Texas Senate Passes Bill Authorizing Prosecutions Of Election Crimes

The Texas Senate passed a bill on Wednesday authorizing the Texas Office of Attorney General (OAG) to prosecute election crimes.

SB 11, filed by state Sen. Bryan Hughes, R-Tyler, was a legislative priority of Gov. Greg Abbott’s and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s.

It was filed after the Texas Supreme Court ruled that the “attorney general is not required by law to prosecute election law violations.” The court also held that the OAG, as part of the executive branch, can prosecute election crimes at the invitation of or permission of the county prosecutor but cannot initiate prosecution unilaterally.

State Election Code also does not require the OAG to initiate prosecution for election violations.

The Texas Constitution’s separation of powers clause prohibits the OAG from independently and unilaterally initiating prosecution of alleged election fraud because it is part of the executive, not judicial, branch. The OAG can only investigate and prosecute alleged election fraud or any other crime after county or district attorneys request it to.

SB 11 would change that by amending state law to authorize the attorney general to prosecute election crimes if no proceedings have begun on the crimes after a period of six months passes. The bill would require local law enforcement officers who normally submit reports of probable cause of election crimes to local prosecuting attorneys to also submit them to the OAG. It also would require them to provide the OAG with all information from their election crime investigations upon request, according to the bill analysis.