Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Monday announced a new reporting requirement for district and county attorneys in major metropolitan areas in an attempt to “rein in rogue district attorneys and ensure the prosecution of violent criminals.”
Paxton’s announcement accuses DAs and county attorneys of “refusing to prosecute criminals and allowing violent offenders to terrorize law-abiding Texans” without offering evidence. In Texas, district attorneys are elected to four-year terms by the public.
Citing accountability and public safety, the new rule requires district and county attorneys who represent a county with a population of 400,000 or more to provide specific performance reports to the Office of the Attorney General. It also allows the AG to ask for detailed information, and specifies a process to obtain any overdue reports.
The information in those reports is designed to help the public “in determining whether their local elected officials are inadequately prosecuting certain categories of crime, releasing dangerous criminals back into the community, engaging in selective prosecution, or otherwise failing to uphold their obligations,” according to the press release.
The official rule is listed online here.
Paxton’s announcement comes as the Texas Legislature is taking up a number of bills aimed at overruling judicial discretion when setting bail in certain cases. One of those bills, Senate Joint Resolution 1, would no longer give judges discretion to grant bail to individuals charged with any felony if they meet the state’s definition of an “illegal alien.”
It also comes weeks after Paxton announced an investigation into the Dallas Police Department after its police chief said that it would not actively seek to participate in federal immigration detention operations. Texas has passed a law that seeks to ban “sanctuary city” policies in municipal governments that would not enforce some federal administrative policies on immigrants.
Texas has approved other laws aimed at overruling policies in more populous, politically moderate areas, too. Last session, lawmakers approved a “Death Star” bill of questionable constitutionality that gave the state the authority to invalidate municipal laws that exceeded what’s required statewide, including local requirements for paid sick leave and mandated water breaks for construction workers in the summer.
This session, the author of that bill wants to expand it with even harsher penalties for any city that is accused of running afoul of those provisions.
“District and County Attorneys have a duty to protect the communities they serve by upholding the law and vigorously prosecuting dangerous criminals,” said Attorney General Paxton in a prepared statement. “In many major counties, the people responsible for safeguarding millions of Texans have instead endangered lives by refusing to prosecute criminals and allowing violent offenders to terrorize law-abiding Texans. This rule will enable citizens to hold rogue DA’s accountable.”
