Pre-Filing, Day 1: A Look At Criminal Justice Bills Including One That Declares Illegal Aliens Sitting In Their Own Couch Watching Their Own TV In Their Own Home Are Trespassing

Just when you thought it was safe, we’re back with another post on bills pre-filed on the first day of pre-filing in anticipation of the 81st Legislature. This time, we’re looking at criminal justice bills.

HB 38 by State Rep. Frank Corte (R-San Antonio): Falling in the category of “uh, isn’t that a little excessive,” comes a bill that adds a second-conviction enhancement to the offense of selling alcohol to a minor. Currently a Class A misdemeanor no matter how many times you do it, Corte’s bill would make it a state jail felony upon the second offense.

HB 49 by State Rep. Debbie Riddle (R-Tomball) could be classified as both “Can’t you people get over the fact that it is NOT the state’s job to enforce immigration laws” and “a law that sounds as stupid when you read it out loud as it does on paper,” Rep. Riddle brings us another immigrant-hating piece of legislation that makes it an offense, essentially, for an illegal immigrant to stand. Anywhere. In the entire state of Texas. Yes, even in your yard. Under this bill, an illegal immigrant could be arrested while sitting in the living room of the house he owns and watching TV though he has committed no other offense than being here illegally. No, I’m not kidding:

Sec. 30.055.  CRIMINAL TRESPASS BY ILLEGAL ALIENS. (a) A person commits an offense if the person:

(1)  is a citizen of any country other than the United States; and

(2)  enters or remains on or in any public or private property in this state in violation of 8 U.S.C. Section 1325 or 1326.

Yes, that says any public or private property–even if they own it.

Since bsically every illegal immigrant (aside from perhaps those with expired visas or green cards) are in violation of 8 USC 1325 and 1326, basically every illegal immigrant in Texas is trespassing. How stupid. How dumb. How so sadly typical of the Debbie Riddle/Leo Berman brand of anti-immigrant/let’s raise hell about illegals to fire up the GOP base politics that has infected the Republicans in the Texas Legislature like a disease.

This is simply an attempt to make an end-run around the fact that county sheriff’s offices and municipal police departments in Texas won’t and don’t enforce federal immigration laws solely to be enforcing federal immigration laws–because it isn’t their job. Riddle’s solution is to create a state law that further criminilizes illegal immigrants so that county sheriff’s offices and municipal police departments will have a slippery slope to climb if they elect not to enforce it, since it is a state and not a federal law. Granted, local police agencies will report illegal immigrants if they are arrested for something else, but it isn’t their job–and they don’t get funding–to enforce federal immigration laws.

This statute, we presume, would also allow the Texas Department of Public Safety to patrol the Mexican border whether they are involved in a federal program to aid the federal government or not. After all, the state police can’t be stopped from enforcing a trespassing statute.

HB 115 by State Rep. Joe Pickett (D-El Paso): This bill is a classic example of an unnecessary redundancy. It allows a county Tax Assessor/Collector’s office to commission peace officers for an enforcement division. That’s partially baffling, because exactly what they might be enforcing isn’t clear. Since most TA/C offices handle vehicle registration, we would assume it would handle fradulent vehicle registrations and, perhaps, patrolling car lots to make sure they are doing what they are supposed to when it comes to vehicle regisration. If, however, it would relate to a TA/C office that still collects property taxes, too, does it mean their sole purpose has something to do with delinquent tax collections? Maybe someone can explain why a Tax Assessor/Collector’s office needs its own commissioned peace officers.

HB 126 by State Rep. Charles “Doc” Anderson (R-Waco): This is one we knew was coming from the interim charges; it criminalizes salvia divinorum by listing it as a controlled substance in the Texas Health and Safety Code under Penalty Group 3. This means possession of the substance–which is presently commonly sold in shops–would range from a Class A misdemeanor to a First Degree Felony, meaning you could face up to life in prison depending upon the amount you possess. By contrast, offenses related to marijuana possession start at a Class B Misdemeanor.

SB 115 by State Sen. Rodney Ellis (D-Houston): This legislation, similar to a bill last year, would create the Texas Innocence Commission.

SB 164 by State Sen. Rodney Ellis (D-Houston): This legislation is a very good bill that would require a Criminal Justice Policy Impact Statement (similar to a Fiscal Note) for every bill which would change the sanctions applicable to adults convicted of a felony.

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