Vote to automatically deny bail for accused felons in country illegally postponed
AUSTIN (Nexstar) — While the rest of Gov. Greg Abbott’s bail reform package is on its way to becoming law, Senate Joint Resolution 1 is stuck in limbo. The proposal would prohibit bail options for those in the country illegally accused of certain violent or sexual felonies.
As a proposed constitutional amendment, SJR 1 needs 100 votes in the Texas House to get sent to the ballots for voters to have the final say. On Monday, the second reading vote only mustered 88 votes, with two Democrats — State Rep. Joe Moody, D-El Paso, and State Rep. Richard Peña Raymond, D-Laredo — voting in favor. Two Republicans — Speaker of the House Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, and State Rep. Richard Hayes, R-Lake Dallas — did not vote on the second reading, likely meaning the bill needs 10 more Democratic votes.
With the third reading set for Tuesday morning, the bill’s sponsor — State Rep. John Smithee, R-Amarillo — initially called for a delay until 3 p.m. Tuesday. Once his bill was called up again, he postponed it until 1 p.m. Wednesday.
SJR 1 is unofficially known as ‘Jocelyn’s Law,’ named after 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray who was killed in Houston last June. The two men charged with Nungaray’s murder were Venezuelan nationals in the country illegally. Jocelyn’s mother Alexis was invited to Abbott’s State of the State address, where he declared bail reform an emergency item and said all “illegal immigrants who are arrested should be considered a flight risk.”
However, the vast majority of Democratic lawmakers appeared to have problems with holding citizens and non-citizens to a different standard of the law.
“Crimes committed by an American citizen don’t make that person any less dangerous,” State Rep. Terry Canales, D-Edinburg, said during the debate on Monday. “You wanna get tough on crime? Let’s deny all of them bail.”
After the vote on Monday, Abbott was spotted on the Texas House floor. When Dallas Morning News’ Phil Jankowski asked him about SJR 1, Abbott said, “Well, there’s still work to do.”
