P.O. Box 130012, Tyler, TX 75713

182 Grassroots Leaders Lay Out the Case:

Plea for Governor Abbott to Call a June 2024 Special Legislative Session
to Secure Our November 2024 General Election

June 13, 2024

The Honorable Texas Governor Greg Abbott Office of the Governor
P.O. Box 12428
Austin, TX 78711-2428

Electronic dispatch to: Steve Munisteri, Senior Policy Advisor; Gardner Pate, Governor’s Chief of Staff

Dear Governor Abbott:

We, the undersigned, urgently join with Republican Party of Texas Convention delegates from all 31 State Senate Districts – representing Republicans from across Texas – who passed the following Resolution 7, for ELECTION INTEGRITY ENFORCEMENT and ENSURING THAT ILLEGAL ALIENS ARE NOT VOTING IN TEXAS, found on page 42 of the 2024 Republican Party of Texas Platform:

1. Special Legislative Session: The Republican Party of Texas calls upon Governor Abbott to call a special session in June 2024 to address election integrity and other Specifically, the call should include the following items:
   1. Legislation to implement independent, state-level prosecution of election integrity; to address abortion, human smuggling, sedition, and riot; and to respond to the Court of Criminal Appeal’s ruling in State v.
   2. Legislation to require proof of citizenship for new voter registration and a thorough review of existing voter rolls to identify and remove illegal aliens, other non-citizens, those with unauthorized non-residential addresses, and long-time inactive voters from the voter rolls.

We also underscore that these two items flagged as urgent in Resolution 7 are also covered in the 2024 RPT Legislative Priorities Report under Priority #2.

Governor Abbott, we urge you to immediately call an Election Law Enforcement Special Session. We believe you will agree with us that Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, and the Republican nominees (especially judicial candidates) in large urban Texas counties should not face the November General Election with election cheaters knowing they are unlikely to face any prosecution in Texas counties where Soros-funded District Attorneys will never prosecute cheating and voter fraud.

The following describes the problem, the solution, and the urgency, which should compel you and the Texas Legislature to rapidly, boldly lead the way in protecting the people of Texas:

STATE-LEVEL ELECTION (AND OTHER) LAW ENFORCEMENT

Problem: The 2022 Texas Court of Criminal Appeals’ State v. Stephens opinion prohibiting the Texas Attorney General from independent, state-level prosecution of the violation of election law makes prosecution of election law violations in the high population counties of Texas in 2024 exceedingly unlikely. Any law without enforcement is worthless.

Additionally, there are reports of mass-scale registration of illegals to vote by Biden administration officials and/or NGOs. This may be the new way elections are compromised in 2024.

Solutions:

1)  Legislation to implement independent state-level prosecution of election fraud, public integrity, abortion, human smuggling, sex slave trade, sedition, and riot law in response to and in compliance with the Texas Criminal Court of Appeals’ State v Stephens decision.

The bill that offered a solution in the 88^th Regular Session was SB 1927 (Hughes). For a variant on that approach, see also HB 4026 (Schofield).

With the time we have left, we cannot pass a constitutional amendment. And we cannot timely give the prosecutorial power back to the Attorney General by statute because neither the Democrats nor Republicans in the Texas House who voted to impeach Ken Paxton are likely to restore his prosecutorial power. Wisely, Senator Hughes’ SB 1927 solution creates a State Prosecutor Office under the Texas Supreme Court, following the structural logic of the State v Stephens opinion.

If the bill passes and is signed by early July, the law will go into effect in early October, just in time to give potential cheaters pause before they do so.

2) Legislation to require proof of citizenship for new voter registration and a thorough review of existing voter rolls to identify and remove illegal aliens, other non-citizens, those with unauthorized non- residential addresses, and long-time inactive voters from the voter rolls

Given that these types of amendments to existing law will also not go into effect until October, the cleanup will not likely be done in time for November. But passage, accompanied by independent, state- level prosecution of existing Texas election law prohibiting illegals from registering or voting and prohibiting citizens from knowingly assisting illegals in voting, along with the publicity generated by the passage of these provisions is likely to have a chilling effect on illegal voting and the unlawful exploitation of illegal registration.

Urgency:  Texas is unlikely to have effective enforcement of election law in the largest counties in 2024 without this legislation. Donald Trump and Ted Cruz need our assistance!

Recently passed improvements to the law (enabling removal of recalcitrant prosecutors) are worthwhile, but due to long lead times and narrow removal criteria, these improvements will not work to address the looming 2024 problem.

It is no secret that in certain counties, Texans cannot rely on local prosecutors to enforce the rule of law! Adding state prosecutorial resources for human trafficking, sex slave trade, abortion enforcement and election law violations will no doubt save the lives of children and protect Texas voters from organized vote theft.

Governor Abbott, we remind you that Texas Republican Primary voters overwhelmingly supported the two related Primary Ballot Propositions calling for prosecution of election crimes and requiring proof of citizenship before any individual can be registered to vote. The base of the Republican Party is with us!

The time to protect Texas is NOW, Governor Abbott! We implore you to do so!

 For liberty – for Texas, we the 182 undersigned conservative Texas influencers,*

Tom Glass, Founder/President, Texas Constitutional Enforcement, SD 18

JoAnn Fleming, Executive Director, Grassroots America – We the People PAC; GrassrootsPriorities.com

*Organizations are listed for identification purposes only for the above-signed political opinion leaders who influence thousands of Texans.

CC: Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick
      Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan

Click here for a PDF version of the letter.

The most important way Texas Republicans can prepare for November is to ensure that election law is enforced in Texas. To that end the RPT State Convention Platform and Resolutions Committee presented this vital resolution to the delegates on May 25, 2024 for a vote:

RESOLVED that the Republican Party of Texas calls upon Governor Abbott to call a special session in June, 2024 to increase election integrity. Specifically, the call should include the following:

1. ELECTION INTEGRITY ENFORCEMENT: Legislation to implement independent state level prosecution of election integrity, abortion, human smuggling, sedition, and riot in response to and in compliance with the CCA State v Stephens.

1. ENSURING THAT ILLEGAL ALIENS ARE NOT VOTING IN TEXAS: Legislation to require proof of citizenship for new voter registration and a thorough review of existing voter rolls to identify and remove illegal aliens, other non-citizens, those with unauthorized non-residential addresses, and long-time inactive voters from the voter rolls.

Note also that similar measures were included in the top “Secure Texas Elections” priority reported by the RPT State Convention Legislative Priorities Committee.

The Soros-installed District Attorneys in the big Texas counties are unlikely to prosecute election cheaters in November. The Court of Criminal Affairs (CCA) has taken away independent, state-level prosecution of election law away from the Attorney General. Donald Trump and Ted Cruz need the prosecution in place by November to provide a credible threat to cheaters, but the lame-duck Texas House that impeached Ken Paxton is unlikely to return prosecutorial power to him.

We have a path forward to election law enforcement without a constitutional amendment and without giving prosecution back to the AG. The solution is to create a State Prosecutor Office under the Texas Supreme Court consistent with the CCA State v Stevens opinion. Senator Bryan Hughes passed such a bill (SB 1927) out of committee in 2023.

While we are at it, to address the alarming warnings that the feds and NGOs under Biden are registering illegals on a mass scale, we need to also send a shot across the bow of the cheaters, reminding them that registering or voting as an illegal and knowingly helping illegals register is a crime in Texas.  Publicity about starting the process of cleaning up voter rolls, especially of illegals is also a vital part of defending the vote in November.

We just need Governor Abbott to call a special session to put these measures into effect in the nick of time in early October. Please contact Governor Abbott using this link gov.texas.gov/contact to urge him to make the special session call.

We expect to get the news that the RPT delegates passed this call on Governor Abbott any day now.

Governor, no law is any good if not enforced! Please give Trump and Cruz every tool needed ensure that Texas is not stolen from us in November.

This letter is being sent to the 2024 RPT Platform & Resolutions Committee members:

Thank you for serving on the 2024 RPT Platform & Resolutions Committee.  As one who served on your body in 2022, I know how much effort it takes to do so.

This letter is to urge you to consider and pass to the state convention delegates two resolutions, one on Border Security and the other on Election Integrity.

Every RPT convention passes a small number of timely, high priority, big impact resolutions that get major media attention. (Last session we stated the truth that the 2020 presidential election was stolen and we condemned John Cornyn for betraying our right to keep and bear arms.)  There is evidence that overwhelming majorities of Texas Republicans care about border security and election integrity and want effective action now – before the general election in November – on both these issues.

Enforce Border Security Without Delay, Despite the Feds Telling us to Delay

Background:

The occupied federal government violates federal border security law every day, using our tax dollars to the benefit of the various trafficking businesses of the cartels.  Governor Abbott has sent multiple letters to President Biden urging him to stop violating the law and protect Texans from the border invasion, stating that Texans have the natural and constitutional right to defend themselves against this invasion and imminent danger that will not admit of delay.

The governor has declared an emergency and using Texas law, the power of commander in chief delegated him by the Texas Constitution, and the concurrent right of defense reserved to Texas in the U.S. Constitution, deployed Texas military and law enforcement to defend Texans. The Texas legislature passed SB 4 last year, creating Texas law that criminalizes entry in between ports of entry into Texas from Mexico, and allowing removal of illegals under certain circumstances.

Because Texas reserves the power to self defense when it concurrently delegates the duty to the federal government, the federal government under the U.S. Constitution cannot preempt Texas from defending the people of Texas when we are in such “imminent danger as will not admit of delay.”

Yet, the cases have been brought in the federal judiciary against legitimate, constitutional actions by Texas to stem the invasion and address the danger, and worse yet, some parts of the federal judiciary are attempting to delay or stay Texas defensive action when they will not admit of delay!

Proposed Resolution (Click here for PDF version:

WHEREAS, The federal government is deliberately acting in violation of federal law to the benefit of cartels in their trafficking businesses to detriment of the citizens of Texas and the immigrants delivered into the hands of the cartels; and

WHEREAS, Untold number of terrorists under the control this nation’s enemies have been embedded into Texas and the United States due to the deliberate violation of federal law and are a clear and present danger to the security of Texans and Americans; and

WHEREAS, Hundreds of thousands of Americans are dying due to deliberate fentanyl poisoning by cartels using Communist Chinese precursors with the assistance of the federal government’s deliberate open borders policies; and

WHEREAS, The federal government’s deliberate violation of federal law is a violation of the constitutional mandate on the federal government in Article IV, Section 4 to protect Texas from invasion; and

WHEREAS, Under Article I, Section 10, Clause 3 of the United States Constitution, Texas is entitled as a sovereign state of the United States of America to protect itself against this current cartel and border invasion. This constitutional authority grants the State of Texas the power to defend the state when the state has been invaded or is "in such imminent Danger as will not admit of delay"; and

WHEREAS, the Texas governor is taking defensive actions to repel illegal border crossings under authority granted to him by the US Constitution, the Texas Constitution, and Texas law; and

WHEREAS, Texas has recently passed SB 4 providing a method of deportation of invaders after due process; and

WHEREAS, Texas has a natural and constitutional right to self defense that is a power reserved to Texas.  Because a power reserved by Texas cannot be legitimately questioned or denied by the agent to which the power is not relinquished, the federal judiciary has no jurisdiction over if, when, or how Texas chooses to defend itself; and

WHEREAS, Texas is in imminent danger of irreparable harm that will not admit of delay and that any federal judicial stay delays Texas in its self-defense, be it

RESOLVED, That the Republican Party of Texas calls upon Texas law enforcement, the Texas judiciary, and the governor to act to protect Texans from the border invasion and imminent danger, enforcing SB 4 and other such measures as the governor or legislature sees fit to protect Texas, without paying heed to any stays or opinions of the federal judiciary or other branch of federal government to the contrary.  

June Special Session for State Level Election Law Enforcement and Stopping Illegal Alien Registration and Voting

Background:

Problems:  The 2022 Texas Court of Criminal Appeals’ State v. Stephens opinion prohibiting the Texas Attorney General from independent, state-level prosecution of the violation of election (and other) law makes prosecution of election law violations in the high population counties of Texas in 2024 unlikely.

More and more reports are coming in that in addition to violating federal law on immigration and border security, federal agents and the federally funded NGOs are also violating federal and Texas law to register the illegal aliens they are processing to vote.

Both Texas and federal law criminalizing a noncitizen registering and voting exist.  And Texas law criminalizes assisting noncitizens in registering to vote or voting.  But Texas law makes it very difficult to remove non-citizens from voter rolls.

Any law without enforcement is worthless.

Solutions:

• Legislation to implement independent state-level prosecution of election integrity, public integrity, abortion, human smuggling, sex slave trade, sedition, and riot in response to and in compliance with the Texas Criminal Court of Appeals’ State v Stephens

The bill that led the way in the 88th Regular Session was SB 1927 (Hughes). For a variant on that approach, see also HB 4026 (Schofield).

• Legislation to facilitate removal of non-citizens from Texas voter rolls and mandates to clean up the voter rolls for inactive registrations and registrations with unauthorized non-residential addresses.

Urgency:

Texas is unlikely to have effective enforcement of election law in the largest counties in 2024 without this legislation. Recently passed improvements to the law enabling removal of recalcitrant prosecutors are worthwhile, but due to long lead times and narrow removal criteria, these improvements will not work to address the looming 2024 problem. It is no secret that in certain counties, Texans cannot rely on local prosecutors to enforce the rule of law! Adding state prosecutorial resources for human trafficking, sex slave trade, abortion enforcement and election law violations will no doubt save the lives of children and protect Texas voters from organized vote theft.

I do not want to have to tell Ted Cruz, Donald Trump, or other Republican candidates on the ballot in 2024 that Texas had the opportunity to effectively enforce election law in 2024, but failed to do so.

Proposed Resolution (click here for PDF version:

WHEREAS, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (CCA) 2022 State v Stephens opinion stops the Attorney General from independently prosecuting any crime, including election law, and

WHEREAS, Texas big county district attorneys funded by globalist outsiders like George Soros have demonstrated their unwillingness to prosecute many criminal statutes including election law, and

WHEREAS, Ted Cruz, Donald Trump, and other Republican campaigns need effective election law enforcement for the November, 2024 election in the big counties of Texas, and

WHEREAS, Proposition 10 on the 2024 Republican primary ballot called for one method of achieving independent, state-level prosecution of election law, receiving 89.4% of the vote (even with invited Democrat participation in our Republican primary), and

WHEREAS, existing Texas election law does not mandate proof of citizenship to register to vote and voter cleanup procedures under Texas law make it very costly and difficult to identify and remove illegal aliens from Texas voter rolls, and

WHEREAS, several media sources are alleging that federal agencies and federally funded non-governmental agencies are encouraging recent illegal aliens to vote on a large scale, be it therefore

RESOLVED that the Republican Party of Texas calls upon Governor Abbott to call a special session in June, 2024 to increase election integrity.  Specifically, the call should include the following:

• ELECTION INTEGRITY ENFORCEMENT: Legislation to implement independent state level prosecution of election integrity, public integrity, abortion, human smuggling, sedition, and riot in response to and in compliance with the CCA State v Stephens
• ENSURING THAT ILLEGAL ALIENS ARE NOT VOTING IN TEXAS: Legislation to require proof of citizenship for new voter registration and a thorough review of existing voter rolls to identify and remove illegal aliens, other non-citizens, those with unauthorized non-residential addresses, and long-time inactive from the voter rolls.

Looking forward to seeing you at the convention and working with you . . .

Toward liberty,

Tom Glass
www.txce.org
832-472-4726
X:  @tomgglass
Facebook:  Tom G Glass
Texas Constitutional Enforcement FB group
Texas Legislative Priorities FB group

This letter is being sent to the 2024 RPT Legislative Priorities Committee members:

Thanks for serving on the 2024 RPT Legislative Priority Committee.

Wearing my hat as the head of Texas Constitutional Enforcement, this is to urge you to vote to include three items on the RPT priority list.

1. Let Texans Run Texas

Proposed Priority Language:

Texas government should resist unconstitutional federal acts, violation of federal border laws, and the use of financial pressure by globalist institutions that seek to destroy everything Texans hold dear and usurp the political power inherent in the people of Texas.  Such resistance should include stopping unconstitutional federal acts in Texas, defense of the border by Texas without interference by or subservience to the federal government, and the prohibition of the use of globalist financial pressure to destroy Texas businesses

Background: 

1) “Stopping unconstitutional federal acts in Texas.”

Texas Constitutional Enforcement has been supporting passage of the Texas Sovereignty Act for a number of sessions.  The act creates a standing committee similar to the Sunset Committee that can meet outside the press of the legislative session to identify and prioritize unconstitutional federal acts that should be resisted in Texas by using the Texas Official Oppression Act which makes it a crime for a public servant to violate the rights of Texans.

This overall category can include bills that:

• Mandate that Texas elected officials refuse to assist federal agents in the prosecution of unconstitutional federal acts;
• Define areas of intrastate commerce that are immune from federal regulation;
• Criminalize and restrict weaponization of federal law enforcement against conservative Texans;
• Stop Texas agencies and subdivisions from receiving federal funds that have strings attached; and
• Bifurcate elections and voter rolls for presidential electors, state office, and Texas subdivision office from U.S. House and Senate to insure that Texas elections have no interference or corruption from DC.
• Resist woke federal transportation mandates that restrict Texans’ freedom to travel.

2) “Defense of the border by Texas without interference by the federal government”

This section can include more legislation creating a Border Protection Unit or strengthens the ability of Texas to repel and remove illegals. But its primary purpose is to insure that Texas not agree that in the situation of concurrent jurisdiction over the defense of Texans from invasion and protection from imminent danger that will not admit of delay, Texas will not agree that the federal judiciary has any say over how or when Texas decides to defend itself, and therefore will not delay defending Texans because of injunctions or stays of self defense by the federal judiciary.

This sentiment should also be included in any border security priority, and might not be needed here if it is duplicated in the border priority.

3) “Prohibition of the use of globalist financial pressure to destroy Texas businesses”

Following 2022 RPT Platform Plank 46, Texas Resistance to the Great Reset, Texas Constitutional Enforcement worked on a wide array of bills designed to resist the Great Reset and ESG pushed by global elites and coordinated by the World Economic Forum that meets at Davos annually. A report on what we accomplished and what almost made it last session can be found on the website blog of Texas Constitutional Enforcement.

This category can include bills that will:

• Prohibit ESG discrimination by companies doing business in Texas;
• Divest Texas funds like pensions and school funds from companies that push ESG (Environment, Social, Governance) policies and DEI;
• Prohibit companies that boycott or discriminate against Texas businesses based on ESG, DEI, or ideology from doing business with Texas or its subdivisions; and
• Resist social media censorship of Texans.

Rationale:

When I ran for state rep and asked GOP voters their top issue, border security was number one, but another statement was just as high: “There are so many things going wrong, I don’t know where to begin.”  As I probed more, the sentiment almost always stemmed from the understanding that everything Texans hold dear is being attacked in an all-fronts war by the feds who illegitimately occupy DC and the globalists using their wealth and corporate control to subjugate Texans.

At this moment in time, we cannot know whether we will take DC back from the Marxists and elitists in November. If we don’t, then this priority will be more important than ever.  Even if we do, the globalists will not give up on their quest to rule Texans, Trump will not be able to stop the Deep State all at once, and we should use the time to get ready for the next assault on Texas.

By staying strong and free, Texas can save and restore America.  If Texas falls, America falls and as Reagan warned, the world will then plunge into a thousand years of darkness.

2. Fighting Inflation and Central Bank Digital Currency

Proposed Priority Language:

To empower Texans to combat inflation and the ultimate police state tool of Central Bank Digital Currency, Texas should recognize the natural right to use currency of choice in the Texas Bill of Rights and provide choices for ordinary Texans to use gold and silver as legal tender in everyday transactions.

Background:

This priority combines two bill concepts fighting inflation and resisting CBDC in one priority.

1) Currency of choice Texas Bill of Rights

This piece passed the Texas House as HJR 146 (by State Rep. Gio Capriglione) 139 – 2 last session. It died without a hearing in the Senate. State Senator Tan Parker introduced the companion bill, SJR 67, in the Senate.  This is the language that would have been added to the Texas Bill of Rights had it passed:

The right of the people to own, hold, and use a mutually agreed upon medium of exchange, including cash, coin, bullion, digital currency, or scrip, when trading and contracting for goods and services shall not be infringed. No government shall prohibit or encumber ownership or holding of any form or any amount of money or other currency. Nothing in this section shall be construed as restricting this state or a political subdivision of this state from only accepting payments made or entering into transactions using certain mediums of exchange.

The choice to hold the wealth one has earned over a lifetime in the form of one’s choice is a natural right which no government should violate. As such, the right to hold and use cash and cash substitutes falls under one of those rights that should be protected under the Ninth Amendment. This natural right needs explicit codification and protection in the Texas Bill of Rights to help stop the assault on the financial and privacy rights of Texans. Explicit recognition in the Texas Bill of Rights strengthens the Ninth Amendment case.

Click here to see the hearing on HJR 146 in the spring of 2023.  See more about the concept at the Texas Constitutional Enforcement website.

2) Choice for Texans to use gold and silver as legal tender in everyday transactions

This is also known as transactional gold, liquid gold, or digital gold. The companion bills in the 88^th Legislature were HB 4903 by State Rep Mark Dorazio and SB 2334 by Senator Bryan Hughes.  In the House, the bill passed out of State Affairs and Calendars, but was placed on the General Calendar too late to get a vote.  In the Senate, the bill had a hearing late in session, but was not given a vote in committee.

The bill enables and orders the Texas Comptroller to expand the services of the Texas Bullion Depository to create electronic warehouse receipts for gold and silver stored there that can be traded electronically to do everyday business.  The idea is that anyone can put dollars that will be converted into gold or silver stored at the Texas Bullion Depositor.  The owner will have the receipts on a credit card or app that can be used at any retailer that accepts credit cards.  If the retailer wants dollars instead of gold or silver when the customer uses the card, the Texas Bullion Depository gives the equivalent in dollars on that day to the retailer.  Or the retailer can transfer the receipt for the gold or silver into their Depository account.

Offering a payment via this service would be considered legal tender under Texas law.  The transactionalgold.com website has more detail on the bill and idea. The House hearing around 54:50 and Senate hearing around 38:20 are available on the Texas Legislature Online website.

This new service offering would enable people living paycheck to paycheck to gain the protection of the stability in value of precious metals.  Today, most of that protection is only available to those who have savings.

Note that this transactional gold idea was placed on the 2024 GOP primary ballot as Proposition 7 and it received 76.5% of the GOP primary vote.

Finally, this priority formulation was passed in several places around Texas with the title of “Monetary Freedom.”  I have seen some polling of delegates mentioning the transactional gold piece as “Economic Freedom.”  See the statements in the rationale statement below, but am currently thinking that the title, “Fighting Inflation and Central Bank Digital Currency” sells to the public better.

Rationale:

Money is the lifeblood of our economy.  Unstable money destroys our economy and hurts us all, but especially the poor.  Inflation is THE economic issue that is hurting the vast majority of Texans, today.  It is the issue that is likely to switch many historically Democrat and independent voters to vote Republican in 2024.

Of all the threats to the liberty of Texans, Central Bank Digital Currency, with its programmability, making it the ultimate police state tool, makes it the equivalent in consequence to destroying the liberty of our posterity to open borders and election integrity.

I became politically aware during the Carter-era inflation and saw how the issue of inflation was a major factor in the Republican/Reagan victory of 1980.

This priority is a way that the RPT can help protect Texans from the dire dual threat of inflation and CDBC and show Texas voters that we get what is hurting the ordinary voter and have solutions to solve it right here in Texas.

3. Including state-level prosecution of election law in Election Integrity

Proposed Priority Language:

We have not proposed specific wording, but have passed a resolution at lower levels that says the following:  Resolved that protecting our elections should be a legislative priority of the RPT, and that legislation to allow independent, state-level prosecution of the election code and other statutes that Soros-controlled district attorneys are unlikely to prosecute shall be part of that priority.

Background:

Texas Constitutional Enforcement does not normally get involved in the details of election integrity.  But we do care about rule of law and we care about the danger to Texas of globalist elites like Soros deploying large resources from outside Texas into Texas to compromise the prosecutors in large Texas counties.

The 2022 Texas Court of Criminal Appeals’ State v. Stephens opinion prohibiting the Texas Attorney General from independent, state-level prosecution of the violation of election (and other) law makes prosecution of election law violations in the high population counties of Texas in 2024 unlikely.

Many proposed solutions surfaced in the Texas Legislature, but the approach most likely to insure that we have a second chance at prosecution of election (and other) law in the large counties of Texas was introduced in the 88^th Legislature by State Senator Bryan Hughes with SB 1927 and a similar bill by State Rep Mike Schofield, HB 4026.

See the linked testimony on the bill and comparison to other approached by me and by the late Alan Vera on SB 1927.

The most widely discussed approach to restoring state-level prosecution of election law is to simply legislate the delegation of authority to the Attorney General in contradiction to the Court of Criminal Appeals, hoping that the defeat of three of the eight members of the court in the 2024 GOP primary over the issue will persuade one of the five remaining to vote differently in the next appeal.  I think that the Hughes/Schofield approach of complying with the logic of State v Stephens and placing the prosecution under the Texas Supreme Court has a better chance of passage and survival in the courts.  Thinking that we will get Democrat help in passing a constitutional amendment to give election integrity to the Attorney General is, in my opinion, a pipe dream.

Note that Proposition 10 in the 2024 GOP primary called for a constitutional amendment to give prosecutorial authority to the AG.  It passed by 89.4%.  I think that the support for that proposition should not be viewed as exclusive support for the constitutional enforcement path, or even the idea of delegating the power to the AG, but rather as support for the urgent need for independent, state-level prosecution.

Regardless, I think the language of our priority should simply call for independent, state-level prosecution of election (and other) law to give the legislature the flexibility of choosing the approach most likely to achieve success.

Finally, this committee should know that I am crafting a resolution for your fellow Platform & Resolutions Committee that I hope will call for the governor to add this topic to a call for a special session in June, 2024 before the November, 2024 election.  I cannot imagine why Greg Abbott or Dan Patrick would want to look Ted Cruz or Donald Trump in the face to tell them they had a chance, but failed to enforce Texas election law in the big counties of Texas in November.

Rationale:

Any law without enforcement is useless. 

I will personally have comments about priorities hardening our electrical grid and elimination of property tax, but plan to communicate about that wearing different hats.

Looking forward to working with you . . .

Toward liberty,

Tom Glass

Texas Constitutional Enforcement
www.txce.org
X:  @tomgglass
Facebook:  Tom G Glass
Texas Constitutional Enforcement FB group
Texas Legislative Priorities FB group