By: Huffman S.B. No. 330
(In the Senate - Filed November 13, 2024; February 3, 2025,
read first time and referred to Committee on Criminal Justice;
April 16, 2025, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 7,
Nays 0; April 16, 2025, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to an election to approve a reduction or reallocation of
funding or resources for certain county prosecutors' offices.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. The heading to Chapter 120, Local Government
Code, is amended to read as follows:
CHAPTER 120. ELECTION FOR REDUCTION OF FUNDING OR RESOURCES FOR
CERTAIN PRIMARY LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES AND PROSECUTORS' OFFICES
SECTION 2. Chapter 120, Local Government Code, is amended
by adding Section 120.0001 to read as follows:
Sec. 120.0001. DEFINITION. In this chapter, "prosecutor's
office" means the office of a district attorney, a criminal
district attorney, or a county attorney with criminal jurisdiction.
SECTION 3. Sections 120.002(a) and (c), Local Government
Code, are amended to read as follows:
(a) Except as provided by Section 120.003, a county shall
hold an election in accordance with this chapter if the county
adopts a budget for a fiscal year that, compared to the budget
adopted by the county for the preceding fiscal year:
(1) reduces for a law enforcement agency, excluding a
9-1-1 call center, with primary responsibility for policing,
criminal investigation, and answering calls for service or for a
prosecutor's office:
(A) for a fiscal year in which the overall amount
of the budget is equal to or greater than the amount for the
preceding fiscal year, the appropriation to the agency or office;
(B) for a fiscal year in which the overall amount
of the budget is less than the amount for the preceding fiscal year,
the appropriation to the agency or office as a percentage of the
total budget;
(C) as applicable:
(i) if the county has not declined in
population since the preceding fiscal year, the number of peace
officer positions, excluding detention officer positions; or
(ii) if the county has declined in
population since the preceding fiscal year, the number of peace
officer positions, excluding detention officer positions, the law
enforcement agency is authorized to employ per 1,000 county
residents; or
(D) the amount of funding per peace officer for
the recruitment and training of new peace officers to fill vacant
and new peace officer positions in the agency; or
(2) reallocates funding or resources to another law
enforcement agency or prosecutor's office.
(c) For purposes of this section, a county budget does not
include:
(1) a one-time extraordinary expense, as determined by
the comptroller, that is outside the normal costs of operating a law
enforcement agency or prosecutor's office, including purchasing a
fleet of law enforcement vehicles or constructing an additional
training academy;
(2) revenues used to repay voter-approved bonded
indebtedness incurred for a law enforcement or prosecutorial
purpose;
(3) detention officer compensation; or
(4) a donation or state or federal grant to the
county's law enforcement agency or prosecutor's office.
SECTION 4. Section 120.007(c), Local Government Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(c) Notwithstanding any other law, if the comptroller
determines that a county implemented a proposed reduction or
reallocation described by Section 120.002(a) without the required
voter approval, the county may not adopt an ad valorem tax rate that
exceeds the county's no-new-revenue tax rate until the earlier of:
(1) the date the comptroller issues a written
determination that the county has, as applicable:
(A) reversed each funding reduction, adjusted
for inflation, and personnel reduction that was a subject of the
determination; or
(B) restored all reallocated funding and
resources that were subjects of the determination to the original
law enforcement agency or prosecutor's office; or
(2) the date on which each reduction and reallocation
that was a subject of the determination has been approved in an
election held in accordance with this chapter.
SECTION 5. This Act takes effect January 1, 2026.
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