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 Seeks Court Enforcement of Settlement Agreement Against Tobacco Companies to Obtain Over $125 Million for Texas

AUSTIN – Attorney General Ken Paxton today asked a U.S. District Court to enforce terms of the Texas tobacco settlement agreement requiring major cigarette companies to pay more than $125 million to the state of Texas.

In 2015, ITG Brands LLC acquired three cigarette brands from R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company and one cigarette brand from Lorillard Tobacco Company, both of which signed the comprehensive settlement agreement with Texas over smoking-related health care costs. Since the acquisition, neither ITG Brands LLC nor R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company has made the required payments to Texas for sales of the four cigarette brands – Kool, Maverick, Salem and Winston. These companies remain obligated under the comprehensive settlement agreement for sales of these cigarettes.

“Taxpayers of Texas are owed over one hundred million dollars in back payments from the tobacco settlement, and my office is going to make sure that the tobacco companies live up to the terms of the comprehensive settlement agreement with our state now and in the future,” Attorney General Paxton said.

The 1998 comprehensive settlement agreement with Texas is a broad agreement, requiring the settling tobacco companies to pay billions of dollars to Texas, as well as mandating other broad changes to the way tobacco companies do business, such as requiring the elimination of marketing to youth and anti-smoking education programs.

View a copy of the brief here: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/images/admin/2019/Press/20190128_2214.0_Mtn%20to%20Enforce%20Settlement%20Agreement.pdf

AG Paxton Joins 23-State Coalition Urging U.S. Supreme Court to Confirm that the Second Amendment Applies Beyond the Home

AUSTIN – Joining a 23-state coalition, Attorney General Ken Paxton today filed a friend-of-the-court brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to take up a case involving the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding individuals to carry firearms outside of their homes.

The multistate coalition asked the high court to review a recent lower court ruling in Rogers v. Grewal, where the 3^rd Circuit Court of Appeals allowed New Jersey to restrict an individual’s right to carry a handgun outside their home for self-defense unless the government determines the citizen has a “justifiable need” to do so.

Thomas Rogers is a New Jersey businessman who applied for a carry permit in January 2017. Rogers services ATM machines and carries large amounts of cash as part of his job, often in high-crime areas. Nonetheless, he was denied the exercise of his right to carry because his local police chief decided he did not have a “justifiable need” under New Jersey’s law.

Texas and the other states demonstrate in their brief that similar prohibitive Second Amendment schemes have been struck down as unconstitutional in multiple circuit courts, and New Jersey’s subjective-issue regime for approving handgun carry permits infringes upon and restricts an individual’s ability to lawfully and effectively carry a firearm outside the home.

“This case provides the U.S. Supreme Court with the opportunity to protect a fundamental Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms for self-defense,” Attorney General Paxton said. “New Jersey’s law denies New Jersey residents that right. By striking down the unconstitutional law, the Supreme Court would provide the guidance necessary to inform lower courts how to decide cases concerning the right to keep and bear arms.”

Texas is joined on the Arizona-led brief by Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky (via Governor Bevin), Louisiana, Mississippi (via Governor Bryant), Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

Read a copy of the brief here: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/images/admin/2019/Press/AZ%20Amicus%20Brief%20-%20Rogers%20v.%20Grewal_FINAL%20-%2023%20States.pdf

Request for Opinion

RQ-0266-KP

Received: Monday, January 14, 2019

Re: Whether durational or amount limitations exist for loans and grants issued for economic development programs pursuant to chapter 381 of the Local Government Code

Requestor: The Honorable Garnet Coleman
Chair, Committee on County Affairs
Texas House of Representatives
Post Office Box 2910
Austin, Texas 78768-2910

Request for Opinion

RQ-0267-KP

Received: Wednesday, January 23, 2019

Re: Use of forfeiture funds under Texas Code of Criminal Procedure art. 59.06 to purchase a refrigerator

Requestor: The Honorable John Warren
District Attorney
235th Judicial District
101 South Dixon Street, 3rd Floor
Gainesville, Texas 76240