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Senate advances bill restoring attorney general role in election prosecutions
Summary
The Texas Senate approved advancing Committee Substitute Senate Bill 11 to engrossment after a lengthy floor debate that sought to restore prosecutorial authority over election crimes to the attorney general’s office, a power the court limited in 2021.
Senator Hughes secured Senate passage to engrossment on Committee Substitute Senate Bill 11 on the legislature’s special-session calendar, moving to restore the attorney general’s authority to prosecute alleged election-law offenses statewide.
The bill’s author, Senator Hughes, told colleagues the measure would “make it clear that when there's evidence that election crimes have been violated, the attorney general can be involved right away. The AG doesn't have to wait for an invitation. The AG does not have to wait for permission.”
The legislation responds to a February 2021 decision in the Stevens case by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals that, Hughes said, constrained the long-standing practice dating to 1985 of allowing the attorney general’s office to prosecute certain…
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