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
Notification of Opinion
Re: Original Request for Opinion RQ-0253-KP — Competitive bidding requirements applied to municipal airport operation
Opinion: KP-0246
Summary: Depending on the facts, a court could conclude that an airport operations contract meets the requirements of Transportation . Code section 22.020 and is therefore not subject to the competitive bidding requirement of Local Government Code section 262.023(a). Even if an airport operations contract does not fall within Transportation Code section 22.020, it could be eligible for exemption by the commissioners court from competitive bidding pursuant to section 262.024(a)(4) as a purchase for a personal service if the contract requires a particular, named individual to perform the services.
Notification of Opinion
Re: Original Request for Opinion RQ-0274-KP — Whether a groundwater conservation district may define “agricultural crop” as “food or fiber commodities grown for resale of commercial purposes that · provide food, clothing, or animal feed” and “utilize that definition to determine the applicable fee rate for ‘irrigating agricultural crops'”
Opinion: KP-0247
Summary: A court would likely conclude that a groundwater conservation district does not have the authority to define “agricultural crop” as “food or fiber commodities grown for re.sale of commercial purposes that provide food, clothing, or animal feed” to the extent that it excludes other products that constitute an agricultural crop under section 36.001 of the Water Code.
Request for Opinion
Request – RQ-0281-KP: Whether the Texas Transportation Commission is authorized to enter into a facility agreement under the North Tarrant Express Comprehensive Development Agreement
Received: Monday, April 8, 2019
Requestor: The Honorable Bob Hall
Chair, Committee on Agriculture
Texas State Senate
Post Office Box 12068
Austin, Texas 78711-2068
and
Requestor: The Honorable Lois Kolkhorst
Chair, Committee on Public Health
Texas State Senate
Post Office Box 12068
Austin, Texas 78711-2068
Request for Opinion
Request – RQ-0280-KP: Whether state law permits the sale, distribution, or possession of cannabidiol products, including cannabidiol oil, in Texas
Received: Monday, April 8, 2019
Requestor: The Honorable Terry Canales
Chair, Committee on Transportation
Texas House of Representatives
Post Office Box 2910
Austin, Texas 78768-2910
AG Paxton’s Public Integrity Unit Arrests Former San Jacinto County Judge for Impersonating a Public Servant
AUSTIN – Attorney General Ken Paxton today announced that the Public Integrity Unit of his Criminal Investigations Division arrested former San Jacinto County Judge John Lovett Jr., of Shepherd, Texas, for impersonating a public servant, a third-degree felony.
In February, Lovett allegedly used his invalid judge’s badge to bypass security at the Montgomery County Courthouse, where he appeared as a criminal defendant in a case. Lovett was indicted last year on charges of burglary, forgery and tampering with a governmental record.
During the subsequent execution of a search warrant at Lovett’s home, investigators from the attorney general’s office found the badge and a photo ID identifying him as San Jacinto County judge.
The items matched descriptions provided by security officers at the courthouse. Last week, Montgomery County 9th District Judge Phil Grant signed a warrant for Lovett’s arrest for impersonating a public servant. Lovett surrendered to authorities from the attorney general’s office and the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office.
Lovett was suspended as San Jacinto County judge on March 23, 2018. He ceased being a county judge on January 1, 2019, when his term expired. Lovett lost in a runoff election for Justice of the Peace last May. He did not seek re-election for county judge.
AG Paxton Joins Multi-State Coalition Brief Defending Trump Administration Title X Funding Rule to Protect the Unborn
AUSTIN – Attorney General Ken Paxton today joined a multistate coalition brief defending a new Trump Administration rule for the Title X grant program which allows family planning services to cease providing abortion counseling and referral.
Recently finalized by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Protect Life Rule ensures statutory prohibitions on funding programs that advocate for abortion as a form of “family planning,” and mirrors requirements put in place during the Reagan-era and upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in Rust v. Sullivan.
“The Protect Life Rule requires clear financial and physical separation between Title X projects and facilities that provide abortions. The rule protects the lives of the unborn and the conscience rights of taxpayers by ensuring that funding is directed to health care and family planning services, rather than the abortion industry,” Attorney General Paxton said. “Our multistate coalition is confident the courts will ultimately uphold the rule change. A procedure intended to end a human life isn’t health care.”
Last May, a letter to HHS from Attorney General Paxton provided impetus for the rule change. In the letter, Attorney General Paxton explained that HHS discriminated against Texas by denying Title X funds based on Texans’ desire to follow their consciences and exclude abortion counseling and referral from family planning services.
The proposal expressly referred to the attorney general’s letter when announcing that such provisions cannot be enforced against objecting applicants or grantees.
In another letter to HHS in March of last year, Attorney General Paxton encouraged the agency to implement rules restoring religious freedom and conscience rights for all Americans.
The Obama administration denied the conscience rights of Texans when it excluded Texas from Title X funding because of state laws that, like federal laws, respect the sanctity of life among the unborn.
The Protect Life Rule updates the regulations governing the Title X program to ensure compliance with its statutory prohibition on taxpayer funding of programs where abortion is a method of family planning, and no longer requires that health providers give counseling or referrals for abortion.
The proposal does not cut any funding for family planning services provided an organization disentangles taxpayer funds from abortion as a method of family planning, as required by Title X law.
Texas is joined in the Ohio-led friend-of-the-court brief by Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Oklahoma, South Carolina and South Dakota.
View a copy of the brief here.
REQUEST FOR OPINION
Original Request – RQ-0279-KP: Payment for unused vacation leave after employee separation
Read Original Request Here: https://www2.texasattorneygeneral.gov/opinions/opinions/51paxton/rq/2019/pdf/RQ0279KP.pdf
Received: Thursday, April 4, 2019
Requestor: Dr. Austin A. Lane
President
Texas Southern University
3100 Cleburne Street
Houston, Texas 77004
AG Paxton’s Child Exploitation Unit Arrests Lampasas County Man for Possession of Child Pornography
AUSTIN – Attorney General Ken Paxton today announced that the Child Exploitation Unit (CEU) of his office arrested 53-year-old John Walter Sickles, of Kempner, Texas, on one count of possession of child pornography, a third-degree felony.
A CyberTipline report from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) identified a file of child pornography uploaded on social media and led CEU investigators to Sickles.
During the execution of a search warrant at his home, investigators seized multiple digital storage devices, which will be examined by the Digital Forensics Unit of the attorney general’s office.
Lampasas County Sheriff’s Office deputies, who assisted with the execution of the search warrant, are also conducting a narcotics investigation after discovering substances believed to be methamphetamine in Sickles’ residence.
Attorney General Paxton’s office works to protect children by using the latest technology to track down some of the most profoundly evil predators online.
The CEU proactively seeks out and arrests predators who commit crimes against children using technology and online sources. Attorney General Paxton urges all parents and teachers to become aware of the risks our children face on the internet and take steps to help ensure their children’s safety.
If you suspect someone is producing or downloading child pornography you can report it to NCMEC. For more information on cyber safety, please visit: https://texasattorneygeneral.gov/initiatives/cyber-safety/.
AG Paxton Applauds 6th Circuit Decision Upholding Kentucky Informed-Consent Law for Abortion
AUSTIN – Attorney General Ken Paxton today applauded a federal appeals court decision upholding Kentucky’s informed-consent law. The law requires doctors to conduct an ultrasound and present the results to an expectant mother before she provides consent for an abortion. Doctors are also required to let the mother listen to the heartbeat of her unborn baby.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) sued to stop the law on behalf of the only licensed outpatient abortion clinic in Kentucky, which reportedly performs 3,000 abortions a year. Leading a 15-state coalition, Attorney General Paxton filed a friend-of-the-court brief last year urging the 6th Circuit to overturn the lower court ruling blocking Kentucky’s law.
The brief was referenced in this week’s 2-1 decision by the 6th Circuit, which reversed the lower court’s decision. The 6th Circuit disagreed with the ACLU’s contention that Kentucky’s law violates the First Amendment rights of physicians:
“The information conveyed by an ultrasound image, its description, and the audible beating fetal heart gives a patient greater knowledge of the unborn life inside her,” 6th Circuit Judge John Bush wrote in the majority opinion. “This also inherently provides the patient with more knowledge about the effect of an abortion procedure: it shows her what, or whom, she is consenting to terminate. That this information might persuade a woman to change her mind does not render it suspect under the First Amendment. It just means that it is pertinent to her decision-making.”
“I applaud the court’s decision upholding a common-sense law that provides crucial information to a woman considering an abortion,” Attorney General Paxton said. “Legislation enacted in Kentucky, Texas and other states ensures that a woman seeking an abortion has all the facts about the life she is carrying, and understands the irrevocable impact of a life-ending decision. And as the court pointed out, an ultrasound image is the ‘epitome’ of truthful and relevant information in the context of the abortion decision.”
In 2011, then-state Representative Paxton co-authored and passed House Bill 15, which requires that an expectant mother be given a chance to view an ultrasound and hear her unborn child’s heartbeat prior to consenting to an abortion.
The Texas law was challenged and upheld in 2012 by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit. Approximately 29 states have laws requiring a physician to provide certain information to a patient when obtaining informed consent to perform an abortion procedure.
View a copy of the decision here.
AG Paxton Testifies Before Senate State Affairs Committee in Support of Anti-Human Trafficking Bill
AUSTIN – Appearing today before the Senate State Affairs Committee, Attorney General Ken Paxton testified in support of Senate Bill 1257, which would give the attorney general’s office concurrent jurisdiction on human trafficking cases to further the state’s effort to combat modern-day slavery.
Below is an excerpt from Attorney General Paxton’s remarks as prepared for delivery:
“To put it bluntly, human trafficking is modern-day slavery and it is happening right here in Texas. Research from 2016 indicates that at any given time there are an estimated 313,000 victims of human trafficking in Texas. The size of the problem dwarfs the number of human trafficking prosecutions being brought in this state as it stands today.
“Last year, district courts saw a total of 121 charges filed for trafficking in persons and 106 cases filed for compelling prostitution. All of those charges were filed in just 18 out of Texas’ 254 counties. That means 236 counties – around 93 percent of all counties – had no human trafficking prosecutions in 2018.
“My office has a proven track record of working with federal and local law enforcement to bring down human traffickers. I formally announced the creation of the Human Trafficking and Transnational Organized Crime Section in January 2016. It is dedicated to the investigation and prosecution of human traffickers. The unit has resolved more than 20 cases and obtained a total of 327 years in prison for traffickers.
“The attorney general’s office is uniquely positioned to tackle this issue, and stands ready to do so. We have the experience and the expertise. Our human trafficking unit is made up of several nationally-recognized experts who have been at the forefront of the fight against human trafficking.
“My office is here to assist Texas district attorneys in the incredible responsibility they have on behalf of the people of this state. Granting the attorney general’s office jurisdiction on cases will help ensure human traffickers are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
Senate Bill 1257, authored by state Senator Joan Huffman, would give the attorney general’s office full concurrent jurisdiction over multi-jurisdictional human trafficking cases and concurrent jurisdiction with district attorney right of first refusal for single-jurisdictional human trafficking cases.
