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The Senate Finance Committee met on July 12 to hear invited and public testimony on the following interim charges:

  • Monitoring appropriations and spending supporting Operation Lone Star, reporting on the effectiveness of spending to secure the southern border, and reporting on resources needed for the State National Guard and border security.
  • Monitoring the implementation of recent bail bond reform legislation along with its economic impact on the judicial and correction system and assessing barriers to implementation, the effect on pretrial release and jail populations, and ways to promote public safety and efficiency.

 

A link to the full agenda can be found here and a recording of the meeting can be found here.

 

This report is intended to give you an overview and highlight of the discussions on the various topics taken up. It is not a verbatim transcript of the discussions but is based upon what was audible or understandable to the observer and the desire to get details out as quickly as possible with few errors or omissions.

 

Opening Comments

  • Chair Huffman – Texas has second largest international border of any state with Mexico; boundary provides rich cultural and economic exchange but also presents challenges
  • Federal government failed to protect border; skyrocketing human and drug trafficking
  • Current Biden Open Border policy worsens issue
  • Operation Lonestar launched by governor to address issue; $4 billion authorized to support
  • 270,000 illegal migrants entered Texas since Operation Lonestar
  • Traveled to border with Hinojosa and Birdwell to analyze crisis; found site inspections useful
  • Securing border is a federal responsibility and state doesn’t have resources to take on border indefinitely, but needs to address until federal steps up
  • $6.5 billion of Texas taxpayer dollars has gone to border security
  • Receiving update from state agencies participating in Operation Lonestar
  • Invited senators that represent areas on the border to the hearing
  • Taking up bail reform bill; want to see if needs to be tweaked to make better

 

Monitoring appropriations and spending supporting Operation Lone Star, reporting on the effectiveness of spending to secure the southern border, and reporting on resources needed for the State National Guard and border security.

 

Invited Testimony

Haley Ewing, LBB

  • $800 million appropriated between the 84th and 86th legislatures; majority appropriated to DPS
  • $2.9 billion appropriated by 87th legislature; office of governor appropriated most
  • Governor’s office designated 180 million to border security
  • Governor’s office transferred 2 under 500 million transfers to Texas military
  • 4 billion dollars total for the biennium
  • Semiannual reporting required by agencies
  • HB 9 required more agencies to report and new metrics for reporting
  • 13 agencies required to report to LBB
  • Chair Huffman – Do we have information on the total expenditures for the border before 2016?
    • We may, but not sure
  • Chair Huffman – Why is there an adjusted expenditure amount?
    • Previously estimated 71 million for schedule C; some other small changes from agencies
  • Hinojosa – Has the 4 billion been budgeted through the end of the fiscal year?
    • Katy Fallon, LBB – 2.9 billion is a biennium figure, I am not sure how long the transfers will last
    • The 4 billion doesn’t end at the fiscal year
  • Hinojosa – Do we need to appropriate more funding for the new fiscal year?
    • Fallon – Some agencies need more funding
    • Chair Huffman – Military department is only funded through end of fiscal year
  • West – Are any balances carried forward from previous legislative sessions?
    • Fallon – Generally no, we don’t track that; agencies are appropriated a new amount each session
  • Perry – Do you have quarterly reports for Q2?
    • Chair Huffman – Individual agencies can present this
    • We can get them to you
  • Hinojosa requests the actual expenditure amounts for the fiscal year
  • Fallon – Through the second quarter, agencies had spent about 800 million
  • Hinojosa – We are receiving different numbers at each hearing

 

Sarah Hicks, Office of the Governor

  • Failure of federal government to act opens the door for evil actors
  • May 2022, 139,402 apprehensions across Texas border sectors; 18% increase from 2021
  • May 2020, 12,587 apprehensions
  • Apprehensions in Texas increased over 1000% from 2020-2022
  • More than 13,000 crossings caught in Del Rio sector; Del Rio over capacity
  • DHS and FEMA plan to address up to 18,000 encounters
  • Federal administration anticipating more migration in coming weeks
  • DPS seized enough fentanyl to kill more than 300 million people
  • 42 terrorists on terrorist watch list caught at border
  • Federal government failing Texans
  • $1.1 billion allocated by federal legislature in last session for border security
  • At creation of Operation Lonestar $50 million immediately made available
  • May 31, 2021 Abbott issued disaster proclamation for the border
  • $250 million moved in June 2021 to build border wall
  • Long term protection comes in form of barriers
  • Before barriers are available, need law enforcement
  • Enhanced DPS and military personnel; enhanced funding for judicial process for border handlings
  • Supplemental budget gave OG $50 million for border search funding before general appropriations funds
  • OG reimbursed TDEM for facility costs and gave money to judicial institutions to handle cases
  • April 2022 transferred $30 million into same fund
  • Private donations for busing efforts; $116,000 to TDEM to pay bills
  • $1.5 million for total busing costs
  • 121 bus trips have been made
  • Under HB 9, $750 million to border barriers, $170 million to holding facilities, and $100 million to local authorities
  • $55 million in private donations to build border wall
  • For border barrier funding, $34.6 million to agencies, $42.2 million for border commission; will use remainder of fund for temporary fencing and facilities commission
  • 7 miles of permanent wall
  • 43 miles of fencing and 24 miles of C wire
  • 68 miles of barrier placed today
  • Landowner agreements for 31 more miles of fencing
  • Funding for intake facilities; $55 million expended, over $100 million left
  • Counties along border willing to build facilities
  • OG supports court process before making arrests so local system keeps up with state
  • OG granted $56.8 million of grants to local communities
  • Counties participating can apply for $30 million more of additional funds
  • $14 million set aside for border adjacent counties
  • $3.7 million for additional training for border units
  • $50,000 remaining at OG
  • Only $2 million carried forward from last biennium
  • Passed money to military/ guard
  • Guard received funding from HB 9; as more caravans headed to Texas last year, transferred money and increased guard presence
  • LBB appropriated $480 million to OG in January transferred to guard; another $400 million transferred in April with $300 million of this transfer from FY 2021
  • $380 million will be transferred to guard this month to cover operations through end of fiscal year; leaves 4 million left in fund
  • Quickest response personnel intensive
  • Working to require less personnel; contracting out fence building
  • Ability to certain areas relies on capital measures
  • Situation on border worsened
  • Whitmire – Can’t spend our way out of this as migrants are not deterred by the billions we are spending; need a new method of tackling border security
  • Whitmire wants to take a diplomatic approach; reaching out to Mexican government, having the ambassador to Mexico, Tony Garza, or someone like George Bush play diplomacy
  • Whitmire – Apprehending women and children is a waste of Texas money
    • Chair Huffman – You need to talk to Biden about that; he’s the one who should be using diplomacy
    • We fixed TDCJ with state policy
    • Governor did meet with Mexican officials and governors; those states are working with us to deter caravans
    • Huffman – Need to leave politics out of this; this is a crisis that affects every Texan
    • Whitmire – Agrees but need to stop spending so much; any other method could help
    • Chair Huffman – I bet Abbott would be willing to talk to anyone to fix this crisis
  • Perry – Can’t keep spending taxpayer dollars; questions Governor’s policy of detainment due to capacity concerns and wonders if illegal immigrants can be held in empty state jails
    • Governor ordered detainment and returning to port of entry; immediate return process no holding facilities
    • No way to track individuals once federal government holds them; federal government released illegal immigrants into Texas cities such as Uvalde and Del Rio
    • Excess state capacity in jails used when illegal immigrants commit state crime to relieve local jails
  • Hinojosa agrees for the need for border security and the failure of the federal government, but concerned the state is spending too much; more funding needs to come from the federal government
  • Hinojosa – Are there plans for more transfers of money before the end of the fiscal year?
    • DPS and the military are provided funds through the end of the fiscal year, but need more money for the new fiscal year
    • Need to figure out how many people we need on the ground and how much that will cost
    • Only made transfers with extra money; no supplemental need created
  • Hinojosa – Was the goal to build 805 miles of fencing?
    • 805 miles were identified by DPS as vulnerable
  • Hinojosa – How much did we appropriate for the 45 miles of current fencing?
    • 1 billion was made available to our office for fencing and permanent barriers
    • Hinojosa – So it would take 17 billion to build the full 805 miles; we don’t have the money or personnel to complete that
  • Hinojosa – Single men are being detained, not families; many of them are criminals, gang members, and repeat crossers
  • Nelson believes that the Texas government can’t solve this problem completely because it’s a federal problem, not a state problem; would rather use this money for something else but need to fill in until the federal government steps up
  • Bettencourt believes federal government is failing; emphasizes the gravity of the fentanyl crisis coming across the border
  • West – How many illegal immigrants are in county jails? How much does it cost?
    • Chair Huffman – Other witnesses have these numbers
    • Don’t know the exact cost per arrest; TDCJ will have more information about the cost of detention centers
    • HB 9 appropriated money to TDCJ for improving facilities; DISHES received funding to provide medical support in facilities
    • Intake/processing centers is where DPS processes everyone detained on a state trespassing charge
    • Some local grants awards are used to help locals with their legal proceedings; $3.7 million to the border prosecution unit
    • Chair Huffman – For felonies, violators are taken to courts; the purpose of the state facilities is to take pressure off locals
  • Kolkhorst asks for clarification on apprehension numbers; asks why the number increased
    • We have more of a presence, but there are more people coming as well
  • Kolkhorst expresses concern over fentanyl crisis; majority of fentanyl enters through the U.S.-Mexico border
  • Whitmire – Increasing fentanyl crisis shows that what we are doing isn’t working
  • Kolkhorst – Fentanyl crisis affects the entire country; agrees with Whitmire for the need of a holistic approach
  • Hinojosa – This isn’t political; both federal democrats and republicans failing to address crisis
  • Creighton emphasizes amount of seized fentanyl from border; this seizure shows that Texas money isn’t going to waste
  • Creighton believes the Biden administration needs to be voted out due to their failure to address the crisis; Washington politicians don’t care about this issue, it’s our job to address
  • Blanco – Represents border; asks if there are reimbursement methods for private property owners on which migrants have inflicted damage
    • Contemplated claim path for ranchers and landowners; unconvinced of a constitutional or statutory method for OG to create
    • Legislature can create a method for reimbursement
    • Looking to collect damage data to present to federal government
  • Blanco – Within the $10.2 million for local border security, what portion goes to local authorities for processing the dead bodies of illegal migrants?
    • Aimee Snoddy, Office of the Governor – We have a $150,000 grant with a county for the humane processing for bodies; willing to engage in more grants
  • Blanco – How are these grants advertised to local counties?
    • Snoddy – Annual grant solicitation; goes up in January and funded in September
  • Blanco – Can local governments get reimbursed for their expenses?
    • Snoddy – If they have a grant through us
  • Lucio – Brownsville and some other border cities are safer than Houston and Dallas; issue needs bipartisan solution
  • Lucio – Most people coming across the border are not criminals; agrees with Creighton and Kolkhorst for the need to address loss of life, but need to understand how many migrants die trying to cross border to find a better life
  • Kolkhorst agrees with Blanco for need for reimbursement program for property damages
    • We would be glad to work with you

 

Colonel Steven McCraw, Texas Department of Public Safety

  • Senators framing the issue than alleged experts
  • This is a global mass migration event; border patrol is overrun
  • Agrees level of security threat for women and children is low; young males pose the risk
  • Houston now hub for MS13 and MS18 due to migration of gang members
  • Without border control; crime increases
  • Mexican cartel making billions from human trafficking
  • Although federal policy seems compassionate, increase of crime and trafficking is anything but
  • Migrant community preyed upon by cartels and gangs once in the U.S.
  • More cartel violence than known due to killing of journalists
  • Gang violence is a public safety and national security threat
  • El Paso and Brownsville have low crime statistics, but smuggling is up
  • Absence of crime and disorder is what success looks like; we clearly don’t have it
  • Prevent, predict, and interdict is goal of border security
  • Emphasizes fentanyl crisis; cartels aren’t chemists and don’t care if people die
  • Cartel gets fentanyl from China
  • 30,000 pounds of methamphetamine seized at border; cartel receives from China
  • Methamphetamine made in factories; can be manufactured 24/7
  • Tango Blast largest gang in the state; works with Gulf Gang, Aryan Brotherhood, and Chinse gangs
  • Gangs take advantage of young girls from South America to human traffic
  • TMD and National Guard are assisting, seeing 30k migrants/week, on track to exceed previous records, global mass migration event
  • Support from the federal government in Mexico is lacking, borders could be much more securable
  • Quickest way to support is if Mexican government cooperates to decrease footprint
  • Perry – Gov’s office mentioned the “black box” and what you do with groups of people, federal gov picks them up
  • Perry and McCraw border protection techniques & difficulty of seeing into federal operations
    • McCraw – Important to have multiple levels of protection, e.g. state crime prosecution, national guard support, etc.
  • Perry – DMZ zone is 100 miles into Texas now, zone where ranchers have abandoned land
    • Fair statement, up to any place where we have checkpoints, 62 miles in some places
  • Perry – We’ve acquiesced 62 miles
    • More than that in certain places
  • Perry – Seem to have a lack of personnel, could we offer job opportunities to work at DPS, etc.?
    • Possible, especially considering large number of vacancies and retirements
    • Exceptional border patrol agents could make exceptional state troopers
  • Perry – What’s your take private contractors?
    • Not a fan of mercenaries
    • Have had 4 decades of underinvestment in border security
  • Perry – Had operations in Colombia, other South American countries taking out heads of cartels, federal government doesn’t see value of this anymore, we used to take those people out
  • Kolkhorst – You’re saying that if we do nothing cartels will take over, need to continue the support for border security
  • Hinojosa – Asks after enforcement activities on stash houses
    • Send teams to go after stash houses, setting up inspection checkpoints further inland
  • Hinojosa – Number of stash houses is significant
    • Enforcement on trucks forces them to use smaller vehicles, makes their operation difficult
    • Also looking for what help we can get from the public & getting criminals to report on each other
  • Hinojosa and McCraw discuss border security technology, incl. remote activated spikes, RFID trackers, drones
  • Kolkhorst – Known terrorists crossing the border, are they on catch and release?
    • Don’t catch and release, they are on the terrorist watch list, may or may not be a threat
  • Kolkhorst – So we really don’t know what is happening to those 42; highlights the number of criminal arrests & danger of the situation
  • Chair Huffman – Clarifies that state works well with Border Patrol officers, but disagrees with federal policy

 

Major General Tom Suelzer, TMD

  • Return on investment for support of Operation Lone Star has been significant
  • TMD has constructed 40 miles of fencing, 20 miles of concertina wire
  • $1.35b cost projection for 2023 based on current objective and posture
  • Perry – How many miles of barriers will we get out from private contractors and in what areas? Are we hitting hotspot areas?
    • Temporary barriers are divided into fence and wire, 42.88 miles of fence complete, over 50% of agreements in place, should be done by September & contracting has increased effort
    • 94 miles of concertina wire in reserve, continually putting this out with agreements
  • Perry – Are you getting pushback from landowners?
    • DPS is doing agreements as the lead agency, has been more acceptance over time
  • Perry – So could put out 94 miles tomorrow if the agreements are in place
  • Hinojosa – Immigrants are mostly unarmed and most surrender themselves
    • Correct; 105k surrenders
  • Hinojosa – On fencing close to $1b appropriated for 45 miles
    • Not aware of those numbers; received invoice $7.9m for TDCJ for concertina wire
  • Hinojosa – 805 miles identified for fencing; would cost $17b and 34 years to complete this
  • Chair Huffman – Most of $1b is for facility commission for permanent fencing; military department is doing temporary fencing
  • Chair Huffman – Have support and funds to keep team through September
    • Correct; $38m outstanding since the time of request
    • Will need $34m to finish out this fiscal year
  • Creighton – Who on the border is authorized to brandish a weapon? Armed to defend themselves
    • Personnel in security-point roles are is trained under army/air force standards; are authorized to use it for self defense
  • Creighton – Was conversations whether those in ranks could carry and defend themselves; not day-to-day assignment carrying is security?
    • Is both; armed personnel have the ability to defend themselves or others in life threatening situations
  • Creighton – Who is not carrying?
    • People on admin jobs, building fences, etc.
    • Security elements are present in the vicinity of where fences are being built
  • Kolkhorst – If you were on the border and cartels started shooting, what would the response be?
    • First step would be de-escalation
  • Kolkhorst – Could the military defend others and fire back?
    • Yes, authorized to defend their lives and others
  • Kolkhorst – Is there something missing statutorily to do your job on the border?
    • There is not

 

Bryan Collier, TDCJ

  • TDCJ had excess capacity, were able to identify facilities where they could help with Operation Lone Star
  • Made significant modifications to make Briscoe and Segovia ready, including A/C, staffing, etc.
  • UTMB provides medical care, Windham school district provides education
  • Between Briscoe and Segovia, have capacity for 2,232 if needed
  • Have phone calls, video visits, remote court at both locations
  • Roughly 3,200 detainees have been bonded out, either go to state jail or border patrol; average time served at TDCJ facilities is around 50 days
  • TDCJ also manufactures the fencing, made 32.69 miles of fencing, expecting new machinery in the fall to increase production
  • To date, have spent $8.6m preparing facilities, projecting by the end of FY22 will have spent $11.7, expecting FY23 costs to be around $12m, so within $23m
  • Chair Huffman – The facilities only hold those who committed state crimes, correct? And they go through the court process there virtually usually?
    • Yes
  • Chair Huffman – For felonies, are they taken to court? And are they taken to a different facility for their sentence? After their sentence they are deported?
    • Yes
  • Chair Huffman clarifies that the illegal immigrants have the same rights for judicial proceedings as legal citizens
  • Chair Huffman – Your job at TDCJ is to maintain the facilities? Do you have enough capacity to hold more?
    • Yes
  • Chair Huffman and Collier discuss that TDCJ has sufficient staff
    • In some facilities, there is staffing to move to over capacity facilities as well
  • Perry – 3400 people bailed out? And the average day is 50 day?
    • 3238 have bonded and yes
  • Perry – Where do they go, do you know?
    • We don’t track them
  • Perry – What are the crimes?
    • Lists a variety of charges, the largest is criminal trespass
    • No murders
  • Chair Huffman – At intake facilities, they do background checks and take fingerprints
    • Work with national partners for background checks, but expects federal databases aren’t sufficient for tracking
  • West – Why do you collect so many U.S. citizens in TDCJ facilities?
    • Many times, individuals driving the vehicle or smuggling citizens are U.S. citizens
    • Chair Huffman – They are kept in these facilities to relieve the pressure on local and county jails
  • West – The leader charge for citizens is smuggling?
    • Yes, they are all charged with smuggling
    • They may have other charges but they all have smuggling
  • West – Is the number of U.S. citizens in these jails growing?
    • Yes

 

Nim Kidd, TDEM

  • Supports DPS and other state agencies in their efforts
  • Helped set up intake facilities; operates under the disaster declaration normal procurement process
  • $40 million for two TDEM intake facilities and the cost of AC in $4 million
  • Fire and EMS cost $3 million
  • $675,000 for containers, $6.8 million for buses, $68,00 for fencing and transportation, and $3 million for lights and light towers

 

Mike Novak, Texas Facilities Commission

  • Presents letter from the Governor from June 16, 2021; directs Texas Facilities Commission to oversee the building of border wall
  • No need to reinvent the wheel
  • Recognizes the challenge of land access
  • Outlines process for hiring program manager
  • Program manager akin to the Corp of Engineers but Corp is a 37,000-person organization
  • Used private sector instinct to put together a precision team
  • Went through RQ processes
  • Working with several sister agencies such as DPS
  • Goal isn’t just to build a wall; works with DPS to prioritize areas with more exposure and vulnerability
  • Build wall on multi-acre GLO track in Star County; designed, built, and had walls built in less than 6 months
  • In process of getting land agreements; biggest challenge to timeliness
  • 180 miles of natural barriers
  • $170 million appropriated from Governor’s fund
  • 805 miles total that needs to be covered
  • 1254 miles of Texas border along the Rio Grande; in practice the wall will be shorter to accommodate the shape of the river
  • 1125 actual miles of barrier; missing 768
  • Kolkhorst – Where are the missing materials for the wall that the federal government provided? Can we use them?
    • The 45 miles we’ve been appropriated for have been broken into 5 projects; on the first project and about to start the second
    • The federal materials will be used in the second project
    • Facilities commission also handles state and federal surplus; portal for surplus materials to pull supply and equipment from
  • Kolkhorst – What is the cost per mile and what will be the complete cost of the project?
    • 20 million a mile
  • Kolkhorst – The natural barrier is the terrain not the state guard, correct?
    • Yes, there are cliffs and canyons right near the border
    • Only professionals and athletes could get through these intensive areas
  • Appropriated $900 million; expenditures not complete because waiting for invoices from contractors
  • $56 million donated privately; $5.7 million incumbered; left with $17.6 million
  • Each project in a different geographic area; can’t disclose for security reasons
  • Have 5 contractors through competitive bid process; will assign one to each project area
  • Chair Huffman – When you’ve gone through the $900 million, how many miles will you have built?
    • Approximately 45; will be completed by mid-2024
    • Need additional funding in today’s dollars
  • Nichols – Have we only built 1.5 miles?
    • Yes, actually we’ve built 1.7 on the GLO track
    • Building the wall is the simple part, it’s the land agreements that are the most challenging
    • Both the Bush and Trump administrations had challenges with land agreements; we are in the process of getting easements
  • Trying to get optimal alignment of the most efficient location and path of the wall; need to research all the landowners along that path and enter into a land agreement
  • Land agreements pending with the city of Brownsville
  • Nichols – Were the surplus panels you received the only ones out there?
    • Our research indicates the federal government is sitting on a large supply in Arizona; don’t think they will release any more
  • Nichols – How many miles of panels did you receive from the surplus portal?
    • 3 miles
    • The steel pot panels are running 30-40% of the cost of the physical wall
  • Nichols – Are we making the easements voluntary? Have you considered condemnation?
    • It’s off the table; it’s a policy issue
  • Nichols – In a year, how many miles will be up?
    • 8 more miles by the end of 2023
  • Bettencourt – How many linear feet or miles have you already gotten an easement on?
    • We are getting close to be able to support 3.5 miles in the valley
  • Bettencourt – Are you looking at county tax foreclosures?
    • We have layers of specialized people conducting title research
  • Identified contractors with some surplus panels that originally contracted with federal government; working to solicit
  • One contractor has almost 14 miles of wall; able to secure this will significant discount
  • Working to be extremely cost effective
  • Bettencourt – Are the federal panels unusable in some terrain?
    • Yes, but we have plenty of room to use those panels
    • In some areas, the subsoil conditions are completely different; need to focus on flood control and levies
  • Can’t have disjointed miles; need enough to build a significant stretch of wall
  • The federal government got easements that are now inoperable
  • Campbell – The surplus panels came from California? How much were they?
    • Yes, they were free but we had to pay for the freight which was a couple million
  • Campbell – You received this task in June 2021?
    • Yes
  • Campbell – What percentage of land agreements are completed for the 45 miles?
    • I don’t have a percentage
  • Campbell says getting land agreements need to be the priority
  • Campbell – Is the three miles of land agreements contiguous?
    • There are gaps, but it’s enough to start construction
  • Campbell expresses that it is not funny that there will be no wall built until 2023; recommends building 3 miles of wall now
  • Campbell – What’s the hold up on building the three miles?
    • It has to do with design
  • Campbell – Why is the design not already out there if you already have a mile?
  • Campbell repeats need for wall built this fall
  • Kolkhorst says federal government needs to release surplus panels that taxpayers have already paid for; need to urge Texas senators and other Governors
  • Creighton believes the TFC is working with urgency; acknowledges discrepancy between legislator’s expectations and realistic time frame

 

Megan LaVoy, Office of Court Administration

  • Supports local administrations ; main focus is magistration
  • Large volume of OLS arrests
  • Magistration occurs at two processing centers twice daily; 18 visiting judges conduct magistration
  • OCA supports magistration with consultants and support staff
  • 5,000 individuals went through centralized magistration centers
  • 92% of individuals appointed counsel
  • OCA supports in adjudication of cases
  • Courts experiencing significant volume in cases
  • Since Operation Lonestar, 3,700 have been arrested in one county alone
  • Focused on best practices in docketing and court management
  • OCA and TIDC received $32.9 million from HB 9; $1.8 million appropriated for court interpreters and staff and $29.7 million for indigent defense commission
  • $905,000 appropriated to transfer to comptroller judiciary section to pay for visiting judges
  • Chair Huffman – Do you have sufficient funding to continue?
    • Funding is determined based on how many arrests were made
    • Told to expect 200 arrests a day; actually between 20-30 arrests a day
    • If arrests stay level, no need for more funding
    • If more counties enter central magistration, would open new processing center and need funding
  • Chair Huffman – Do you have a way to calculate funding needs
    • Yes, we have a formula based on arrests

 

Geoff Burkhart, Texas Indigent Defense Commission

  • TIDC safeguards liberty by ensuring Texas provides the right to counsel
  • Funds and oversees indigent defense across the state; doesn’t provide direct counsel
  • Right to counsel applies to felonies and A and B misdemeanors
  • Need depends on how many DPS arrests and how many the magistrate determines a need for counsel
  • Asked by OG to set up defense function last year
  • Was initially unsure what defense function would look like
  • Indigent defense hub, recruits attorneys, and establish good communication with partners for Operation Lonestar
  • Centralized defense process, quality oversight for attorney performance, and data and financial reporting
  • Looking for a managed assigned counsel system
  • Lubbock private defense office served as indigent defense hub
  • Challenge recruiting attorneys; believed would need 200 attorneys initially
  • Developed plan to bring in attorneys; brought in public defenders offices to take cases, asked private assigned counsel to step up and have 30 attorneys
  • Private attorneys often have their own work in their own counties; challenge for consistency
  • Reached out to law schools but nothing has come to fruition
  • Reaching out to out of state attorneys ; only 6 working under Texas public defenders office
  • Chair Huffman – How much do you pay private attorneys?
    • All attorneys receive $75 an hour
  • Bettencourt – What is the salary that these people usually get?
    • Public defenders usually get 50-65,000 a year
    • Bettencourt – $75 an hour for private attorneys is extremely low
    • We have thought about bumping it up to 100 an hour
  • We used to have 40 attorneys but some dropped out
  • Boosting public defenders office
  • Texas Supreme Court order and extremely strict regulations for out of state attorneys ; 15 applied but only 6 taking cases
  • Daily and weekly communications with other agencies
  • 5,000 people who have been booked at centralized magistration centers
  • 3,300 magistrated at facilities
  • 5,000 received counsel under Operation Lonestar
  • Many people magistrated locally, then we give them counsel
  • Chair Huffman – Is the system set up well for due process?
    • Yes; the whole at the beginning was the locally magistrated persons weren’t on our radar but we fixed that

 

Tanya Ahlschwede, Border Prosecution Unit

  • BPU is a collective of 17 DAs along the border; covers 48 counties
  • Also includes 6 counties outside of the border from anti-gang centers
  • Operate off memorandums of understanding; share resources
  • Unit started by 81st legislature in 2009 to provide prosecution resources for state border security resources
  • State funding for FY2023 was $15 million
  • Operation Lonestar provided $3.765 million in supplemental funding for hiring 15 attorneys and 9 investigators
  • Supplemental funding provides 51 attorneys; 23 attorneys are collocated in DPS facilities
  • Improved coordination between counties and jurisdictions
  • Smuggling cases result in deaths
  • Seeing lots of weapons on smugglers
  • Challenge having enough prosecution resources
  • Work closely with OCA and TIDC
  • Need to consider impact on courthouses; local control is key in counties
  • We lend support where needed and asked
  • DAs, just like county attorneys, elected by people; receive lots of positive feedback
  • Chair Huffman – BPU doing an outstanding job and thinking outside of the box
  • Bettencourt – What’s the number one need you have?
    • Funding for prosecutors, the court system, defense attorneys, the entire legal infrastructure
  • Chair Huffman – Small counties aren’t designed to handle these cases on their own; it is our decision how much we want to build up the BPU
  • Chair Huffman – A big part of the reason we are having to do this is because of a lack of federal prosecution
  • Hinojosa – The federal government isn’t prosecuting marijuana cases of over 75 pounds

 

Public Testimony

Jaime Puente, Every Texan

  • Operation Lonestar neither efficient nor effective public policy
  • Not much result to show for amount of money appropriated
  • Migration is a human right; right to seek asylum and refuge in Texas
  • Operation Lonestar effective in creating deaths in Texas; people will continue to migrate and these policies increase migrant deaths
  • Need to lead with compassion

 

Roy Boyd, Goliad County Sherriff’s Department

  • Goliad County 740,000 people; participant in Operation Lonestar
  • Operation Lonestar funding lifeline for county
  • Dealing with staffing shortages
  • Need more funding for equipment and technology
  • Insufficient jail space; DPS and state don’t provide space Goliad County
  • When jails overcrowded have to let criminals go or have overcrowding
  • Chair Huffman – Why don’t they allow you space?
    • We are told we are too far outside of the border area
  • Kolkhorst – How can we help a county like Goliad that knows the funding and resources they need down to the penny?
  • Kolkhorst – Did you deal with smugglers?
    • Yes, both in our jurisdiction and human traffickers from Houston
  • Kolkhorst asks Chair Huffman to help Goliad and other near border counties; requests help from the Governor
  • Kolkhorst – When smugglers cross the border, are they usually on their way to a major city?
    • Yes; found letter from sex slave house in Rockport telling victims it takes 8-13 years to buy their freedom
    • Kolkhorst – How long ago?
    • 7 or 8 years ago
  • Nichols – Clear that TDCJ and state need to offer jail space
  • Nichols – Did you contact DPS?
    • Another nearby area contacted DPS and was told we don’t qualify
  • In 2021, arrests up 200%; on track to be up 500% above 5 year average

 

Monitoring the implementation of recent bail bond reform legislation along with its economic impact on the judicial and correction system and assessing barriers to implementation, the effect on pretrial release and jail populations, and ways to promote public safety and efficiency.

Megan LaVoy, Office of Court Administration

  • Implemented bail reform and public safety report system
  • SB 6 changed landscape of bail system; instituted public safety report system, requires magistration to consider background history, raises bail for some charges, and increased magistrate educational requirements
  • Goal of public safety report system to provide extra information and a mechanism to report bail decisions; can be found on OCA website
  • Already 57,000 registered users on the system; went live on April 1, 2022
  • Provides an overview of the process of public safety report system
  • Bail form volume continues to rise
  • Magistrate court, justice of peace, and municipal courts top users of system
  • Class A misdemeanors top reported offense in system; possession of controlled system less than a gram main offense
  • Most common bail type is cash or surety bond
  • Average amount of bail is $18,800 but accounts for both felony and misdemeanors
  • Ottoman software vendor for public safety report system
  • Top ten counties with completed bail forms are Bear, Tarrant, and Harris counties
  • OCA and Ottoman held training sessions for new system; provided support for usage of site
  • SB 6 set our new education requirements for magistrates; requires completion of an 8-hour magistrate course, then must take 2 additional hours each year
  • Partnered with 4 judicial education training centers in Texas to develop training
  • 13,000 judges have started or completed education requirements
  • Also must receive training hours from DPS for public safety report system, between 4 and 8 hours
  • Charitable bail organizations required to report if they pay bail on behalf of an individual; Bail Project paid all recorded instances
  • $1.4 million required to maintain staff and system
  • The question of who runs the system poses a challenge
  • Looking to integrate with local management system so there will be less duplicity
  • Chair Huffman – Is everyone who is supposed to be submitting a report doing it?
    • We recently have requested monthly arrest data from DPS to compare
    • 8 counties have no registered users in the system, they are smaller counties
    • We do outreach through regional presiding judges to get them in compliance
  • Bettencourt clarifies that this is Chair Huffman’s bill
  • Bettencourt says we have a Harris County official coming who may be able to shed light on county data entry issues
    • It’s not a problem, but there is a local data management system where the same data has to be entered
    • We are looking to integrate these systems so that it will only have to be entered once
  • Hinojosa – Have you received feedback from sheriffs involved in the paperwork?
    • The main sticking point is who is going to run the system; it makes sense for the sheriffs offices to run the criminal history and present it to the magistrate

 

Michelle Farris, DPS

  • DPS and OCA worked closely to develop public safety report system quickly
  • State agencies have been very responsive and adoptive of the new system
  • Started working with DPS in November, installed new system in April
  • System pulls back conditions of bond and criminal history data so magistrates can have complete picture
  • Chair Huffman clarifies that they public safety report will present all Texas and U.S. criminal history to magistrates
  • Within the 90 days since system began, seen 20,000 inquiries
  • 20,000 conditions of bond entries have been made

 

Kim Ogg, DA, Harris County District Attorney’s Office

  • Releasing violent criminals on bonds was a new phenomenon
  • Crime in Harris County remains high; especially violent crime
  • Damian Allen Act helpful measure in reducing violent crime by repeat offenders
  • More attention to this issue by judiciary since new laws enacted
  • Hearing officers used to be used for bail reform; resulted in release of violent offenders
  • Hearing officers still presenting issues; not elected or known to public so no accountability
  • Texas Court of Criminal Appeals decided trial judges have the responsibility to decide bail, not hearing officers; can modify what the hearing officers decide
  • Harris County Bail Bond Board requires 10% down on a surety bond to help deter repeat offenses; recommends codification of this decision
  • Focusing on bail revocations for repeat offenders
  • Bettencourt – Do magistrates not have to have a co-sign from their judges?
    • Yes, they don’t
    • Recommends more forms of accountability; this would help
    • Bail hearings used to be live streamed, they no longer are; DA was not made aware that recordings of hearings would be stopped
    • Bail decisions are made by hearing officers in their private officers
  • Bettencourt asks for clarification on PR bonds
    • Decision came from judicial system
    • Magistrates give out PR bonds to individuals who don’t align with section 9.1; commit violations frequently
  • Chair Huffman – Would it be a good tool to pass the constitutional amendment that prohibits bonds for certain violent offenders?
    • Yes, it is critical to Texas public safety
  • Kolkhorst – How many times did you pass the amendment in the senate?
    • Chair Huffman – 3 times
  • Kolkhorst – What are hearing officers?
    • They are magistrates but they have similar powers to elected judges
  • Kolkhorst – Does the district judges hire their own hearing officers?
    • No, there is a panel of judges apparently who hires them, but we don’t have that information
    • Kolkhorst emphasizes the fact that the DA office can’t know the hiring process for hearing officers
    • We want to know how they are hired to know how they are fired
  • Bettencourt – There is a rule that you cannot do a background check on hearing officers before they are hired; we need to end it
    • Hearing officers pose a threat to public safety
  • Perry agrees with Bettencourt and asks if there is a recent uptick in crimes by illegal immigrants
    • DA doesn’t record the immigration status of offenders as it creates a barrier to participation in court
  • All major urban cities around country have 2-3x as many lawyers as Harris County does; creates backlog in the court system
  • Requests for funding to address backlog and hire more staff

 

David Mitcham, Harris County District Attorney’s Office

  • SB 6 and the Appeals Court decisions extremely helpful in deterring crimes by criminals on bond
  • Provides committee members with charts on Harris County repeat crime offenses, pretrial populations, and overall jail populations
  • Chair Huffman – So the jails aren’t primarily filled with non-violent misdemeanors? Are people in jail for a joint of marijuana?
    • No, if you’re in jail for a marijuana joint in Harris County, you’d have to ask to be
  • Emphasizes the challenges brought by hearing officers; provides anecdotes
  • System needs transparency and accountability

 

Jennifer Tharp, Comal County District Attorney’s Office

  • Comal County has more accountability for magistrate
  • Bill brought improvement to bail process and accountability
  • Received complaints regarding integration of information in public safety report system
  • Judges need to have the most information possible
  • Comal magistrate has a clerk to fill out reports
  • Jailers collect most of the same information as required in the public safety report
  • Smaller jurisdictions are struggling without a clerk to fill out report
  • Recommends revising Subsection B
  • Recommends jail staff understand individual’s criminal history for jail classifications
  • Curious to see bond trends in December; once released will inform future decisions for bill
  • Many communities are unaware of provision 17027
  • Recommends revising areas where there could be loopholes
  • Since SB 6, Comal created mental health court with both civil and criminal abilities; prioritizing mental health of offenders
  • Requests mental health funding
  • Low level of non-violent offenders in Comal jails
  • Mental health offenders are often arrested for trespassing and public intoxication; mental health court seeks to address root issues
  • Recommends GPS monitor as a condition of bond; would allow victims of violence to ensure their perpetrators are away
  • Not enough prosecutors
  • Campbell asks for clarification on mental health model
    • Using ARPA money to build 16-person mental health center; hopefully funded by HHSC
    • $8 million for construction; a couple million for operation cost
    • Comal doesn’t have a facility nearby; have to been shipped out
  • Kolkhorst – Are those forensic beds?
    • It’s not for competency restoration, but we are looking to do it at our jail
    • Kolkhorst – There is a lot of federal funding we could use to support you
  • Kolkhorst – Do we need more support for the public safety report?
    • Yes, smaller jurisdictions need more support
  • Kolkhorst asks about immigration status in jails
    • In the jail system, we can see immigration holds
    • Kolkhorst emphasizes the fact that Harris County is not showing immigration status
  • Kolkhorst – What trends are you seeing in jails?
    • Increased fentanyl and felony drug cases
  • Bettencourt – Is your magistrate appointed?
    • Yes, appointed at an open meeting by district judges
  • Bettencourt – Did you do a background check?
    • Yes, the judges did
  • Bettencourt – Would you magistrate allow their judge to sign off on bail decisions?
    • Yes, they work closely together
  • Perry knows the guy who created the software for the public safety report system
  • Perry emphasizes need to log immigration status in public safety report system; Houston has an issue
  • Perry says juvenile criminals need more attention
  • Bettencourt – Backlog emphasizes criminal issues
    • We have a large backlog of cases that haven’t been filed; hold up on lab test results
    • Seen lots of threats by children to be violent; don’t have a juvenile detention center and children have to be transported long distances
    • Comal has pretrial probational supervision; recommends beefing up pretrial bond supervision
    • Chair Huffman – We are working to address juvenile detention centers

 

Shannon Edmonds, Texas District & County Attorneys Association

  • Received feedback from prosecutors on SB 6
  • Recommends adding felon and possession of a weapon to list of offenses judges cannot allow personal bond for; include misdemeanors of family violence
  • Original legislation bans personal bond for new felony cases if offender already on bond or probation; need to include parole as well
  • Court of Criminal Appeals in 2020 held parole division to making revocation decision on defenders within 41 days but prosecutors have 90 days to decide to indite a case; needs to be fixed
  • Chair Huffman – Need to fix blue warrant issue; must be a way for TDCJ to allow issuing of blue warrants
  • Kolkhorst – Is the phenomena of PR bonds in Harris County in all major cities?
    • Most other jurisdictions haven’t seen the same rise as Harris; crime going down in Dallas County
  • Kolkhorst – Recommends live streaming bail hearings

 

Public Testimony

Buddy Mills, Gillespie County Sheriff’s Department

  • Would like to integrate public safety report process with jailer report process
  • Currently presents magistrates with offense, criminal history, and other relevant information and magistrate enters into PSR form
  • Willing to help other counties and agencies to streamline process

 

Nick Hudson, ACLU of Texas

  • SB 6 data transparency provisions helpful; allows more information about pretrial process
  • Recommends adding to data collection metrics
  • Huge number of failures to appear in court
  • HB 4293 created text message reminder framework for court appearances; needs funding
  • 20% reduction in failure to appears when defendants are reminded
  • Recommends recording magistrate hearings for public viewing

 

J.R. Woolley, Waller County Justice of the Peace

  • 806 justices of the peace in Texas; 580 trained on SB 6
  • Identified issues with doubled time of public safety report
  • Sheriffs hesitant to conduct public safety report due to staffing and timing
  • APIs hopefully will fix issue; concerned about cost to county
  • Issues with previous felons from out of county; counties must contact original magistrate
  • Chair Huffman – Doesn’t have to be the magistrate, just original court

Nikki Pressley, Right on Crime at Texas Public Policy Foundation

  • Recommends disaggregating bond data on PRS; need to see bonds by offense
  • Missing bond forfeiture data
  • Believe in expanding preventative detention
  • Harris County suffering both from Covid and Harvey backlog; backlog encourages crime

 

Christopher Rivera, Texas Civil Rights Project

  • Believes that access to PR bonds and cashless bail encourage defendants to show up to hearings
  • SB 6 hurts low-income individuals and increases pretrial jail population
  • Harris County at capacity despite efforts to move criminals to other jails
  • Costs $59 to house pretrial detainees; financial burden on state and taxpayers
  • Studies show that access to PR and cashless bail are helpful