Texas Senate votes in favor of proposals to deny bail to certain accused violent criminals

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Legislation that would keep certain criminal defendants in jail while they await the resolution of their cases sailed through the Texas Senate this week.

The Republican-led body overwhelmingly passed three bail-related proposals onto the House on Wednesday and approved a fourth one on Thursday. Spearheaded by Republican state senator from Houston Joan Huffman, a former Harris County prosecutor, the package of legislation seeks to tighten the state's bail policies and keep defendants accused of certain violent crimes in jail as they await the resolution of their cases. The four measures now move to the House, where changes in bail policy have previously faced an uphill battle.

Senate Joint Resolution 5, which passed 28-2 on Thursday, would amend the Texas Constitution to allow judges to deny bail to defendants accused of murder, aggravated kidnapping, robbery or assault with a weapon. Currently, defendants are largely guaranteed the right to pretrial release except in limited circumstances, including when charged with capital murder. Senate lawmakers say the change is necessary to prevent violent offenders from committing additional crimes once they are released from jail.

"We sent a clear message to the House members that we are tired of seeing people die," Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said before calling for a vote on SJR 5. "We are going to fight for this bill because we are fighting for the families." A measure similar to SJR 5 passed through the Senate in 2021 and 2023 but failed to move in the House.

Senate Bill 9 passed 28-2 on Wednesday and builds on a 2021 state law that narrowed who is eligible for release from jail on a low-cost or cashless bond. Under SB 9, people accused of unlawful possession of a firearm, violation of a family violence protective order, terroristic threat, or murder as a result of manufacturing or delivering fentanyl could no longer be released from jail while their cases play out, unless they can afford to pay the cash bond set by a judge, or a portion of that amount to a bail bonds company.

The Senate also approved on Wednesday 29-2 Senate Joint Resolution 1, which would amend the Texas Constitution to restrict judges from offering bail to undocumented immigrants charged with a felony. Huffman said the amendment would help the state align with the Laken Riley Act, a new federal law that requires law enforcement officers to detain undocumented immigrants arrested for or charged with certain crimes.

Texas’ proposal was named Jocelyn’s Law in memory of Jocelyn Nungaray, a 12-year-old Houstonian who was sexually assaulted and murdered last June, allegedly by two undocumented immigrants from Venezuela who now face capital murder charges. The case garnered national attention, and Jocelyn’s mother also visited the state Capitol last week to advocate for more restrictions on bail for undocumented immigrants.

“There are many alleged murderers out on the street in Harris County and in the state of Texas,” Huffman told fellow senators as she presented the bill on Wednesday. “Members, this is just unacceptable in our state.”

Sen. Nathan Johnson, D-Dallas, said SJR 1 could face constitutional problems, but he nonetheless voted in favor of it. SJR 1 and SJR 5 now head to the House for consideration, where it must receive support from two-thirds of lawmakers before it can appear on the November ballot for voter approval.

Patrick, who presides over the Senate, told reporters last week that the suite of bills in the bail package has the support of House Speaker Dustin Burrows, a Lubbock Republican, and that if the bills fail to pass through the House, there is no reason not to hold one or more special legislative sessions. Burrows’ office did not respond to the Tribune’s request to confirm his support.

Rep. Gene Wu, a Houston Democrat who was appointed vice chair of the criminal jurisprudence committee, told The Texas Tribune in a Wednesday interview that he had concerns about the bail legislation. He said he hopes other lawmakers look carefully at the bills before agreeing to pass them.

“Denying bail because of someone’s immigration status is very openly and clearly unconstitutional,” Wu said, referring to SJR 1. Immigration attorneys also raised constitutional concerns during last week’s Senate Criminal Justice Committee hearing where Huffman introduced the bills.

The proposed bail changes come as Gov. Greg Abbott declared “bail reform” one of his seven emergency items during his State of the State address this month, allowing lawmakers to fast-track the legislation. The governor has repeatedly criticized the state’s bail system, pointing to cases where violent offenders are released on bond and then commit more crimes.

Patrick, who presides over the Senate, also designated SB 9 a priority. Patrick attended last week’s committee hearing where invited family members of crime victims as well as local law enforcement officers voiced their concerns about the state’s current bail policies.

About 70% of Texas’ jail population is pretrial, meaning they are presumed innocent and have not yet been convicted of the crime for which they are incarcerated. That number has doubled over the last 25 years, pushing county jails past their capacity and leading some to export their pretrial detainees to private prisons in neighboring states.

Increasing the state’s reliance on pretrial detention strains crowded jails struggling with low staffing levels, according to critics of Huffman’s proposals. Critics, which include nonprofit organizations such as the Texas Civil Rights Project and the ACLU, also say the bills would not improve public safety because pretrial detention destabilizes individuals by separating them from their jobs and families, exacerbates physical and mental health problems and increases an individual’s chance of rearrest.

Kirsten Budwine, a policy attorney with the Texas Civil Rights Project said in a statement that she was disappointed by the Texas senators who voted to pass the bail bills that “only exacerbate the harms of pretrial detention, impede on judicial discretion, insult the legal principle of presumption of innocence, and further target immigrant communities.”

“We are hopeful that the Texas House will recognize that these regressive ‘bail reform’ bills are counterproductive to public safety, and vote them down,” Budwine added.

On Wednesday, the Senate also passed 27-3 Senate Bill 40, which would prohibit political subdivisions from using public funds to pay nonprofit organizations that help defendants cover bail costs. Huffman alleged last week that Harris County has used public funds to pay The Bail Project, a national organization that helps low-income defendants pay bail.

Representatives of The Bail Project have vehemently denied that they have received any public dollars, clarifying that the money they received from Harris County were refunds of bail that they posted for low-income Harris County defendants. Bail is legally refundable to the payor if a defendant makes their court hearings.

“This bill is based entirely on misinformation and false claims,” Emma Stammen, policy strategist for The Bail Project, said during a Wednesday press call.

Harris County’s auditor’s office confirmed that the payments were bail refunds.

Huffman said on the Senate floor that she was “not accusing anyone of anything” and that she decided to propose the bills after victims of crime came to her concerned about public dollars going toward bail.

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