For years, bail reform legislation has died long before it reached the governor’s desk in Texas. This session, with a strong push from the state’s top executive, measures to crack down on bail access achieved mixed results in the Capitol’s lower chamber.
Last Monday, the House passed Senate Joint Resolution 5, which proposes a constitutional amendment that would force judges to deny bail to people accused of certain violent crimes. In February, the state Senate passed a harsher version of the bill, but the one that passed through the House offered what advocates are calling some key protections: The House version includes the right to an attorney at bail hearings—which is not currently guaranteed in Texas—and requires that the state offer proof that a defendant is a public safety risk or is likely to flee before the judge denies bail.
“We are hopeful that these protections will stay in place,” said Emma Stammen, policy strategist with The Bail Project. “We are really encouraging lawmakers to stand firm in that process and ensure that those protections aren’t stripped out of the bill because these are things that Texans really need and deserve.”
SJR 5 passed the House with only eight dissenting votes, having picked up bipartisan support over the weeks of negotiations and amendments. After the vote, Governor Greg Abbott took to X to applaud the advancement of the resolution and other bail legislation and point out the “overwhelming” support they received in the House.
“These bills will reform Texas’ broken, deadly bail system & keep dangerous criminals behind bars—where they belong,” he posted. “One step closer to saving lives.”
The modified SJR 5 will now need to be agreed to by Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick’s Senate. Patrick, as well as the bill’s author Senator Joan Huffman, have indicated they agree with the changes.
Stammen said she believes the bipartisan support was, at least in part, the result of immense political pressure. Abbott and Patrick both declared bail reform a priority this legislative session, and the governor has been aggressive in his campaigning for these reforms online and at public events. “There’s been a lot of build-up for this,” she told the Observer on Tuesday.
Senate Bill 9, which forces judges to deny bail in more cases and also increases the use of cash bail over personal bonds, also passed out of the House last week. The bill includes a provision that allows prosecutors to appeal bail decisions, meaning accused people could sit in jail for weeks while lawyers hash it out.
“S.B. 9 further cements a two-tiered system of justice in Texas — one for the wealthy and one for everyone else,” wrote ACLU of Texas senior policy and advocacy strategist Nick Hudson in a statement. “This bill violates basic principles of due process, keeps poor people in jail for being poor, and hands prosecutors a veto over judicial decisions. Texas families deserve reforms rooted in evidence, fairness, and public safety instead of fear.”
Senate Bill 40, which prohibits organizations from using public money to pay bail, also passed, despite there being no evidence that this was ever taking place in the state. The Senate will need to approve House changes to both SB 9 and SB 40 or go to conference committee.
“Bills in this package are going to swell the Texas pretrial population,” said Wanda Bertram, spokesperson for the Prison Policy Initiative. “That’s going to impact counties first. Local jails, which are already having to send people out of county or out of state in order to keep their populations manageable are going to find they have an even worse problem on their hands.”
Another proposed constitutional amendment, Senate Joint Resolution 1, died on the House floor Wednesday as it failed to reach the necessary 100-vote threshold for such amendments. SJR 1 would have denied bail for some undocumented immigrants in the state. The version that overwhelmingly passed the Senate would have applied to undocumented people accused of any felony, but the version considered by the House limited the scope to people accused of only certain felonies. Because of its hard-line anti-immigration aims, the resolution garnered much less support from across the aisle.
Yet another constitutional amendment, Senate Joint Resolution 87, which would have required bail denial for certain repeat offenders also fell short this week in the House.
“The House took meaningful steps to enact smart, evidence-based reforms that empower our justice system to keep communities safe, while successfully rejecting ugly, discriminatory bills that would have dragged Texas backwards,” said state Representative Gene Wu, the chamber’s Dem caucus leader, in a Wednesday statement reported by the Texas Tribune.
