By: Cook H.B. No. 3307
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. Section 87.011 of the Local Government Code is
amended 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 an intentional or corrupt failure, refusal, or neglect of
an officer to perform a duty imposed on the officer by law. A
district attorney or a county attorney may not announce, adopt, or
implement a formal or stated policy under which the district
attorney prohibits or materially limits the enforcement of any
criminal offense, save and except to comply with an injunction,
judgment, or order issued by a court with jurisdiction over the
officer.
SECTION 2. Section 87.015 of the Local Government Code is
amended to read as follows:
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; or
(3) in a county contiguous to where the alleged cause
of removal occurred.
(b) Any resident of this state who has lived for at least six
months in the county in which the petition is to be filedalleged
cause of removal occurred and who is not currently under
information or indictment in thesuch county, may file the
petition. Additionally, a district attorney or a county attorney
in a county contiguous to where the alleged cause of removal
occurred may file a petition in the county where the alleged cause
of removal occurred or in a county contiguous to where the alleged
cause of removal occurred. 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 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.
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.