The legislation is in response to elected prosecutors in the state’s large, left-leaning counties who have said they will not prosecute abortion or election fraud cases.
Bexar County District Attorney Joe Gonzales discusses the recently released Supreme Court opinion overturning Roe v. Wade during a June 2022 news conference at the Bexar County Courthouse.Locally elected prosecutors who do not enforce certain laws could be removed from office under a bill preliminarily approved by the Texas House of Representatives. The bill passed 92-55 and is expected to clear final passage on Friday before going over to the Senate side.
If HB 17 passes both chambers, it would tweak the definition of “official misconduct” to include adopting or enforcing a “policy of categorically refusing to prosecute specific criminal offenses under state law,” with certain exceptions. last year. “At a time when crime is high, we should all be focused on gun violence and supporting victims of crimes. Instead, the government wants to do the opposite and focus on those at their most vulnerable. This is unacceptable, and I promise to keep fighting for women in this county.”
Travis County District Attorney José Garza had a similar response. “We are very focused on holding accountable people who commit acts of violence in our community,” Garza. “Pulling resources away from that to focus on this kind of case would be reckless and endanger the safety of our community.” “If a prosecutor can’t afford and doesn’t have the bandwidth and doesn’t have the prosecutorial wherewithal because of limited resources, that’s not a policy,” Canales said. “That’s reality.”Canales’ amendment, which would have explicitly exempted prosecutors who declined to take cases due to staffing or financial limitations, failed, 62-84.
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