The Texas Report 11/13

The Texas Report 11/13

What’s happening in Texas:

• Austin Police Officer killed while attempting to rescue hostage

• Texas Special Session #4

• Texas Rangers open new tampering investigation into Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo’s office (More here)

Austin Police Officer killed while attempting to rescue hostage

Senior Austin Police Officer Jorge Pastore was killed in the line of duty early Saturday morning. Pastore and a fellow officer attempted to enter a south Austin home to rescue two people being held, hostage.

The fellow officer was shot and wounded but is supposed to be in stable condition at the hospital.

This is a terrible tragedy, and in a social media post by Interim Austin Police Chief Robin Henderson, she explained that Pastore joined the department in 2019 as part of the 141st Cadet Class. He was commissioned as a patrol officer in 2020 and served in APD’s Honor Guard, SWAT Gold Team, Counter Assault Strike Team (CAST), and Special Response Team (SRT).

Pastore is survived by his wife, two stepsons, parents, and two sisters. As funeral arrangements and any opportunities to support the family become available, we will make sure to keep our readers updated.

Saturday night, hundreds of community members gathered at Austin City Hall to remember Pastore’s life.

Texas Special Session #4

The fourth Texas Legislative special session is in full swing and moving at a breakneck pace.

Last Thursday, the Texas House committees on Educational Opportunity & Enrichment (select) and State Affairs met for marathon hearings to consider legislation creating an Education Savings Account Program (also known as vouchers) and overhauling Texas border security law.

The Republican leaders in the House and Senate have essentially pre-agreed all the language for the bills up this special session.

After hours of testimony last Thursday, H.B. 4 by Representative David Spiller (R-) was passed out of House State Affairs. This bill would essentially allow any Texas law enforcement officer to arrest someone suspected of being here illegally. If that's the case, the officer can deport said person. Should this legislation become law, it'd be a massive change in current law and likely be almost immediately challenged in the courts.

Counties and local law enforcement across the state are concerned with this bill's potential cost and legality. Sheriffs have testified that they lack room in their county jails, and without state support, implementing this bill would have a massive negative impact on county budgets and lead to raises in property taxes. Opponents of the bill also think that federal law would pre-empt this legislation and it would lead to illegal racial profiling.

This bill is expected to reach the House floor early this week.

The Texas Senate took a different approach than the House and scheduled committee hearings with little less than an hour's notice for each priority bill this session. Their four priority bills were voted out of committee and then the Senate on the same day.

S.B. 4 (the Senate's version of H.B. 4 and pretty similar) generated the most debate between Republicans and Democrats. The biggest surprise on the floor came from Senator Brian Birdwell (R-Granbury), who carried the bill in the previous special session and other similar measures.

This morning, the House Calendars Committee met and set the agenda for Tuesday. Up on the House Floor for debate is S.B. 3, and S.B. 4. S.B. 3 would appropriate $1.5 billion for the border wall, and $40 million to the Texas Department of Public Safety for overtime expenses.

H.B. 1, by Representative, is the major school finance and voucher bill. It's probably the most high-profile issue and piece of legislation and is 177 pages long. Should H.B. 1 pass, it would substantially change many aspects of public school finance. It would add new accountability measures for private schools receiving tax dollars through the proposed voucher program.

Capitol insiders believe that the new accountability standards may be a deal-breaker for the Texas Senate, which has rejected similar proposals to hold private schools to the same standard as public in the past.

However, at an unrelated news conference last Friday, Governor Abbott blessed the legislation, calling it an "extraordinarily effective bill." He acknowledged the bill still has to get approval on the House floor and then compromise with the Senate.

Abbott did say if the bill made it to his desk without the voucher language intact. He will veto it and continue calling legislators back to Austin until it gets done.

• H.B. 1 would set aside $10,500 yearly per student for private school expenses, prioritizing low-income families and those with disabilities.

• The bill would increase per-student spending from the state from $6,160 to $6,700 and increase teacher pay.

House Democratic Caucus Chair Trey Martinez Fischer (D-San Antonio) said that despite making it out of committee, "The vote is not and should not be seen as a reflection of the committee's position on the merits of a voucher scam."

The issues being considered now:

• Public school funding and teacher pay raises. (Mixture of HB 1, HB 2, and SB 2)

• $1.5 billion for border wall funding and an additional $40 million for Texas Department of Public Safety overtime. (HB 3, and SB 3)

• Expanding the authority of Texas law enforcement to arrest and deport migrants here illegally. (HB 4, and SB 4)

• Creation of education savings accounts (or vouchers). (HB 1 and SB 1)

Texas Rangers open new tampering investigation into Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo’s office

Late last week, the Texas Rangers opened a new public corruption investigation into Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo’s Office. (Democrat and leader of the largest county in Texas.) After evidence, the office concealed records into how a multi-million dollar county contract was awarded. 

“This is essentially the sequel to the original investigation that culminated in indictments of three members of Judge Hidalgo’s staff,” KPRC 2 Legal Analyst Brian Wice said. “These allegations are serious. The search warrant is focused on the third-degree felony of tampering with evidence.”

The records subpoenaed are related to the 2022 investigation into the nearly $11 million COVID-19 outreach contract awarded to a local woman’s LLC and why she was selected.

According to previous search warrants, investigators were looking for any communications or files that may show non-public information being disclosed to Felicity Pereyra. The new search warrant shows Texas Rangers are investigating whether there was tampering with evidence during the investigation into those claims.

Texas Ranger Daron Parker wrote in the search warrant that “it was discovered that numerous documents and communications that were ordered to be produced by Grand Jury subpoena had been concealed and made unavailable during the earlier Grand Jury proceedings.”

The “concealed evidence” included the following:

• Harris County Judge’s office employees used their phones to communicate about the Targeted Community Vaccine Outreach project with the owner of Elevate Strategies and,

• Draft documents showing Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo personally edited the scope of the Targeted Vaccine Outreach project and mentioned the owner of Elevate Strategies LLC in her editing one day before the scope of work was shared with the owner of Elevate Strategies LLC and more than two weeks before the project was publicly announced; and

• WhatsApp and SMS messages showing Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo and her staff believed that the majority of the Harris County Commissioners Court were going to vote against funding the Targeted Community Vaccine Outreach project and used the County Judge’s Emergency Authorization powers to bypass the voting process and award $10,973,00 to Elevate; and

• WhatsApp messages had been deleted after the initiation of the Grand Jury investigation.

Hidalgo called on a news conference on Friday where she said she wanted to call out the trust and “what’s false.” Hidalgo accused Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg of abuse of power, saying the DA is pulling a “stunt” to get re-elected.

Hidalgo claims that Ogg is leaking information about Hidalgo to protect herself before her upcoming election.

Ogg released the following statement after Hidalgo’s news conference:

“County Judge Hidalgo’s outburst today was nothing more than an attempted deflection from the facts and evidence that led to the initial indictment of her staffers. She conflated an ongoing Texas Rangers criminal investigation with her political endorsement of my challenger and engaged in a childish exercise in name-calling that has become all too common in our political process. Using her status as county judge to launch this diatribe is an unfortunate attempt to taint the investigative process and to confuse the public. It also serves her indicted staffers very poorly. My office pursues evidence-based prosecutions, regardless of political party, and we look forward to resolving this case in court.”

Harris County has over 4.728 million Texans, and County Judge Lina Hidalgo has repeatedly been considered a “rising star” amongst national democrats. The continued investigations into corruption in her office will hang heavy over her next election in 2026.