A package of bills related to setting bail for accused criminals will be heard tomorrow (February 12) in the Texas Senate Criminal Justice Committee. Governor Abbott designated Bail reform as an emergency item in his recent State of the State address, allowing lawmakers to pass bills regarding the subject during the first 60 days of the legislative session.
The five bail reform bills are authored by Republican State Senator Joan Huffman, a former prosecutor and felony criminal judge.
“I want to thank Governor Abbott for recognizing bail reform as an emergency item—because it truly is a public safety crisis that must be immediately addressed across our state,” said Senator Huffman. “I, along with millions of Texans, am fed up with violent, repeat offenders being released into our communities by judges that are more concerned about their own political agenda than the safety and security of law-abiding Texans. Thanks to the Governor’s addition of bail reform to the list of emergency items, I anticipate that the Texas Senate will advance these common-sense, public safety-focused reforms through the Senate as expeditiously as possible.”
The five bills included in Senator Huffman’s bail reform package are:
SB 9: Relating to the release of defendants on bail, the duties of a magistrate in certain criminal proceedings, and the regulation of charitable bail organizations.
SB 40: Relating to the use by a political subdivision of public funds to pay bail bonds.
SB 1047: Relating to the release of defendants on bail, the duties of a magistrate in certain criminal proceedings, and the notice provided by peace officers to victims of family violence, stalking, harassment, or terroristic threat.
SJR 1: Proposing a constitutional amendment requiring the denial of bail for an illegal alien charged with an offense punishable as a felony.
SJR 5: Proposing a constitutional amendment authorizing the denial of bail under limited circumstances to a person accused of certain violent or sexual offenses or of continuous trafficking of persons.
Victim’s rights advocates have expressed support for the legislation.
“I’ve always been of the perspective that Texas voters should be able to decide whether Judges should have discretion not to grant bond to defendants charged with certain violent crimes like murder and sexual assault. There is simply no downside in allowing Judges the ability to deny bond to offenders charged with egregious crimes. Hopefully this legislation will finally be the charm to get the bill out of the House. I’m cautiously optimistic on behalf of Texas Voters,” said Andy Kahan, a victim’s rights advocate from Houston who plans on attending the hearing.
Kahan regularly appears on Houston television station KRIV’s “Breaking Bond” segment, which highlights serious crimes committed by offenders who are out on bond.
