88R22006 TSS-F
 
  By: Cook, Moody, Leach, Metcalf, Burrows, H.B. No. 17
      et al.
 
  Substitute the following for H.B. No. 17:
 
  By:  Moody C.S.H.B. No. 17
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to official misconduct by and removal of prosecuting
  attorneys.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Section 87.011, Local Government Code, is
  amended by amending Subdivision (3) and adding Subdivisions (4) and
  (5) to read as follows:
               (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; or
                     (B)  a prosecuting attorney's adoption or
  enforcement of a policy of categorically refusing to prosecute
  specific criminal offenses under state law, except a policy
  adopted:
                           (i)  in compliance with state law or an
  injunction, judgment, or other court order;
                           (ii)  in response to an evidentiary
  impediment to prosecution;
                           (iii)  to provide for diversion or similar
  conditional dismissals of cases; or
                           (iv)  to require supervisory review or the
  presentation of certain specified evidence before prosecution is
  authorized.
               (4)  "Policy" means an instruction or directive
  expressed in any matter.
               (5)  "Prosecuting attorney" means a district attorney
  or a county attorney with criminal jurisdiction.
         SECTION 2.  Section 87.015, Local Government Code, is
  amended by amending Subsections (b) and (c) and adding Subsection
  (b-1) to read as follows:
         (b)  A petition for removal of an officer other than a
  prosecuting attorney may be filed by any [Any] resident of this
  state who has lived for at least six months in the county in which
  the petition is to be filed and who is not currently under
  indictment in 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.
         (b-1)  A petition for removal of a prosecuting attorney may
  be filed by any resident of this state who, at the time of the
  alleged cause of removal, lives and has lived for at least six
  months in the county in which the alleged cause of removal occurred
  and who is not currently charged with a criminal offense other than
  a Class C misdemeanor in that county. At least one of the parties
  who files the petition must swear to it at or before the filing. 
         (c)  A [The] petition for removal of an officer other than a
  prosecuting attorney must be addressed to the district judge of the
  court in which it is filed. A petition for removal of a prosecuting
  attorney must be addressed to the presiding judge of the
  administrative judicial region in which the petition 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 3.  Subchapter B, Chapter 87, Local Government Code,
  is amended by adding Section 87.0151 to read as follows:
         Sec. 87.0151.  ASSIGNMENT OF JUDGE IN CERTAIN CASES. (a)  
  Immediately after a petition for removal of a prosecuting attorney
  is filed with a district court under Section 87.015, the district
  clerk shall deliver a copy of the petition to the presiding judge of
  the administrative judicial region in which the court sits. 
         (b)  On receiving a petition for removal of a prosecuting
  attorney under Subsection (a), the presiding judge of the
  administrative judicial region shall assign a district court judge
  of a judicial district that does not include the county in which the
  petition was filed to conduct the removal proceedings. 
         SECTION 4.  Section 87.018, Local Government Code, is
  amended by amending Subsections (e) and (f) and adding Subsection
  (g) to read as follows:
         (e)  In a proceeding to remove a county attorney who is not a
  prosecuting attorney from office, the district attorney shall
  represent the state.  If the county does not have a district
  attorney, 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.
         (f)  In a proceeding to remove a prosecuting attorney [the
  county attorney or district attorney] from office, the presiding
  judge of the administrative judicial region in which the petition
  for removal was filed shall appoint a prosecuting [the county]
  attorney from another judicial district or county, as applicable,
  in the administrative judicial region to [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)  In a proceeding to remove a prosecuting attorney from
  office, a prosecuting attorney's public statement indicating the
  prosecuting attorney has adopted or enforced or intends to adopt or
  enforce a policy described by Section 87.011(3)(B) creates a
  rebuttable presumption that the prosecuting attorney has committed
  official misconduct.
         SECTION 5.  The changes in law made by this Act apply only to
  an action taken by a prosecuting attorney on or after the effective
  date of this Act.
         SECTION 6.  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.