Weekly News Round Up Of The State’s Top Law Enforcement Officer – Texas Attorney General
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…
The Texas Attorney General 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, 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.
WEEKLY NEWS ROUND-UP OF THE STATE’S
TOP LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER…
THE TEXAS ATTORNEY GENERAL
Texas AG Seeks Removal of 8 People Who Unlawfully Hold Positions on City of Austin’s Planning Commission
AUSTIN – Attorney General Ken Paxton today obtained approval from a state district court in Travis County to proceed with a quo warrant action asking for the removal of all individuals who unlawfully hold positions on the city of Austin’s planning commission.
Currently, eight of the commission’s 13 members are directly or indirectly connected with real estate and land development, in violation of an amendment to the city charter approved by voters in 1994. The provision requires that a minimum of two-thirds of the commission’s city council-appointed members “shall be lay members and not directly or indirectly connected with real estate and land development.”
The eight members who are alleged to unlawfully hold positions on the planning commission are: Karen McGraw, Trinity White, Fayez Kazi, James Shieh, James Schissler, Patricia Seeger, Greg Anderson and Tom Nuckols. The group includes four architects, two land use engineers, the director of operations for a housing nonprofit, and a lawyer with the Travis County attorney’s office who specializes in real estate law.
“It’s shameful that the city of Austin ignores the will of voters and its own city charter, allowing the planning commission to be controlled by eight real estate professionals who unlawfully hold seats on the board,” Attorney General Paxton said. “We’re seeking the court’s removal of all commission members whose appointments violate the two-thirds ‘lay member’ requirement of the city charter.”
Under the Austin city charter, the planning commission is tasked with responsibility to create a comprehensive city plan, advise the city council on all land development regulations, and control platting and subdividing land. The city council’s inaction on members who unlawfully hold positions on the commission comes as both work on a comprehensive rewrite of the city’s land-use code, a project known as CodeNext.
- View the quo warranto petititon here: https://bit.ly/2tOcG2W
- View the quo warranto information here: https://bit.ly/2MMsURd
- View the court order here: https://bit.ly/2tQ0tdN
AG Warns 11 Cities Their Bag Bans Are Illegal
Attorney General Ken Paxton today issued letters to 11 Texas cities that the Texas Supreme Court identified as banning plastics bags in violation of state law. These letters inform the cities of the recent Texas Supreme Court ruling that declared Laredo’s bag ban illegal. The Texas Supreme Court recognized that state law forbids cities from imposing their waste management duties and costs on citizens and retailers.
“The Texas Supreme Court declared that banning single-use plastic bags is illegal. Municipalities ignoring this law are unlawfully passing their duty to manage solid waste on to their residents and retailers in violation of settled Texas law,” Attorney General Paxton said. “A dislike of state law is no justification for a municipality to violate it.”
Attorney General Paxton issued letters to the cities of Austin, Sunset Valley, Port Aransas, Laguna Vista, Fort Stockton, Eagle Pass, Corpus Christi, Brownsville, Kermit, Freer and South Padre Island to ensure awareness of the recent ruling and waste management responsibilities Texas law places on municipalities.
View all 11 letters here: https://bit.ly/2Krgy4d
AG’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit Collaborates on Multi-Agency Arrests of 12 Individuals in Houston-Area Health Care Fraud Takedown
AUSTIN – Attorney General Ken Paxton today commended the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit of his office for its role in the arrests of 12 Houston-area individuals as part of the largest health care fraud enforcement action in American history.
Attorney General Paxton’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit – working with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, local FBI, and the nationwide Medicare Fraud Strike Force –targeted the most egregious schemes involving the billing of Medicare and Medicaid private insurance programs for medically unnecessary services and prescription drugs, and violations of illegal kickbacks.
“I’m proud of the part our Medicaid Fraud Control Unit played in this historic effort against health care fraud,” Attorney General Paxton said. “Medicaid fraud steals taxpayer money and jeopardizes care for some of Texas’ most vulnerable citizens. My office will continue to fight for the integrity of the Medicare and Medicaid programs to ensure Texans’ tax dollars are not stolen by criminals.”
Nationwide, a total of 601 individuals were arrested in the takedown, including 165 doctors, nurses and other licensed medical professionals. They’re accused of defrauding Medicare and Medicaid of more than $2 billion. The 12 Houston-area cases will be prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of Texas.
“These arrests are a testament to the effectiveness of collaborative law enforcement work to crack down on those who defraud Texas taxpayers,” said Stormy Kelly, division chief of the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit in Attorney General Paxton’s office. “We’ll continue to work with our federal partners to uncover waste, fraud, and abuse in the Medicare and Medicaid systems.”
Last month, Attorney General Paxton’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit received the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General award of excellence for fighting fraud, waste and abuse. During fiscal year 2017, the unit obtained 108 indictments, 137 convictions and let the nation in recovering more than $534 million.
AG Issues Letter to Fort Worth ISD Demanding Public Access to Curriculum and Protection of Parental Rights
AUSTIN – Attorney General Ken Paxton today dispatched a letter to Fort Worth Independent School District (ISD) requesting a full and complete copy of the district’s human sexuality curriculum after the district repeatedly denied parents access to these public documents. Parents reported that not only were their records requests denied, but their children were prohibited from bringing a copy of their textbooks home for review or from taking photos of the curriculum.
“Parents have the right to inspect and review information regarding what their child is learning and participating in while attending school,” Attorney General Paxton said. “By law, public school curriculum should be fully available to the public, and parents retain their constitutional right to direct their own child’s upbringing. Denying parental and public access to curriculum of any kind is a clear violation the Texas Education Code.”
The letter requests that Fort Worth ISD provide a complete copy of their human sexuality curriculum, which has been used in 22 schools since 2015, to the Office of the Attorney General. Two years ago, the Attorney General issued an opinion confirming that public school districts must grant parents access to all written records concerning their child’s education and activities.
To view a copy of the letter, click here: https://bit.ly/2KxgziO.
AG Lauds SCOTUS Decision to Uphold First and Fourth Amendments
AUSTIN – Attorney General Ken Paxton today lauded the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in support of Mary Anne Sause, who alleges that Colorado law enforcement officers told her that she did not have the right to pray in her own residence after the officers’ investigation into a noise complaint had concluded. Texas filed an amicus brief in support of Sause’s petition to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court today issued a rare summary reversal of last year’s Tenth Circuit ruling claiming that the officers who told Sause she must stop praying were entitled to qualified immunity regardless of Sause’s First Amendment rights.
“The First Amendment protects each person’s right to live out their faith according to their beliefs. It guarantees the rights of conscience to all Americans,” Attorney General Paxton said. “Religious liberty should never be confined to the four walls of a place of worship. Every American should have the freedom to pray within his or her own home and in the public square.”
Sause filed this case on the grounds of a First Amendment violation. Today, the Supreme Court found that the allegations in this case suggest that her Fourth Amendment freedom from unreasonable search and seizure might have been violated as well. Summarily reversing the Tenth Circuit’s ruling, the Supreme Court determined that the court of appeals should have considered that implicit Fourth Amendment claim.
View a copy of the U.S. Supreme Court opinion here: https://bit.ly/2KfB9br.
AG’s Office Participates in Fact-Finding Forum on Credit Card Skimmers
AUSTIN – Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office today participated in a fact-finding forum to explore ways Texas can protect gas stations, banks and consumers against credit card skimming.
Criminals use skimmers at gas station pumps to steal personal data from customers’ credit cards, resulting in more than $2 billion a year in fraudulent charges nationwide. A single compromised gas pump can capture data from 30 to 100 cards per day.
Today’s forum in Austin focused on the scope of the problem in Texas, how law enforcement, gas stations and banks can fight back against skimmers, and laws to punish criminals who take advantage of unsuspecting victims. The program featured presentations by officials from the Texas comptroller’s office, Texas Department of Agriculture, attorney general’s office, and local and county law enforcement.
Sergeant Adam Colby and Detective Jeff Roberts of the Tyler PD and North Texas Financial Crimes Task Force described how credit card skimmers first appeared at gas stations in Houston before showing up in East Texas and then spreading across the state.
Last year, Tyler PD and the task force recovered 96 skimmers in Smith County and another 41 in Tyler. They arrested 30 individuals from Houston, Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth, and Florida. Most of them were charged with felony one engaging in organized criminal activity.
Smith County Assistant District Attorney Jacob Putnam noted that his office pledged a zero-tolerance policy on card skimmers. Its successful prosecution of cases – most notably, convictions involving prison sentences of 15 and 30 years – sends a powerful message. In fact, no skimmers have turned up in Tyler this year.
The forum involved representatives from the Texas Department of Public Safety, banking industry, state legislative offices, retail gas station owners, U.S. Secret Service, and the Texas Food and Fuel Association.
AG Commends SCOTUS Ruling: Non-Union Workers Cannot Be Forced to Subsidize Union Speech to Keep Their Job
AUSTIN – Attorney General Ken Paxton today released the following statement after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled, 5-4, that non-union workers cannot be forced to pay fees to public-sector unions:
“It’s been a common refrain of mine for years: compelled political speech through compulsory union dues is incompatible with this nation’s bedrock principles of individual liberty. Accepting a job in the public sector should not require employees to check their First Amendment rights at the door. The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling rectifies decades of abuse by public-sector unions, which will now be forced to solicit funding like any other politically active organization. This momentous decision vividly illustrates the importance of textualist judges – and the presidents who appoint them.”
In an April 2017 op-ed, Attorney General Paxton endorsed paycheck protection legislation in the Texas House to “prevent workers from becoming ATMs for pet political causes that they do not support and help get the government out of the dues-collection business.” Government unions in Texas use the state payroll system to collect union dues, then turn around a spend millions of dollars on partisan activities that are opposed by many dues-paying members.
AG’s Office Makes Arrest; Charges 3 Individuals with 18 Offenses in 2016 City of Hidalgo Voter Fraud Scheme
AUSTIN – Attorney General Ken Paxton today announced the arrest of Marcela Gutierrez following his office’s investigation of a voter assistance fraud scheme that took place during the 2016 city of Hidalgo runoff election.
Gutierrez, a non-citizen, is charged with illegal voting for marking a ballot without a voter’s consent, a second-degree felony. She led the voter to believe she was demonstrating use of a voting machine, but instead cast votes on the voter’s ballot for a slate of candidates Gutierrez had been paid to support. Illegal voting is punishable by two to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000. Gutierrez also faces 10 misdemeanor counts of unlawfully assisting a voter.
Two of her fellow campaign workers are implicated in the same voter fraud scheme. Sylvia Arjona and Sara Ornelas are charged with a total of seven counts of unlawfully assisting a voter, a Class A misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail and a $4,000 fine.
Attorney General Paxton’s office referred 18 separately filed cases against the three individuals for prosecution to the Public Integrity Unit of the Hidalgo County District Attorney’s Office and will continue to provide support and assistance to District Attorney Ricardo Rodriguez.
“These cases highlight the unfortunate widespread abuse of elder and disabled voters in our state,” Attorney General Paxton said. “Texas law provides accommodations to assist those who cannot vote their own ballots, but those provisions are being abused to deprive vulnerable Texans of their voice in government. Anyone who attempts to exploit the voter assistance process to steal votes will be brought to justice and prosecuted to the full extent of the law.”
Last month, Attorney General Paxton’s office arrested five people in its ongoing investigation into an organized illegal voting scheme in the 2017 city of Edinburg election. The attorney general’s office continues to encourage individuals with information about voter fraud to come forward and cooperate before additional arrests are made.
Texas voters have the right to cast their ballots free from interference and intimidation. It is unlawful for anyone to provide assistance to a voter who is ineligible for help or hasn’t requested it. It’s also against the law for anyone assisting a voter with a ballot to suggest how to vote, or to cast a vote without the voter’s consent.
View Gutierrez’s grand jury indictment here: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/files/epress/files/2018/Gutierrez_GJ_Indict_061918.pdf.
AG Issues Statement Supporting a Dismissal of New York City’s Job Killing Climate Change Lawsuit
AUSTIN – Attorney General Ken Paxton today issued the following statement on today’s hearing in the Southern District of New York and the request to dismiss New York City’s frivolous tort lawsuit against several energy companies:
“Extreme climate change activists, working in tandem with New York City’s liberal Mayor Bill de Blasio, think they have finally found a way to force their radical climate change agenda on the entire nation while driving up energy costs for ordinary, hardworking Americans. The City of New York, along with liberal mayors and trial lawyers across the country, want to extract billions of dollars from a handful of oil and natural gas companies based on the entirely unproven claim that those companies are responsible for climate change and global warming. Liberal politicians are trying to enact disastrous policies through the courts because they have been unable to do so through the ballot box.
“It is absurd to place the blame for climate change on only a few energy companies in America when the root causes of climate change are complex and not fully understood. And the attempt to manipulate the courts in this manner – via filing local ‘nuisance’ ordinances as an end-run around the legislative process– has been tried before and rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court.
“In fact, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote the Court’s unanimous opinion that district courts have no jurisdiction to claim damages from global climate change. The Court ruled that this issue instead belongs in the hands of Congress and the EPA. The Southern District of New York should rule the same way and save millions in unnecessary litigation fees paid by taxpayers.
“We all depend on affordable, reliable energy and a handful of profitable energy companies should not be forced to defend themselves in costly, unfounded lawsuits.”
AG: SCOTUS Agrees with Texas-led Coalition on Landmark Religious Liberty Case
AUSTIN – Attorney General Ken Paxton today applauded the U.S. Supreme Court after it ruled in favor of a Colorado cake artist’s constitutionally-protected right to religious liberty. Leading a 20-state coalition, Attorney General Paxton filed an amicus brief with the high court last September in support of cake artist Jack Phillips’s First Amendment freedom to run his business consistent with his faith. By a 7-2 vote, the Supreme Court agreed with Attorney General Paxton.
“This is a landmark victory for our first liberties of religious freedom and freedom of speech,” Attorney General Paxton said. “The Supreme Court’s ruling affirms that the First Amendment contains robust protections for people who choose to operate their business consistent with their faith. Every American should have the freedom to choose what they will or won’t create without fear of being unjustly punished by the government.”
Phillips, the owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop, was sued after he declined to create a cake for a same-sex marriage because of his deeply-held religious belief that marriage is the union of one man and one woman. Phillips consistently turns down business that promotes messages that are incompatible with his faith, such as racism and atheism, but his refusal to design a cake for a same-sex wedding resulted in rulings against him by the Colorado Court of Appeals and that state’s Civil Rights Commission.
View the U.S. Supreme Court decision here: https://bit.ly/2JfUZPt
AG’s Office Urges 5th Circuit to Uphold Texas’ Decision to Defund Planned Parenthood
AUSTIN – Lawyers from Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office today urged the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit to overturn last year’s district court decision ordering Texas to provide taxpayer funding to Planned Parenthood.
During oral arguments, the attorney general’s legal team focused on raw, unedited footage from eight hours of undercover videos showing violations of medical and ethical standards by Planned Parenthood officials.
In the video, Planned Parenthood employees admit that some doctors performed abortions to obtain fetal tissue for their own research. They state that their doctors would modify abortion procedures to get the best possible fetal tissue specimens, even though they tell women that no such modifications will be made when convincing them to donate their unborn child’s tissue. They also assert that their ability to furnish intact fetal cadavers depended on how much pain their patients could tolerate during the abortion procedure. Federal laws prohibit researchers from performing abortions to secure fetal tissue for their own research under such circumstances, and prohibits modifying abortion procedures to obtain tissue for research purposes.
“We provided conclusive evidence to the 5th Circuit that Planned Parenthood’s practices constitute serious breaches of medical and ethical standards. Such illegal and unethical behavior more than justifies Texas’ decision to withhold taxpayer funding from the organization,” Attorney General Paxton said. “Planned Parenthood’s shocking and repugnant conduct, captured in the raw video footage, proves that it is not a ‘qualified’ provider under the Medicaid Act. An organization that is willing to subject women to abortion procedure modifications that can put their health at risk without their consent does not deserve a dime of Texas taxpayers’ money.”
In December 2016, the inspector general of Texas Health and Human Services removed Planned Parenthood from the state’s Medicaid program for the video footage of actions that “violate generally accepted medical standards,” and for making false statements to law enforcement. Though Planned Parenthood is still under investigation by the FBI and the U.S. Department of Justice, it receives around $3.1 million a year in Texas Medicaid funding.
A copy of the brief filed by the attorney general’s office is available here: http://bit.ly/2vBfmD4.
Duties & Responsibilities of the Office of the Attorney General
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, 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.
The Office of the Attorney General has taken on numerous other roles through the years. Texas statutes contain nearly 2000 references to the Attorney General. In addition to its constitutionally prescribed duties, the Office of the Attorney General files civil suits upon referral by other state agencies. In some circumstances, the Attorney General has original jurisdiction to prosecute violations of the law, but in most cases, criminal prosecutions by the Attorney General are initiated only upon the request of a local prosecutor.
Although the Attorney General is prohibited from offering legal advice or representing private individuals, he serves and protects the rights of all citizens of Texas through the activities of the various divisions of the agencies. Actions that benefit all citizens of this state include enforcement of health, safety and consumer regulations; educational outreach programs and protection of the rights of the elderly and disabled. The Attorney General is also charged with the collection of court-ordered child support and the administration of the Crime Victims’ Compensation Fund.
