By: Cook H.B. No. 17
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the official misconduct and removal of district
attorneys and county attorneys.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter B, Chapter 87, Local Government Code,
is amended by amending Sections 87.011, 87.015, and 87.018 to read
as follows:
Sec. 87.011. DEFINITIONS. In this subchapter:
(1) "District attorney" includes a criminal district
attorney.
(2) "Incompetency" means:
(A) gross ignorance of official duties;
(B) gross carelessness in the discharge of those
duties; or
(C) unfitness or inability to promptly and
properly discharge official duties because of a serious physical or
mental defect that did not exist at the time of the officer's
election.
(3) "Official misconduct" means intentional, unlawful
behavior relating to official duties by an officer entrusted with
the administration of justice or the execution of the law. The term
includes:
(A) an intentional or corrupt failure, refusal,
or neglect of an officer to perform a duty imposed on the officer by
law; and
(B) the adoption or implementation of a formal or
stated policy by a district attorney or a county attorney under
which that attorney prohibits or materially limits the enforcement
of any criminal offense other than to comply with an injunction,
judgment, or order issued by a court.
Sec. 87.015. PETITION FOR REMOVAL. (a) A proceeding for
the removal of an officer is begun by filing a written petition for
removal in a district court of the county in which the officer
resides. However, a proceeding for the removal of a district
attorney is begun by filing a written petition in a district court
of:
(1) the county in which the attorney resides; or
(2) the county where the alleged cause of removal
occurred, if that county is in the attorney's judicial district.
(b) Any resident of this state who has lived for at least six
months in the county in which the alleged cause of removal occurred
[petition is to be filed] and who is not currently under information
or indictment in that [the] county may file the petition. At least
one of the parties who files the petition must swear to it at or
before the filing.
(c) The petition must be addressed to the presiding judge
for the administrative region for [district judge of] the court in
which it is filed. The petition must set forth the grounds alleged
for the removal of the officer in plain and intelligible language
and must cite the time and place of the occurrence of each act
alleged as a ground for removal with as much certainty as the nature
of the case permits.
Sec. 87.018. TRIAL. (a) Officers may be removed only
following a trial by jury.
(b) The trial for removal of an officer and the proceedings
connected with the trial shall be conducted as much as possible in
accordance with the rules and practice of the court in other civil
cases, in the name of the State of Texas, and on the relation of the
person filing the petition.
(c) In a removal case, the judge may not submit special
issues to the jury. Under a proper charge applicable to the facts
of the case, the judge shall instruct the jury to find from the
evidence whether the grounds for removal alleged in the petition
are true. If the petition alleges more than one ground for removal,
the jury shall indicate in the verdict which grounds are sustained
by the evidence and which are not sustained.
(d) The county attorney shall represent the state in a
proceeding for the removal of an officer except as otherwise
provided by Subsection (e) or (f).
(e) In a proceeding to remove a county attorney from office,
the district attorney shall represent the state. If the county does
not have a district attorney, the presiding judge shall appoint a
prosecuting attorney from another county in that administrative
region and that attorney shall represent the state [county attorney
from an adjoining county, as appointed selected by the
commissioners court of the county in which the proceeding is
pending, shall represent the state].
(f) In a proceeding to remove the county attorney or
district attorney from office, the presiding judge shall appoint a
prosecuting attorney from another county in that administrative
region and that attorney shall represent the state [the county
attorney from an adjoining county, as selected by the commissioners
court of the county in which the proceeding is pending, shall
represent the state] if the attorney who would otherwise represent
the state under this section is also the subject of a pending
removal proceeding.
(g) A public declaration or announcement by a district
attorney or a county attorney of an intent to prohibit the
enforcement of any criminal offense is prima facie evidence of an
adoption or implementation of a formal or stated policy for
purposes of this chapter.
SECTION 2. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2023.