AUSTIN — House Speaker Dade Phelan on Friday announced eight more priorities of the chamber, including bills focused on border security.
Phelan, a Beaumont Republican, has named more than two dozen bills as top priorities across a variety of subjects. The last day to file bills was Friday.
House Bill 20, filed by state Rep. Matt Schaefer, R-Tyler, would establish a Border Protection Unit.
The unit would be housed within the Texas Department of Public Safety and directed by a governor-appointed chief “to provide a mission-oriented, locally based response to the state’s ongoing border security operations,” officials said.
The unit would prioritize the recruitment of individuals who are either residents of or have significant experience with border communities to staff the operation, and eventually send Texas National Guard soldiers, state troopers and game wardens that have been deployed along the border for weeks or months at a time back home.
In tandem with HB 20, House Bill 7 would create a 10-member Legislative Border Safety Oversight Committee to provide recommendations guiding the state’s border safety policies and oversight over the Border Protection Unit. That bill was filed by state Rep. Ryan Guillen, R-Rio Grande City.
“Addressing our state’s border and humanitarian crisis is a must-pass issue for the Texas House this year, and I thank (state) Reps. Guillen and Schaefer for filing House Bills 7 and 20 respectively, which, when combined, will lead to a safer Texas that overall reduces the cost to taxpayers,” Phelan said.
House Bill 1600, filed by state Rep. Cole Hefner, R-Mount Pleasant, would create a state penalty for people trying to enter the state of Texas at a location other than an official port of entry.
Fernando Garcia, executive director of the Border Network for Human Rights, said the priorities reaffirm that “Texas is indeed becoming the epicenter of the anti-immigrant, anti-refugee agenda.”
“We’re going to continue to reject this idea that the state has to enforce immigration laws, (and) we’re going to continue denouncing their intentions, which is the criminalization of migrants and refugees,” Garcia said.
Phelan also prioritized bills related to the state’s border mission, known as Operation Lone Star.
House Bill 800, filed by Guillen, would increase the mandatory minimum sentence for such convictions to 10 years in prison.
It also would require a minimum of five years in prison for people convicted of running a stash house — which are often used to facilitate human trafficking or drug smuggling — and create the ability to also charge that person with a third-degree felony punishable by up to 10 years for any additional offenses committed.
House Bill 90, also known as the Bishop Evans Act, would improve workers compensation and death benefits for Texas military personnel on active duty, allowing those service members the same access as officers who are killed in the line of duty.
Filed by state Rep. Jared Patterson, R-Frisco, the bill is a response to the death of Evans, a Texas Army National Guard specialist who died last year after jumping into the Rio Grande to aid two immigrants.
After his death, his family received no financial payment, which is often offered to other state employees who die while on state active duty.
FENTANYL CRISIS
House Bill 6, filed by state Rep. Craig Goldman, R-Fort Worth, would impose punishments for fentanyl-related crimes in Texas by increasing the penalty for manufacturing or delivering less than one gram of fentanyl to a third-degree felony that is punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
Addressing the fentanyl crisis has been backed by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, who named it one of his top priorities during his State of the State address last month.
“(We must) call fentanyl deaths what they are — poisonings,” Abbott said during his speech.
REIN IN PROSECUTORS
House Bill 17, filed by Rep. David Cook, R-Mansfield, would prohibit district and county attorneys from announcing, adopting or implementing policies that prevent or materially limit the enforcement of certain criminal offenses in Texas.
Under this bill, the prohibition would be included in the state’s definition of “official misconduct” for purposes of petitioning a local court for removal of a district or county attorney.
Lastly, House Bill 200, filed by state Rep. Jeff Leach, R-Plano, would re-establish the Prosecuting Attorneys Coordinating Council.
The council would be a state agency administratively attached to the Supreme Court of Texas with jurisdiction to review and resolve complaints involving incompetence and misconduct by prosecuting attorneys.
The council, which would have the ability to conduct hearings, issue subpoenas and order depositions, could issue findings related to misconduct as well as file petitions for the removal of attorneys, per the bill.
