Staff Report
The responsibilities, of the Office of the Attorney General, are to serve as legal counsel to all boards and agencies of state government, issue 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/.
AUSTIN – Attorney General Ken Paxton and several allied states and companies sued the Biden Administration for its illegal and unconstitutional vaccine mandate imposed on private businesses.
As part of his COVID-19 Action Plan announced in early September, President Biden committed to requiring all private employers in America with 100 or more employers to force their employees to get vaccinated or submit to a weekly testing regime.
The Administration has now issued it’s Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) implementing the mandate through the Department of Labor’s Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA).
“The Biden Administration’s new vaccine mandate on private businesses is a breathtaking abuse of federal power,” said Attorney General Paxton. “OSHA has only limited power and specific responsibilities. This latest move goes way outside those bounds. This ‘standard’ is flatly unconstitutional. Bottom line: Biden’s new mandate is bad policy and bad law, and I’m asking the Court to strike it down.”
Attorney General Paxton filed the State of Texas’s Petition for Review directly with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
General Paxton will follow up soon with a Motion for Stay, in which he will lay out the many statutory and constitutional reasons why the Court must halt implementation of the ETS.
The Petition for Review can be read here.
AUSTIN – Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a motion for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction to stop President Biden’s unlawful vaccine mandate against federal contractors.
This sweeping mandate is a part of the President’s unconstitutional efforts to revitalize his flagging vaccination campaign at the cost of individual liberty.
“The President’s blatant disdain for those who choose to not receive a vaccine will not be allowed to seep into the great State of Texas,” Attorney General Ken Paxton said. “Here, we protect individual liberties first and foremost, and Texans do not have to sacrifice their beliefs and their health to preserve their livelihoods.”
Read the motion here.
AUSTIN – Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit against the Biden Administration challenging its “Vaccine Mandate Rule.”
This mandate imposes an unprecedented federal vaccine decree on nearly every full-time employee, part-time employee, student, intern, volunteer, and contractor working at a wide range of healthcare facilities receiving Medicare or Medicaid funding.
“At a time when we need healthcare workers more than ever before, amid a harrowing worker shortage, the Biden Administration has prioritized this unlawful vaccine mandate over the healthcare of all Americans,” Attorney General Paxton said. “We need healthcare workers, regardless of their vaccination status, and this decision puts us on track for an impending disaster within the healthcare industry.”
Read the complaint here.
AUSTIN – Today in the United States Supreme Court, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton defended the Texas Department of Criminal Justice’s decision to disallow John Ramirez, who was sentenced to death for the brutal murder of Pablo Castro in 2005, from having a pastor speak out loud and touch Ramirez during his execution by lethal injection.
Ramirez was scheduled to be executed on September 8, 2021, until the Supreme Court granted his last-minute request for a stay of execution and expedited review of his claim for religious accommodations in the execution chamber.
Ramirez should not be given yet another reprieve, the Attorney General argued this morning in the Supreme Court.
TDCJ cannot safely accommodate Ramirez’s demands for physical touch and vocalization while ensuring an orderly and dignified execution procedure, the Attorney General explained to the Court.
In addition to the security risk of having an outside spiritual advisor touching Ramirez, physical contact and vocalization create an unacceptable risk that medical personnel will be unable to monitor the execution to prevent unnecessary pain and suffering.
In addition, Ramirez’s conduct shows his requests for religious accommodations are pretext meant to delay his execution, not motivated by sincere religious belief. A year ago, Ramirez filed another federal lawsuit stating his religious beliefs did not require his pastor to touch him during his execution.
And the first time he asked that the pastor speak out loud during the lethal injection was less than a month before the execution. Ramirez also failed to follow prison protocol in requesting these accommodations from TDCJ.
“Ramirez’s failure to exhaust is inexcusable,” Attorney General Paxton said. “Ramirez provides no evidence that his requests for touch and vocalization are based on sincere religious belief and not his desire to put off his death sentence. Prisoners on death row should not be allowed to manipulate our justice system to delay execution for their heinous crimes.”
AUSTIN – Attorney General Ken Paxton joined a coalition of 43 states and territories to support the Bankruptcy Venue Reform Act. Currently, individuals can file for bankruptcy only in the district where they reside, but corporations are permitted to file wherever an affiliated entity is incorporated.
This can lead to rampant forum shopping by corporations filing in bankruptcy court jurisdictions that feature favorable laws. Congressional passage of the Bankruptcy Venue Reform Act would curb such abuse.
Read the letter here.
Official Request Summary RQ-0410-KP
Whether a court has the discretion to accept an affidavit of surety to surrender a principal and to require a bondsman to show cause for the surrender
Official Opinion Summary KP-0392
The trial judge cannot refuse a surety’s affidavit to surrender a principal
Official Request Summary RQ-0406-KP
County compliance with competitive bidding procedures before renewing or extending a contract for management of a county facility
Official Opinion Summary KP-0391
The commissioner’s court of a county may renew a lease agreement authorized by Local Government Code chapter 319 without complying with the competitive purchasing procedures of Local Government Code chapter 262.
While this office does not construe contracts, as a general matter a commissioners court may agree to reasonable terms in a contract, including an assignment clause, provided such terms are consistent with applicable statutes and constitutional provisions regarding county contracting and the authority of the commissioner’s court generally.
Official Request Summary RQ-0404-KP
Transfer of county school land to an independent school district
Official Opinion Summary KP-0390
Article VII, section 6 of the Texas Constitution does not authorize a county to transfer county school lands to the only school district in the county for no cost or for a nominal fee.
While a county may sell county school lands for fair market value and place the proceeds in a county school permanent trust fund, a court would likely determine that a school district does not possess authority to purchase county school land solely for investment purposes.
Article VII, section 6b of the Texas Constitution authorizes distribution from the county school permanent trust for the limited purposes of reducing bonded indebtedness of those districts or for making permanent improvements, provided an amount sufficient to pay specified ad valorem taxes is retained in the fund. Subject to the limitations on use of a distribution and the required retention for ad valorem taxes, article VII, section 6b leaves the amount of any distribution to the commissioner’s court’s discretion.
Official Request Summary RQ-0407-KP
Authority of a conservation district to change the directors’ terms of office from two to four years
Official Opinion Summary KP-0389
While the 1949 special law creating the Trinity Bay Conservation District established a board of directors for the District with members having two-year terms, the subsequently enacted section 49.103 of the Water Code provides for the members of the board of certain districts, including the Trinity Bay Conservation District, to serve staggered four-year terms.
Official Request Summary RQ-0438-KP
Questions regarding a county judge’s contracting authority during emergencies pursuant to section 418.1015 of the Government Code
Date Received
Friday, November 5, 2021
Official Requestor
The Honorable Jenny P. Dorsey
Nueces County Attorney
901 Leopard Street, Room 207
Corpus Christi, Texas 78401-3689
Official Request Summary RQ-0412-KP
Authority to prosecute individuals for the possession and sale of delta-8 tetrahydrocannabinol products derived from hemp
Date Received
Friday, November 5, 2021
Official Requestor
The Honorable Brett W. Ligon
Montgomery County District Attorney
207 West Phillips, 2nd Floor
Conroe, Texas 77301-2824
Official Request Summary RQ-0437-KP
Whether county community supervision and corrections departments must remit a portion of locally generated funds to the State at the end of the biennium as unexpended balances
Date Received
Monday, October 25, 2021
Official Requestor
Mr. Darryl D. Thomas
Dallas County Auditor
509 Main St., Suite 407
Dallas, TX 75202-3548
Official Request Summary RQ-0436-KP
Whether federal judicial precedent requires private citizens to recognize same sex marriages in Texas
Date Received
Wednesday, October 20, 2021
Official Requestor
The Honorable James White
Chair, House Committee on Homeland Security & Public Safety
Texas House of Representatives
Post Office Box 2910
Austin, Texas 78768-2910
The San Marcos City Council received a presentation on the Sidewalk Maintenance and Gap Infill…
The San Marcos River Rollers have skated through obstacles after taking a two-year break during…
San Marcos Corridor News has been reporting on the incredible communities in the Hays County…
Visitors won't be able to swim in the crystal clear waters of the Jacobs Well Natural…
Looking to adopt or foster animals from the local shelter? Here are the San Marcos…
The Lone Star State leads the nation in labor-related accidents and especially workplace deaths and…
This website uses cookies.