Austin (WBAP/KLIF) – The Texas House passed a bill Thursday that would allow for the removal of District Attorneys who refuse to prosecute certain types of crimes. That measure was created, in part, because some D.A.s have said they will not prosecute controversial offenses related to abortions, elections, and gender-affirming care for minors. The bill needs one more vote in the House before it can be sent to the state Senate.
The House passed a bill that would require air conditioning in Texas prisons. Current Texas law contains no such requirement, and the majority of state run prisons are not air conditioned in inmate housing areas. The bill is the first of three similar proposals in the House. The other two have not yet come up for a vote. The state Senate has passed its own version, but it’s not the same as the three now in the House, so differences would have to be reconciled before any of the measures could become law.
The House also voted through a bill that calls for prosecuting fentanyl deaths as murder. The 121 to 24 vote was taken despite chants of “no more drug laws” coming from the visitors’ gallery. That noisy opposition came from a group calling itself the Texas Harm Reduction Alliance. Its members held a brief protest, then left the House chambers. The bill now needs a final vote in the House before it can be sent to the Senate, which has already passed a similar measure.