The Texas Senate has passed Senate Bill 11, reviving a years-long push to restore the attorney general’s power to criminally prosecute violations of the state’s election laws—a power stripped away by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in a controversial 2021 ruling.
SB 11 passed by a vote of 17-12, with outgoing Republican State Sen. Robert Nichols(Jacksonville) voting alongside Democrats against the proposal.
Laying out the bill, State Sen. Bryan Hughes (R–Mineola) pointed to a key change made by the Texas Legislature nearly four decades ago, in 1985, when both chambers were controlled by Democrats.
“A Democratic-controlled legislature decided that the attorney general should have authority to prosecute election crimes,” said Hughes. “They recognized that many times a local prosecutor might have a conflict. Maybe there’s an illegal ballot harvesting scheme going on, and maybe the DA is afraid of those guys. Or maybe there’s a relationship there. Or maybe they just don’t have the resources.”