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Bail reform legislation dies in Texas House. Will Greg Abbott call a special session?
Two proposed amendments to the Texas Constitution which were a major part of GOP-priority bail reform legislation are dead after the state House declined to pass them by a Wednesday deadline.
Senate Joint Resolution 1 and SJR 87 were part of the bail reform package authored by Houston Republican Sen. Joan Huffman and backed by Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and a bipartisan majority of the state Senate. Neither resolution, however, garnered the constitutionally required 100-vote supermajority to advance from the House to a November statewide referendum despite attempts by supporters to rally additional votes.
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SJR 1 — called "Jocelyn's Law" after 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray, whose body was found last year in a Houston bayou after allegedly being bound, sexually assaulted and strangled to death by two men believed to be in the U.S. illegally — would have kept defendants charged with a felony who are in the U.S. without legal authorization in jail until trial. It died with an 87-39 third-reading vote Wednesday.
SJR 87 would have required judges to automatically deny bail to suspects accused of nine specific serious crimes — including murder, capital murder, aggravated sexual assault and human trafficking — if the person had been previously convicted of, or is out on bond for, one of those offenses. The resolution died Tuesday with a 97-40 vote, just three supporters short of making it on this fall's statewide ballot. The measure was not reconsidered despite indications lawmakers hoped to bring it back for another vote.
Supporters of the legislation, including House sponsor Rep. John Smithee, R-Amarillo, framed the bills as a matter of life and death, citing homicides allegedly committed by defendants who were already out on bail for a different charge.
"Had we passed this constitutional amendment six years ago, there would be little boys and girls still alive today who were tragically killed," Smithee said during debate on SJR 1 last week. "I can promise you this: If we adopt this amendment and the voters approve it, it will save innocent human life. Period."
Democratic House members, however, have argued the measures are discriminatory and strip suspects of their constitutional right to due process.
"A lot of folks are going to be tied up in this that are members of my community," said Rep. Ramon Romero, D-Fort Worth, during debate on SJR 1 on Wednesday. "Laws like this, and putting this before the public and asking them to go out and vote so you can throw away the key when some undocumented person ends up in jail, that hurts our communities."
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Lawmakers have approved several other parts of Huffman's bail reform package, including a proposed constitutional amendment which, if adopted by voters, would give judges greater discretion to deny bail to defendants charged with certain violent offenses.
Senate Democrats praised the passage of that amendment, SJR 5, in a statement late Thursday after the upper chamber voted to accept House changes to the legislation and send the measure to voters.
"We faced two hard truths this session. One: Families have lost loved ones to violent crimes committed by people who never should have been released. Two: Our justice system holds too many people behind bars who don't belong there — people not yet convicted and who aren't dangerous but can't afford bail," the statement reads. "We supported SJR 5 because it acknowledges both realities."
At least one Republican House member belives the failure of several pieces of bail reform legislation in the lower chamber will prompt Abbott to call lawmakers back for a special session.
'I have no doubt that we will be called into a special session if this is not passed,' Rep. J.M. Lozano, R-Kingsville, wrote in a post on X after a Tuesday vote. 'We will ask for it to be reconsidered and will not stop until it passes.'
Only the governor can call a special session. Bail reform has been one of Abbott's key issues. The Republican designated the legislation an emergency item during his biennial State of the State address in February toward the beginning of the legislative session.
The governor has consistently voiced support for the measures on social media, firing off a spate of tweets in recent weeks urging lawmakers to vote in favor of the legislation. He also made an impromptu visit to the House last week, ostensibly to shore up support for bail reform and other legislative priorities.
Speaking briefly with reporters on the House floor last week, Abbott was clearly pleased with the passage of much of the bail reform package but urged lawmakers to push through the remaining items.
"We've been working hard on this for a long time," the governor said after chatting informally with several House members. "Too many people have been murdered because of the broken bail system that we've had.
"It needs to get done."
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Bail reform bills die in Texas House. Will Abbott call special session?
