Texas DAs will be barred from setting any blanket policies blocking prosecutions of entire classes of crime, such as low-level marijuana possession.
Texas district attorneys will be barred from setting any blanket policies declining to prosecuteentire classes of crime, such as abortion-related offenses or low-level marijuana possession, under a bill that’s headed to the governor’s desk.
House Bill 17, authored by state Rep. David Cook, R-Mansfield, allows Texas residents to call for removal of a district attorney who does not follow thatlaw by filing a sworn petition. The petitioner must have lived in the district attorney’s county for at least six months and can’t currently be charged with a criminal offense in that county. If signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott, it would also apply to county attorneys with criminal jurisdiction.
“Our message is crystal clear — the rule of law will be respected in Texas,” Cook said in a statement. “District attorneys have a duty to evaluate the merits of each alleged crime on a case-by-case basis to ensure the public safety of all Texans.”
BACKGROUND: Republican bills would make it easier to remove progressive DAs, judges
The bill was part of a larger conservative effort to clamp down on progressive criminal justice policies in Texas’ big cities and was a priority of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and House Speaker Dade Phelan, both Republicans.
Some progressive prosecutors have vowed not to prosecute cases related to abortion or gender-affirming care for transgender children, which will be outlawed in Texas under legislation that is also awaiting Abbott’s signature. Others have stopped or restricted prosecutions for low-level marijuana offenses, and at least one has stopped prosecuting thefts of personal items worth up to $750 that are stolen out of necessity.
HB 17 exempts pretrial diversion programs, which offer an alternative to prosecution for offenders who stay out of trouble and comply with other terms, such as mandated counseling or community service.
Democrats and civil rights groups had spoken out against the bill, saying it was unconstitutional and overly vague.
“This violation of the state’s separation of powers is one piece to an unsettling pattern of top-down power-grabbing,” said state Sen. Sarah Eckhardt, a Democrat from Austin who served as an assistant county attorney for Travis County from 1998 to 2005. “Tools like prosecutorial discretion are critical — especially in a state like Texas, where our local district attorneys are directly elected by the people.”
Another proposal that passed the Senate but died in the Housewould have allowed judges to be removed or suspended if they showed “persistent or willful violation” of Texas’ rules for setting bail.
About 56 percent of Texans found it extremely or very important that the Legislature pass a bill like this one, according to an April 2023 poll from the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas.