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With bills still being filed and committee assignments still to be made, we are waiting to see what action the League needs to take on our priority issues. However, following trends in other states around the country, we are seeing bills filed this session that would impact the independence of the justice system in protecting individual rights, including voting rights. Please read the great recap of the last session (provided below) by Julie Lowenberg, Issue Chair for Judicial Selection, outlining efforts made in 2021 to reshape the Texas Courts of Appeal.
With redistricting a live issue in this session, we may see similar efforts in 2023. There is no doubt that decisions by courts state and federal and shaping the future of individual freedoms from privacy to voting rights with impacts across communities. Similarly, expansion of policing specifically into voting and election law raises questions of how courts and communities make the distinction between simple mistakes and criminal conduct.
We are also seeing a focus on prosecutorial discretion and how it is exercised. Judges and prosecutors are elected in Texas. While neither is or should merely represent the interests of constituencies, both must understand and respect the tolerances of the communities that elect them. It is from those communities that jurors are drawn and juries ultimately decide what is reasonable and acceptable in their communities. The exercise of discretion by county and district attorneys in particular is more often than not a reflection of that reality and the reality that resources are limited and must be used wisely.
Around the country, legislators are finding ways of circumventing local prosecutors in communities where there is support of privacy rights and skepticism of claims of voter fraud. The laws being proposed, including here in Texas, are broad and have far-reaching consequences for local control.
We will keep you updated as the session continues.
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Judicial Selection: Past & Future
Julie Lowenberg, Issue Chair
A look back to the recent past:
Despite hopes raised in 2019-2020 that the work of the Interim Commission on Judicial Selection would lead to a new and fairer system for selecting qualified, fair and impartial judges, meaningful reform did not occur in 2021. The Commission report indicated an even (7-7 with one abstention) split on adoption of an appointive judicial selection system followed by retention election (basically the LWV position) but rejected adoption of a nonpartisan judicial election system. No bills were filed that would have significantly changed the current system.
However, two proposed constitutional amendments that favorably “tweak” the system, supported by the League and our coalition partner, Fair Courts Network, passed the legislature and became law after approval by Texas voters in November 2021:
- SJR 47 increased the minimum qualifications for judicial offices by increasing the required amount of judicial experience as well as the period during which a person’s license to practice law could not have been revoked, suspended or subject to a probated suspension. The report of the Interim Commission on Judicial Selection had overwhelmingly recommended these changes to current law.
- HJR 165 allows the State Commission on Judicial Conduct (SCJC) to accept complaints or reports, conduct investigations, and take any other action authorized by the Texas Constitution with respect to a candidate for state judicial office in the same manner the commission may take those actions with respect to a person holding such office. This new law thus levels the playing field between candidates for judicial office who are not current officeholders and incumbents by expanding the authority of the SCJC to receive complaints and conduct investigations. Previously elected judicial officers were held to high standards specified in the Code of Judicial Conduct, whereas their non-judge opponents were not.
Sadly, the zeal of some legislators to restrict voting rights and access also threatened to adversely and unfairly affect judicial selection in Texas:
- SB 11 would have restructured the Texas Courts of Appeals by consolidating the number of appeals courts districts from 14 to 7.
- SB 1529 would have created a special appeals court of limited jurisdiction, giving the state undue preference in litigation brought against the state by citizens alleging injustices committed by the state or its agents - with the judges on this new court elected at-large statewide.
- HB 1875 would have created special Business Courts at the trial and appellate levels which would have jurisdiction in cases involving complex business law – with the judges on both courts being appointed by the governor. Fortunately all of these bills, vigorously opposed by LWV and many members and supporters via Action Alerts, died during the 2021 legislative process.
A look ahead to 2023:
Unfortunately, we anticipate that there will be similar attempts in the 2023 Legislature to circumscribe the jurisdiction and makeup of the state’s lower courts, making them less accessible and amenable to urban voters and their concerns.
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Women Power Texas~ A Making Democracy Work Dinner
You're cordially invited to attend "Women Power Texas ~ A Making Democracy Work Dinner," our annual fundraising dinner, on Monday, February 27th, 2023 at 6:30 p.m. at the UT Etter-Harbin Alumni Center located at 2110 San Jacinto Boulevard in Austin, Texas.
Our keynote speaker is Rochelle Garza, and our honorees are Texas Gun Sense, Texas Impact, and the Texas Tribune.
Sponsorship packages are available. For more information about the event and to purchase tickets and sponsorship packages, click here.
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We need your help with redistricting!
It is crucial that you provide testimony once again, in case we have to recreate the legislative record. You have a few options to do so:
- Resubmit your written testimony from the last session, and also add in comments about the sham hearings/process. Again, why hold regional hearings if you've already stated that you are not changing the maps?
- Sign up to provide virtual testimony. Remember, you can provide input at any of the hearings, not just the hearing that covers your region of the state. Please be sure to notify the committee clerk if someone in your group needs language assistance, and please reach out to us if they deny your request, like they did last session.
- Prepare new testimony that talks about how you have been impacted by the current maps:
- Did you lose your candidate of choice?
- How has your community been impacted by the new map?
- What new policy issues have impacted/continue to impact your community?
- Are you now mixed in with communities located in far off places, ones that have very different needs?
- Has your new senator been responsive to your needs so far?
- Are there any new problems pertaining to discrimination that you have faced, whether it be in elections or some other policy area like housing, healthcare, the environment?
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Voting Rights/Election Law
As in the rest of the country, Texas elections are underfunded. State and local election officials need more money to accommodate more voters and to increase the security of our election infrastructure. But increased funding should not be used to increase policing of elections or to fund efforts to take over local elections.
Women Healthcare/Reproductive Rights
Healthcare for low-income women and children is woefully underfunded. Simply funding what is already mandated by Texas law would be an improvement.
Gun Safety
Since the last legislative session, the Supreme Court has expanded gun rights under the Second Amendment. The result has been Federal Appellate decisions raising questions as to what state and local regulations will pass constitutional muster.
Public Education
Preserving and expanding state funding for public schools is a priority as well as opposing efforts to reduce funding through vouchers.
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League of Women Voters of Texas
1212 Guadalupe St. #107
Austin Texas, 78701
(512) 472-1100
lwvtexas@lwvtexas.org
lwvtexas.org
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