an injunction, | ||
judgment, or order issued by a court. | ||
Sec. 87.015. PETITION FOR REMOVAL. (a) A proceeding for | ||
the removal of an officer is begun by filing a written petition for | ||
removal in a district court of the county in which the officer | ||
resides. However, a proceeding for the removal of a district | ||
attorney is begun by filing a written petition in a district court | ||
of: | ||
(1) the county in which the attorney resides; or | ||
(2) the county where the alleged cause of removal | ||
occurred, if that county is in the attorney's judicial district. | ||
(b) Any resident of this state who has lived for at least six | ||
months in the county in which the alleged cause of removal occurred | ||
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or indictment in that [ |
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one of the parties who files the petition must swear to it at or | ||
before the filing. | ||
(c) The petition must be addressed to the presiding judge | ||
for the administrative region for [ |
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which it is filed. The petition must set forth the grounds alleged | ||
for the removal of the officer in plain and intelligible language | ||
and must cite the time and place of the occurrence of each act | ||
alleged as a ground for removal with as much certainty as the nature | ||
of the case permits. | ||
Sec. 87.018. TRIAL. (a) Officers may be removed only | ||
following a trial by jury. | ||
(b) The trial for removal of an officer and the proceedings | ||
connected with the trial shall be conducted as much as possible in | ||
accordance with the rules and practice of the court in other civil | ||
cases, in the name of the State of Texas, and on the relation of the | ||
person filing the petition. | ||
(c) In a removal case, the judge may not submit special | ||
issues to the jury. Under a proper charge applicable to the facts | ||
of the case, the judge shall instruct the jury to find from the | ||
evidence whether the grounds for removal alleged in the petition | ||
are true. If the petition alleges more than one ground for removal, | ||
the jury shall indicate in the verdict which grounds are sustained | ||
by the evidence and which are not sustained. | ||
(d) The county attorney shall represent the state in a | ||
proceeding for the removal of an officer except as otherwise | ||
provided by Subsection (e) or (f). | ||
(e) In a proceeding to remove a county attorney from office, | ||
the district attorney shall represent the state. If the county does | ||
not have a district attorney, the presiding judge shall appoint a | ||
prosecuting attorney from another county in that administrative | ||
region and that attorney shall represent the state [ |
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(f) In a proceeding to remove the county attorney or | ||
district attorney from office, the presiding judge shall appoint a | ||
prosecuting attorney from another county in that administrative | ||
region and that attorney shall represent the state [ |
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the state under this section is also the subject of a pending | ||
removal proceeding. | ||
(g) A public declaration or announcement by a district | ||
attorney or a county attorney of an intent to prohibit the | ||
enforcement of any criminal offense is prima facie evidence of an | ||
adoption or implementation of a formal or stated policy for | ||
purposes of this chapter. | ||
SECTION 2. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives | ||
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as | ||
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this | ||
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this | ||
Act takes effect September 1, 2023. |