Good morning!

At 9 a.m. this morning, Brandon Waltens and I will be at the Texas Capitol looking at what's coming up this week in the Lone Star State. You can catch us live (or watch the recording) on 𝕏, Facebook, and YouTube.

This is the Texas Minute for Tuesday, May 20, 2025.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

THE ADVANCE

• At 9 a.m. this morning, Brandon Waltens and I will be live at the Texas Capitol for this week's edition of The Advance. We will be looking at what's coming up this week in the Lone Star State. You can catch it on 𝕏, Facebook, and YouTube.

House Votes To Crack Down on Bail for Violent Criminals

• A package of bail reform legislation championed by Gov. Greg Abbott passed out of the Texas House yesterday. As Brandon Waltens reports, an uphill battle remains for a proposal to deny bond to illegal aliens charged with felonies.
      
• At the center of the package is Senate Bill 9, which passed the House 122-20. It adds strict new limits on personal bonds, imposes accountability standards on magistrates, regulates charitable bail organizations, and gives prosecutors expanded authority to appeal lenient bail decisions.
       
• Alongside SB 9, the House also approved Senate Joint Resolution 5, a proposed constitutional amendment that would allow judges to deny bail in serious felony cases if prosecutors demonstrate the defendant poses a threat to public safety.
       
• Things are less certain for Senate Joint Resolution 1, known as Jocelyn’s Law after the 12-year-old Houston girl murdered in 2024 by two illegal aliens. It would prohibit bail for illegal aliens charged with a wide array of violent or serious felonies. While the measure passed with an initial vote 88-50, it was short of the two-thirds required for a constitutional amendment. SJR1 will receive another vote later today.
      
• With their vote against SJR1, House Democrats said they are more concerned with helping violent illegal aliens than protecting Texans.

RELATED NEWS

• Following his arrest in 2021 for the murder of his sister, George’s bond was initially set at $500,000. However, after seven separate bond hearings, it was ultimately reduced to just $35,000. In the years since, George has faced a string of additional criminal charges, ranging from indecent exposure to theft of cash and violent robbery.
       
• "Reports show since 2019, over 200 criminal cases in the greater Houston area involved defendants previously released on low cash or no cash bonds, who subsequently assaulted or killed another person." – State Rep. A.J. Louderback (R–Victoria)

East Texas Judge Accused of Making Death Threat to Secure Plea Deal

• Travis Morgan reports that a judge who allegedly threatened the life of a defendant is now in serious legal trouble. Rains County Justice of the Peace Robert Jenkins Franklin is accused of coercing defendant Coby Clifton Wiebe into accepting a plea deal during a private phone call. Franklin was not overseeing Wiebe's case.
       
• Wiebe had been accused of disclosing intimate photographs of a woman without her consent and with the intent to embarrass, according to the indictment against him.
     
• This is not the only case in which Franklin has been accused of threatening a defendant. In a recorded 43-minute phone call, Franklin allegedly threatened to kill a woman and her brother while making a variety of threats against her family attorney and Child Protective Services case workers.

Paxton Announces Investigation Into US Masters Swimming

• Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office is launching an investigation into possible violations of state law by U.S. Masters Swimming. Luca Cacciatore has the details.
       
• The probe will specifically focus on whether U.S. Masters Swimming engaged in false, deceptive, and misleading acts and practices by marketing a San Antonio event as a women’s sporting event but allowing men to compete.
      
• Citizens first sounded the alarm after Hugo “Ana” Caldas, a 47-year-old male who identifies as a female, took first place in five events at the 2025 Spring Nationals, held at the Northside Independent School District Swim Center in late April.
       
• "The policy of US Masters Swimming, which allows men to compete in women’s events, is reprehensible and could violate Texas’s consumer protection laws." – Ken Paxton

Quote-Unquote

"Only a rank degenerate would drive 1,500 miles across Texas without eating a chicken fried steak."

– Larry McMurtry​

Y'All Answered

Late last week, the Texas Senate voted to abolish the Texas Lottery Commission, transferring oversight of scratch-off tickets and number drawings to the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation with a new set of strict laws and regulations. All of this is being done to address a decade of scandals that have come to light, which have led some lawmakers to call the lottery a "money laundering" operation. Under the Senate plan, TDLR will have two years to fix the lottery, or it will be abolished.

Yesterday, we asked readers if they thought the Texas House should adopt this change.

Here is a sampling of replies we received from folks after they clicked their answer.

• “The lottery should be shut down altogether. It was sold to Texans as a way to raise money for education, and that was just another lie from Austin politicians.” – John R. Blocker, Jr. 
      

• “Why wait two years? Abolish now.” – Lisa Buck
      

• “Don't extend the life of the lottery by reforming it. Shut it down immediately. It started with the lie that it would fund education; it never did, and it provides little income to the state budget.” – Paul Rawlings
      

• “Abolish the Texas Lottery NOW. I voted NO because it is a REGRESSIVE TAX. Lotteries rob from the poor.” – Ruth Thomson
     

• “I would rather, they just end the lottery.” – Michael Sisley
      

• “Shut it completely down!  There’s nothing good about a lottery and gambling of any kind.  It’ll save the state and thousands of citizens tons of money.” – Susan Perry
      

• “Kill the snake now, don't try to rehabilitate it!” – Rowland Greenwade
      

• “This is proof that any form of gambling causes greed and corruption.  The best way to fix this problem is to eliminate it!” – Elyce Mouskondis
      

• “The lottery preys on low-income people, and we should not have that in Texas.” – Ted Shaw
      

• “The whole thing should be ended. As long as you run a gambling operation, someone will try to rig it.” – Dorothy Strachan
      

• “You can’t move a sick child to another room and expect it to get well!” – Bill Gee
      

• “Why wait two years to allow another ‘scheme’ to be formulated? Let it sunset or shut it down ASAP.” – Sandra Grove
       

• “It seems, once again, the best we can do is kick the can down the road. The Lottery was a bad idea at its inception. Lottery reform is, at best, like moving a pile of manure from one place to another. But, maybe it will be closer to being eliminated entirely.” – Roger Taylor 
      

• “The Texas lottery needs to be completely shut down permanently. I voted against it from the beginning.” – Janet Gustafson
       

• “There is no such thing as ‘an honest bet.’ Changing oversight simply means new scoundrels will emerge to get rich off the poor and ignorant. The State does not need to be in the gambling business.” – Steve Sullivan

Directory of Your Current U.S. & Texas Lawmakers

This information is automatically inserted based on the mailing address you provide to us. If you'd like to update your contact information, please visit our subscriber portal.