Gov. Greg Abbott unveiled four criminal justice policies as part of his priorities for next year's state legislative session during a press conference Thursday, including making county district attorneys eligible for impeachment and creating a new statewide prosecutor role.
Abbott, along with incoming state Sen. Brett Ligon and Austin Police Association President Michael Bullock, advocated for legislation they said would ensure offenders remain behind bars with adequate charges and protect public safety.
They also took jabs at Travis County District Attorney Jose Garza. The three criticized Garza for missing the 90-day indictment deadline in more than 200 criminal cases in 2024, leading to people's release, and accused the DA of not prosecuting felony offenders harshly enough.
Creating a statewide prosecutor to pursue charges not brought by local district attorneys would fix that, Abbott said.
"Our obligation as legislators, as district attorneys, as law enforcement officers, is to ensure that justice is done," the governor said. "Failing to bring indictments, allowing for the release of dangerous criminals back out on the street, is the opposite of ensuring that justice done."
Under Abbott's plan, the governor would appoint the position and it would be subject to state Senate confirmation, operating separately from the governor's office. The person would be a "professional prosecutor," not an elected official, he said.
In Garza's case, Abbott said a state prosecutor would be tracking cases awaiting indictment and could step in on the 90th day to indict.
News outlets reported in September Garza's office had begun meeting state indictment deadlines.
While it's the first time Abbott has identified the statewide prosecutor as a legislative priority, the proposal isn't new. In a post on X in December, Abbott called for similar legislation in response to a post about an Austin man with a purported history of criminal cases, several of which were misdemeanors the Travis County DA dismissed or felonies the DA declined to charge. Court records do show the man identified in that post was sentenced in some cases.
"Progressive DAs are literally leading to the murder of Texans," Abbott wrote at the time. "Those DAs must be held accountable and prosecutorial power must be shifted to actual prosecutors."
It's one of two proposals targeting Democratic district attorneys like Garza that Republicans have accused of being soft on crime. The governor also wants to make district attorneys eligible for impeachment. While other state elected officials can be impeached, DAs currently can not.
The governor denied what he called "false" arguments that impeachment could be wielded in political attacks against district attorneys. If that were true, he said, Texas would see impeachments every year — but there have only been three in the state's history, including of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
In a statement responding to Abbott's comments, Garza said crime rates have steadily declined in Travis County because the DA's office has prioritized accountability for those who cause harm and protected victims.
The district attorney called Abbott's proposal a distraction from the governor's "litany of failures."
"Under his leadership, Texans are paying more for groceries, public schools are losing funding, and too many Texans lack access to healthcare and mental healthcare," Garza said. "These failures make us less safe. The Governor and his allies would rather play politics with our safety than work to deliver on solutions that actually keep Texans safe."
The governor announced Wednesday he was expanding the Texas Department of Public Safety's repeat offender task force — first launched in the Houston area last year — to the Dallas, Austin and San Antonio metropolitan areas. Abbott said Thursday local, state and federal law enforcement have arrested more than 700 repeat offenders and seized hundreds of thousands of fentanyl doses.
The Dallas County District Attorney's Office and the Bexar County District Attorney's Office declined to comment.
Abbott also wants lawmakers to pass legislation that failed during last year's session — denying bail for immigrants in the country without legal status who are arrested for felonies.
"The reason for this is very simple," he said. "Somebody who's here illegally is a greater flight risk than somebody else. And by being arrested for a felony, they've already proven that they are an endangerment to our community."
The measure passed in the Senate and a House committee but died on the House floor. A slew of other bail-related laws — including a constitutional amendment voters approved in November — passed last year after Abbott made bail a legislative priority.
Ligon, a Republican who resigned as the Montgomery County district attorney to run for the Texas Legislature, said he'd heard victims in Travis, Dallas and Bexar counties "crying out" daily because of district attorneys not adequately charging defendants.
"You have good men and women of the Austin Police Department. You have good men women in Dallas and Bexar County and the Department of Public Safety," Ligon said. "All the work that they do comes to naught if the district attorney chooses not to file charges."
Toluwani Osibamowo is KERA’s law and justice reporter. Got a tip? Email Toluwani at tosibamowo@kera.org.
KERA News is made possible through the generosity of our members. If you find this reporting valuable, consider making a tax-deductible gift today. Thank you.
