Good morning, 

This is the Texas Minute for Wednesday, June 4, 2025.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Abbott Signs Historic Bail Reform Laws to Combat the Release of Violent Offenders

• Gov. Greg Abbott was in Houston yesterday signing into law a package of bail reform measures. As Joseph Trimmer reports, Houston is where problems in the state’s bail system have been most visible, with violent offenders released on bond committing additional heinous crimes.
     
• "Hundreds of Texans have been murdered by violent criminals who had previously been arrested and released on easy bail," said Abbott at the bill signing.
     
• The centerpiece of the reforms is Senate Bill 9 and Senate Joint Resolution 5, both passed during the 89th Legislative Session and hailed by supporters as historic for public safety.
          
• Other proposals failed to reach the finish line during the session. SJR 87 would have mandated bail denial for individuals accused of violent felonies who have prior convictions or are currently out on bail for similar offenses. SJR 1, meanwhile, targeted bail for certain illegal aliens accused of violent crimes.
      
• Also at the event was Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who said that the intention was to revisit the failed measures, perhaps in a special session, but he did not say if one would be called by the governor.

House Republicans Urge Veto of Appraisal Board Bill

• A group of 42 Republican members of the Texas House is urging Gov. Greg Abbott to veto legislation passed in the final days of the legislative session that would allow public school teachers to serve on local property appraisal review boards—a measure Abbott previously rejected. Brandon Waltens has the story.
      
• Senate Bill 974, authored by Austin Democrat State Sen. Sarah Eckhardt and carried in the House by Fort Worth Democrat State Rep. Chris Turner, seeks to carve out an exception in state law to permit school district employees who work as teachers to serve on the boards that hear protests on property tax appraisals.
       
• Current law bars government employees, including those working for school districts, from serving on the boards due to potential conflicts of interest. But under SB 974, teachers would be exempt from that prohibition.
      

• The House passed the bill by a vote of 80–56, with a majority of Republicans oppossing it. The Senate approved the final version in a 23-8 vote.
       

• "An employee who is paid by a school district should not be involved in the processes of determining the value of property that is taxed to generate funding for the district." – State Rep. Mike Olcott (R-Weatherford)

RELATED NEWS

• A second measure allows vaccine manufacturers to be held liable if their vaccines are advertised in Texas and cause injury. Another in the package allows parents to print at home vaccine exemption forms for school enrollment, simplifying the process.
      
• "The resounding message sent by voters and, subsequently, Texas lawmakers was that our vaccine choice rights are unconditional and non-negotiable." – Michelle Evans of Texans for Vaccine Choice

Legislature Pushes Higher Education Reform

• Adam Cahn reports that members of the House and Senate sent to the governor legislation that will change the internal governance of public universities and grant new oversight authority to boards of regents.
      
• The legislation not only abolishes the practice of shared governance at Texas’ public universities, but also grants boards of regents more authority over hiring decisions and curricula. “Shared governance” describes a system in which public university regents have given power to the unaccountable faculty. Constitutionally, the regents alone are responsible for the institutions, with oversight by the governor and legislature.
     
• Critics have long argued that university faculty have been a source of woke ideologies at universities, leveraging “shared governance” to advance their agendas both in the classroom and on campus.

Judge Places Gag Order on Former Harris County DA Kim Ogg Over Jocelyn Nungaray Murder Case

• A Harris County judge has expanded a gag order in the Jocelyn Nungaray case to include former District Attorney Kim Ogg after she made public comments about one of the men accused of Nungaray’s murder on live television. As Michael Wilson reports, the move follows Ogg’s recent disclosure of previously unreleased information regarding Franklin Peña, one of the two Venezuelan nationals accused of raping and killing Nungaray.
      
• Peña entered the U.S. on May 29, 2024. He was arrested and subsequently released by U.S. border agents only days later. Jocelyn was murdered on June 17, 2024.
      
• During an interview on the local Fox affiliate, Ogg revealed that Peña had allegedly sexually assaulted an American woman in Costa Rica prior to entering Texas. Ogg said she brought the information forward because she is "very concerned about the decisions my successor district attorney has been making.”
      
• Defense attorneys for the two accused men have called for the current DA’s office to launch a criminal investigation into Ogg’s conduct. The Harris County District Attorney’s Office, meanwhile, has confirmed it is filing a grievance with the State Bar of Texas.

Quote-Unquote

"The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence."

– John Adams​

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