Attack ad against James Talarico

What the record shows. HJR 4 (87th Legislature, Regular Session, 2021) is a proposed constitutional amendment on denying bail¹. Its committee version had two parts: judges MAY deny bail to people accused of violent or sexual offenses or continuous trafficking, and judges MUST deny bail to people accused of capital murder or a sexual offense against a victim under 17, unless extraordinary circumstances were shown by clear and convincing evidence⁴. On the House floor on May 11, 2021, Rep. Joe Moody's Amendment No. 1 (Moody is identified as D-El Paso in Texas Tribune reporting³¹) struck the mandatory-denial part and the matching ballot language; it was adopted without a recorded vote³. The text the House then voted on says a person accused of a violent or sexual offense 'may be denied bail' if a judge finds by clear and convincing evidence that bail is insufficient⁵. It did not ban judges from granting bail: the judge decided, and the mandatory-denial section the ad describes was no longer in the text. Talarico voted Nay on adopting that amended text (Record 992): 104 Yeas, 35 Nays, 1 Present not voting³. He is listed among the Nays; he was not absent. The ad is right that he voted Nay on the amended text and that Yeas came from both parties (see the 'bipartisan' note below), but not about what the text said. The Senate passed it with its own amendment, the House refused to concur and sent it to conference on May 27¹⁶, and the Senate adopted the conference report 23 to 8 on May 30⁷⁸. The House never voted on that report; the House journal shows no action on it before the Legislature adjourned sine die on May 31, and the resolution died¹⁹. The Tribune reported that HB 20 died after House Democrats walked out over a voting bill and that HJR 4, a related measure, 'also failed to move in the House'¹⁰. A later version came back in the second called session as SJR 3 (not cited by the ad). Talarico voted Nay on Aug 27, 2021, when SJR 3 was passed to third reading (Record 82: 82 Yeas, 34 Nays, 2 Present not voting), and Nay on Aug 30 (Record 116)¹⁸¹⁷²³. The text passed to third reading said a person accused of a first-degree sexual offense, a violent offense or continuous trafficking 'may be denied bail'²⁴. On Aug 30 the House adopted a Kacal amendment that narrowed it to four listed offenses (murder, aggravated assault on a public servant, aggravated sexual assault with a deadly weapon, aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon), again with 'may be denied release on bail', and the resolution failed 87 Yeas, 35 Nays, 1 Present not voting, short of the two-thirds vote required¹⁷. On the 'bipartisan' wording: the journal does not print party. The House adopted HJR 4 with 104 Yeas; with 67 of 150 House members Democrats²⁶, at least 21 Yeas had to come from Democrats, so some Democratic support is shown by arithmetic. The Senate vote on the conference report was 23 to 8⁸.

What the ad leaves out. The ad describes a mandatory ban that was removed from the resolution by an amendment offered by Rep. Joe Moody, a Democrat³¹, before the vote Talarico cast, and the version he voted on and the later special-session version only gave judges the power to deny bail in sexual and violent cases. The ad does not say the resolution also covered violent offenses, that opponents in the House Research Organization analysis argued it was too broad and could detain presumed-innocent people before trial⁴, or that the resolution died when the House never voted on the final conference report¹⁹. No statement from Talarico explaining his vote was found in the journal.

What the record shows. The three Nay votes are real, but the bills are about bail rules for people who are accused and have not been convicted. (1) HB 20, 87th Regular Session, the Damon Allen Act, a bail overhaul: it required a public safety report before bail decisions, set rules for bail schedules and conditions, barred release on personal bond for people charged with offenses including continuous sexual abuse of a child, indecency with a child, aggravated sexual assault, murder and human trafficking, and addressed charitable bail organizations¹¹¹³¹⁴. Talarico voted Nay on passage on May 4, 2021 (Record 651): 98 Yeas, 46 Nays, 1 Present not voting¹². The Senate amended it, the House refused to concur, the Senate adopted the conference report 21 to 10, and the House never took it up before adjournment, so it died¹¹⁹¹⁰. (2) SB 6: the ad gives no session. SB 6 in the 87th Regular Session is a pandemic-liability bill with no connection to sex offenders²², so the bill the ad most plausibly means is the bail bill SB 6 of the second called session (2021), also called the Damon Allen Act. Two other SB 6s in the 87th Legislature are bail bills or could be meant: the first called session SB 6 (Huffman, same bail subject) passed the Senate on July 13, 2021 and the House never voted on it²¹, and the third called session SB 6 is the congressional redistricting bill³⁴. Only the second called session bail bill had a House vote with Talarico voting on it, which is why we read the ad as pointing to that one. In the second called session Talarico voted Nay when it was passed to third reading on Aug 27 (Record 91, 82 to 37 to 1) and Nay on final House passage on Aug 30 (Record 97, 85 Yeas, 40 Nays, 1 Present not voting)¹⁸¹⁷. The Senate concurred, the Governor signed it Sept 17, 2021, and it took effect largely Jan 1, 2022; it bars personal bond for defendants charged with offenses involving violence and a list of listed offenses¹⁶¹⁹²⁰. (3) HJR 4: Nay on Record 992, see the first claim³. 'Fought for' is not shown by the journals: the amendments offered to these measures on the floor came from other members (for example Moody, Murr, A. Johnson, Canales, Wu, Smith, C. Turner) and no amendment or motion by Talarico was found in the House Journal days checked (May 3, May 4 and May 11, 2021, and Aug 27 and 30, 2021)^3121718.

What the ad leaves out. On HB 20 and the special-session SB 6, many other members also voted no and, by the same arithmetic, some Democrats voted yes (HB 20 had 98 Yeas against at most 83 non-Democratic seats¹²²⁶); the Tribune described the 85 to 40 SB 6 vote as largely along party lines²⁵. The bills dealt with bail amounts, public safety reports, charitable bail funds and bail schedules as well as sex and violent offenses, and critics in the House Research Organization analyses objected to the public safety report, loss of judicial discretion and the bail-bond provisions¹³¹⁹. HJR 4 and HB 20 died at the end of the regular session⁹¹⁰. The ad does not say what his reasons were, and none were found in the record.

What the record shows. These are characterizations, not facts. The factual basis the ad cites is the three Nay votes on bail legislation described above: HB 20 (Record 651), HJR 4 (Record 992) and the special-session SB 6 (Record 97)¹²³¹⁷. The record shows he voted against bail bills and a bail amendment, and that the versions he opposed contained bail restrictions that covered sexual offenses against children¹⁴¹³⁵. The record does not show a vote to release, or a statement in favor of releasing, anyone accused of a sex crime.

What the ad leaves out. The ad does not name his other votes on child safety or on bills about sex offenders, and does not say that the bail bills were broad and that his Nay votes were shared by dozens of other House members, including on the HJR 4 version whose mandatory-denial section had already been removed by an amendment from Rep. Moody, a Democrat^3131217. It also does not say that the resolution and HB 20 died after the House never voted on the final conference versions⁹¹⁰.