Texas House approves push to award Attorney General Ken Paxton back pay

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The Texas House on Tuesday approved a motion instructing lawmakers to advocate for awarding Attorney General Ken Paxton the salary he missed while impeached in 2023 as they negotiate the final version of the state’s two-year budget.

The motion, offered by Rep. Mitch Little, R-Lewisville, instructs House lawmakers to push to include a budget amendment he filed last week that would give Paxton a one-time $63,750 payment — the amount of salary Paxton was denied while impeached in 2023 over allegations that he accepted bribes and abused the authority of his office. The funding would be taken from the amount set aside in the budget for the Texas House.

Under the Texas Constitution, Paxton could not receive his salary while impeached and suspended from office. He was eventually acquitted by the Senate.

“This shouldn’t be controversial,” said Little, who served as one of Paxton’s defense attorneys during his impeachment trial. “We had a complete trial, and we had an acquittal, and I think it’s time to replace what was broken.”

The motion was approved 88 to 56 on a largely party-line vote that offered Republicans who had voted in favor of impeaching Paxton a chance to make amends.

Four Republicans — Reps. Drew Darby, Charlie Geren, Stan Lambert and Gary VanDeaver — opposed the motion, while six Democrats, all of whom who had voted to impeach in 2023, defected from their party to approve the motion.

One notable Republican voting in favor of the motion was Rep. Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, who oversaw Paxton’s impeachment as House speaker and stepped back from House leadership this session after relentless attacks tagging him as insufficiently conservative and a traitor to his party.

Rep. Gene Wu, D-Houston, spoke against the motion on Tuesday, arguing that pay provisions are dictated by state law — raising questions about the constitutionality of awarding Paxton back pay through the state budget.

Rep. Greg Bonnen, R-Friendswood and chair of the House Appropriations Committee, acknowledged the concern but said that the mechanics of granting the salary would be worked through outside the motion, which he supported.

“There definitely are some constitutional considerations, and there may be, again, another legislative vehicle to address this,” he said. “But today, it’s more of a statement of sentiment or your belief of whether this should be done or not.”

The House passed its $337 billion spending plan last week after 14 hours of debate that sent hundreds of proposed amendments, including ones to pay Paxton back his missed salary, to the dust bin. The Senate passed a similar budget proposal last month.

Lawmakers from both chambers will now meet to hammer out any differences between the measures before approving a final version.

The motion the House approved on Tuesday does not guarantee that the final budget will include back pay for Paxton.

But Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who presides over the Senate, has expressed support for awarding Paxton his missed salary, saying he sees a negative precedent set if he is not paid back.

“I think Ken Paxton was unfairly, in essence, robbed of 50,000 or so of his salary,” Patrick told reporters this month. “I do think that the House owes Ken Paxton that back pay.”

Renzo Downey contributed to this report.

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