(The Center Square) – The Texas Senate passed a bipartisan bill with nearly unanimous support to implement statewide bail reform.
Gov. Greg Abbott listed bail reform as an emergency item for the legislature to pass. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who leads the Texas Senate, listed it as a legislative priority.
The Senate’s bipartisan bail reform package includes SB 9, SB 40 and Senate Joint Resolutions 1, all filed by Sen. Joan Huffman, R-Houston.
“As a former prosecutor and criminal district court judge, I faced some of our state’s most dangerous criminals firsthand. Now, as your senator, I’m leveraging that experience to pass common-sense public policy for safer communities and stronger protections for victims,” Huffman said after the bills passed on Wednesday.
“I, along with millions of Texans, am fed up with the violent, repeat offenders being released into our communities by judges that are more concerned about their own political agenda than the safety and security of law-abiding Texans,” she said.
SB 9 would implement stringent measures to enhance judicial accountability and public safety by shifting authority to set initial bonds for specific high-risk defendants, including those on parole, repeat felony offenders, and those charged with violent crimes or detained under immigration bolds, from a hearing officer to a presiding judge accountable to voters.
It also would expand the list of ineligible offenses for personal bonds to include unlawful firearm possession, violation of family violence protective orders, terroristic threats, and murder related to fentanyl distribution. It would increase transparency in charitable bail organizations’ reporting, prevent magistrates from altering bonds set by a district court, mandate a judicial appearance before a felony bond may be set, and provide a new appeal process for prosecutors to challenge insufficient bail.
It incorporates provision of a different bill filed by Huffman, SB 1047, which enhanced the Public Safety Reporting System used by judges to set bail by flagging defendants with protective orders and who are on probation, parole, or have outstanding warrants. It also would improve victim notification requirements in family violence, stalking, harassment and terroristic threat cases to include their input in bail decisions that may impact their own safety.
SB 40 would ban the use of taxpayer money by a political subdivision to fund nonprofit organizations that use public donations to pay bail bonds for defendants. It also would allow taxpayers or residents to seek injunctive relief if the prohibition is violated.
SJR 1 proposes a constitutional amendment “requiring the denial of bail for an illegal alien charged with an offense punishable as a felony.” It proposes that the amendment be submitted to the voters in a Nov. 4, 2025, election.
The constitutional amendment, Jocelyn’s Law, is named after a slain 12-year-old Houston girl allegedly raped and strangled to death by Venezuelan men illegally in the country.
A constitutional amendment resolution must receive a two-thirds vote in both chambers before being put on the ballot for voters to approve or reject.
The Texas Constitution currently guarantees a right to bail except for those who commit capital offenses and are convicted of multiple felonies. No punishment exists for judges who release repeat violent felons onto the streets on personal recognizance or low bonds.
“Across Texas, and specifically in Harris County, repeat and violent offenders, including those here illegally, are being released on personal recognizance or very low bail by judges and magistrates who disregard offenders’ violent history,” Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, a Republican resident of Harris County, said. “This puts Texas communities and law enforcement at risk. Repeat offenders must not be allowed to roam freely, continuing their crime sprees and wreaking havoc across our state.
“The Texas Senate has heard the cries from Texans statewide whose lives have been uprooted by criminals out without bond or very low bond set by rogue judges or magistrates. The Senate has passed bail reform every session over the last 6 years. Every single bail reform bill has died in the Texas House. This is unacceptable.”
Patrick also said he met with House Speaker Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, and is hopeful the Texas House will pass bail reform. “This is a life-or-death issue, and failure to pass any bill or joint resolution in this package is unacceptable,” Patrick said. “The Texas Senate will pass this bail reform package over and over again until the Texas House passes it,” adding that he would ask Abbott to call a special session if it doesn’t pass in the regular session.
In 2021, Abbott signed Huffman’s bail reform legislation into law, which was described as a way to limit judges from releasing defendants on personal recognizance bonds who were charged with committing felonies, including multiple violent crimes. The law created a database to provide details about each defendant’s case and bail conditions and identify judges or magistrates who set bail, among other measures, The Center Square reported.
Abbott said it would “reform our broken bail system in Texas and keep our communities safe.”
The claim proved to be false as judges continued to release violent offenders onto the streets and violent crime increased, especially in Harris County. Crime got so bad that Democratic voters and first time voters in November ousted some incumbent judges who habitually released violent repeat felony offenders onto the streets, The Center Square reported.