By: Cook H.B. No. 3307
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to the official misconduct and removal of district
  attorneys and county attorneys.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Section 87.011 of the Local Government Code is
  amended to read as follows:
         Sec. 87.011.  DEFINITIONS. In this subchapter:
               (1)  "District attorney" includes a criminal district
  attorney.
               (2)  "Incompetency" means:
                     (A)  gross ignorance of official duties;
                     (B)  gross carelessness in the discharge of those
  duties; or
                     (C)  unfitness or inability to promptly and
  properly discharge official duties because of a serious physical or
  mental defect that did not exist at the time of the officer's
  election.
               (3)  "Official misconduct" means intentional, unlawful
  behavior relating to official duties by an officer entrusted with
  the administration of justice or the execution of the law. The term
  includes an intentional or corrupt failure, refusal, or neglect of
  an officer to perform a duty imposed on the officer by law. A
  district attorney or a county attorney may not announce, adopt, or
  implement a formal or stated policy under which the district
  attorney prohibits or materially limits the enforcement of any
  criminal offense, save and except to comply with an injunction,
  judgment, or order issued by a court with jurisdiction over the
  officer.
         SECTION 2.  Section 87.015 of the Local Government Code is
  amended to read as follows:
         Sec. 87.015.  PETITION FOR REMOVAL. (a) A proceeding for
  the removal of an officer is begun by filing a written petition for
  removal in a district court of the county in which the officer
  resides. However, a proceeding for the removal of a district
  attorney is begun by filing a written petition in a district court
  of:
               (1)  the county in which the attorney resides; or
               (2)  the county where the alleged cause of removal
  occurred, if that county is in the attorney's judicial district; or
               (3)  in a county contiguous to where the alleged cause
  of removal occurred.
         (b)  Any resident of this state who has lived for at least six
  months in the county in which the petition is to be filedalleged
  cause of removal occurred and who is not currently under
  information or indictment in thesuch county, may file the
  petition. Additionally, a district attorney or a county attorney
  in a county contiguous to where the alleged cause of removal
  occurred may file a petition in the county where the alleged cause
  of removal occurred or in a county contiguous to where the alleged
  cause of removal occurred. At least one of the parties who files
  the petition must swear to it at or before the filing.
         (c)  The petition must be addressed to the district judge of
  the court in which it is filed. The petition must set forth the
  grounds alleged for the removal of the officer in plain and
  intelligible language and must cite the time and place of the
  occurrence of each act alleged as a ground for removal with as much
  certainty as the nature of the case permits.
         SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
  a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
  provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
  Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
  Act takes effect September 1, 2023.