Weekly News Round Up Of The State’s Top Law Enforcement Officer – Texas Attorney General
Staff Report
Texas Attorney General, Ken Paxton is the lawyer for the State of Texas and is charged by the Texas Constitution to:
- defend the laws and the Constitution of the State of Texas
- represent the State in litigation
- approve public bond issues
To fulfill these responsibilities, the Office of the Attorney General serves as legal counsel to all boards and agencies of state government, issues legal opinions when requested by the Governor, heads of state agencies and other officials and agencies as provided by Texas statutes.
The Texas AG sits as an ex-officio member of state committees and commissions, and defends challenges to state laws and suits against both state agencies and individual employees of the State.
Many Texans look to the Office of the Attorney General for guidance with disputes and legal issues. The agency receives hundreds of letters, phone calls and visits each week about crime victims’ compensation, child support, abuse in nursing homes, possible consumer fraud and other topics. To find out more about the Texas Attorney General, visit the official website at https://texasattorneygeneral.gov/.
WEEKLY NEWS ROUND-UP OF THE STATE’S
TOP LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER…
THE TEXAS ATTORNEY GENERAL
AG Paxton Leads 18-State Brief Urging 5th Circuit to Declare Obamacare Unlawful
AUSTIN – Leading an 18-state coalition, Attorney General Ken Paxton today filed a brief urging the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit to uphold a U.S. District Court decision declaring Obamacare unconstitutional.
In February 2018, Attorney General Paxton led the coalition’s lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Obamacare, explaining that when Congress enacted President Trump’s tax overhaul, it rendered Obamacare unconstitutional by doing away with the only constitutional basis for the law: the tax penalty in Obamacare’s individual mandate.
Last December, the U.S. District Court agreed with the coalition and subsequently issued a final judgment and stayed the effect of its ruling. Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Justice asked the 5th Circuit to affirm the lower court’s ruling and invalidate all of Obamacare. A three-judge panel of the 5th Circuit is expected to hear the case in July.
“Congress meant for the individual mandate to be the centerpiece of Obamacare. Without the constitutional justification for the centerpiece, the law must go down,” Attorney General Paxton said. “Obamacare is a failed social experiment. The sooner it is invalidated, the better, so each state can decide what type of health care system it wants and how best to provide for those with preexisting conditions, which is federalism that the Founders intended.”
When the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Obamacare in 2012, a majority of the justices agreed that the provision forcing individuals to purchase health insurance was constitutional only because the tax penalty was justified under the taxing power.
The U.S. District Court, in its ruling that Obamacare is now unconstitutional, held that the individual mandate requiring individuals to have health insurance “can no longer be sustained as an exercise of Congress’s tax power” because Congress eliminated the tax penalty for those who go without health coverage.
In its current unlawful form, Obamacare imposes rising costs and transfers an enormous amount of regulatory power to the federal government. In Texas and 38 other states where the federal government administers health exchanges, health insurance premiums rose an average of 105 percent from 2013 to 2017. Last year, around 82 percent of U.S. counties had only one or two health insurers selling coverage on the Obamacare exchanges.
Texas is joined in today’s filed brief by Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, and West Virginia.
View a copy of the brief here.
AG Paxton Applauds Senate Confirmation of Texas Deputy Solicitor General Cam Barker to the U.S. District Court in Tyler
AUSTIN – Attorney General Ken Paxton today applauded Texas Deputy Solicitor General J. Campbell Barker’s confirmation to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas in Tyler. Barker joined the attorney general’s office in 2015 and has handled a wide range of state and federal cases.
“I’m pleased that the U.S. Senate has confirmed Cam Barker to fill an important judgeship in the Eastern District of Texas that has been vacant for almost four years,” Attorney General Paxton said. “He has impeccable credentials and a passionate commitment to upholding the rule of law. Cam understands that the duty of a judge is to interpret the law, not to legislate from the bench. His outstanding record of excellence and professionalism will serve him and our country well as our newest federal district court judge.”
Barker spent four years as an attorney in the appellate section of the Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), including a period in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia as a special assistant U.S. attorney.
After graduating from Texas A&M, summa cum laude, with a Bachelor of Science degree in computer engineering, Barker earned his law degree from the University of Texas at Austin. He clerked with Judge John Walker on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit and Judge William Bryson on the of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Barker worked his way from an associate to a partner at the Texas civil litigation law firm Yetter Coleman LLP before becoming deputy solicitor general.
During his time with the DOJ and the state of Texas, Barker worked on a number of nationally important legal cases and drafted nearly 100 U.S. Supreme Court briefs. While in private practice, Barker’s pro bono work earned him the distinction of Texas Lawyer’s “Appellate Lawyer of the Week” for a win on a 5th Circuit case.
President Trump nominated Barker to the federal bench in January 2018. The Eastern District of Texas is made up of 43 of the 254 counties in Texas and includes three of the top 20 most populous cities in Texas – Plano, McKinney and Frisco. Twenty-nine district judges have been appointed to the Eastern District of Texas bench since the district was created in 1857.
Notification of Opinion
Original Request RQ-0254-KP: A court would likely conclude that the law enforcement authority granted by article 2.122(b) of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure applies to officers and agents of the Federal Protective Service appointed under 40 U.S.C. § 1315.
Opinion Summary KP-0248: A court would likely conclude that the law enforcement authority granted by article 2.122(b) of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure applies to officers and agents of the Federal Protective Service appointed under 40 U.S.C. § 1315.
AG Paxton’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit Assists Feds in Obtaining Health Care Fraud Convictions of Five Individuals Sentenced to Federal Prison
AUSTIN – Investigative work by the decorated Medicaid Fraud Control Unit of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office helped federal prosecutors obtain convictions and prison sentences in two home health care fraud cases against five individuals who cheated Medicaid and Medicare out of nearly $4.5 million.
“By billing Medicare and Medicaid for services never provided, these individuals and their companies diverted healthcare dollars from the most vulnerable among us and defrauded taxpayers,” Attorney General Paxton said. “Through effective collaboration with our federal law enforcement partners, the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit of my office will continue to investigate health care fraud schemes and help bring these criminals to justice.”
Andres Aly Alvarez, the owner of A&C Medical Supply LLC in Mission, Texas, pleaded guilty to health care fraud and aggravated identity theft for stealing around $930,276 from Medicaid. A
lvarez was sentenced April 25 to two-and-a-half years in prison and ordered to pay full restitution. Attorney General Paxton’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit worked jointly with the U.S. Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General on the case, which was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in McAllen.
Following a six-day trial, a jury convicted four individuals with Garland-based Elder Care Home Health Services LLC for defrauding Medicaid and Medicare of more than $3.5 million:
- Owner Loveth Isidaehomen was sentenced on April 23 to 97 months in prison.
- Tutu Kudiratu Etti, the company’s director of nursing, received a sentence of 85 months in prison on April 25.
- Co-owner Celestine Tony Okwilagwe was sentenced on April 19 to 188 months in prison, to be followed by immediate deportation to Nigeria.
- Employee Paul Azuka Emordi was sentenced to 60 months in prison on April 2.
The four co-conspirators were ordered to jointly pay $3,559,154 in restitution. The attorney general’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit participated in a joint strike force investigation with law enforcement partners from the FBI in Fort Worth and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General. The U.S. Attorney’s office in Dallas prosecuted the case.
During fiscal year 2018, Attorney General Paxton’s Medicaid Control Fraud Unit obtained 82 indictments, 69 convictions, and court-ordered restitution of over $139 million.
Last year, the unit received the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General’s top award of excellence in fighting fraud, waste and abuse – the number one award from 50 Medicaid fraud control units nationwide.
Request for Opinion
Re – RQ-0285-KP: Availability of civil remedies for violations of the Open Meetings Act
To read full request visit: https://www2.texasattorneygeneral.gov/opinions/opinions/51paxton/rq/2019/pdf/RQ0285KP.pdf
Received: Wednesday, April 24, 2019
Requestor: Mr. Mike Morath
Commissioner of Education
Texas Education Agency
1701 North Congress Avenue
Austin, Texas 78701-1494
