BILL ANALYSIS

S.B. 1220

By: Hughes

State Affairs

Committee Report (Unamended)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

The bill sponsor has informed the committee that, in Ex Parte Charette, 2024 WL 4260409 (Tex. Crim. App. Sept. 18, 2024), the court held that the Texas Ethics Commission (TEC) has exclusive jurisdiction under Government Code provisions governing the TEC to investigate and determine violations of the Election Code before criminal prosecution can proceed. Based upon this announced legal principle, the court dismissed the criminal case against Charette because no TEC proceeding had occurred. S.B. 1220 seeks to clarify that subject matter jurisdiction in criminal trial courts is not conditioned on the exhaustion of civil remedies.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly create a criminal offense, increase the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or change the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.

ANALYSIS

S.B. 1220 amends the Government Code to establish that, unless expressly provided otherwise, the exhaustion of civil, including administrative, remedies is not a prerequisite to the vesting in a trial court of subject matter jurisdiction over a criminal action for which the trial court would otherwise have jurisdiction under other law. The bill applies to a criminal action commenced before, on, or after the bill's effective date.

EFFECTIVE DATE

On passage, or, if the bill does not receive the necessary vote, September 1, 2025.